Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said the day was not far off when a basic smartphone with a web browser and web-client apps would be available in the market at a price of around $50 (approximately PKR 4,900 at today’s exchange rate).

Though Eric declined to reveal any further details on the stage of developing such a basic smartphone model, although he admitted that Google was always encouraging phone makers to produce cheaper sets with web-browsing features so that mobile-based internet penetration gets a further fillip.Schmidt admitted that managing the government was one of his biggest tasks in all the markets Google was operating.

Explaining the innovation model Google chose to follow, Schmidt said he would prefer the company to remain a systematic innovator so that the gains from innovation could be more sustainable and derived from a series of advancements.

He dismissed fears of privacy problems the way Google products like the Gmail system operated, saying that the user always had the option of not using them. On the new product – Google Glass that allows a user to talk to the device and use it for a variety of functions including photography and scanning, Schmidt said it was designed in a way that anyone using it in a public place would be noticeable. Hence, privacy issues would be taken care of, he said.

On the question of what the biggest mistake he might have committed at the head of Google, Schmidt said underestimating the importance of the social media space was a mistake. Since then, Google has come out with a range of products to make amends for the lost opportunity.