Eric Schmidt uses a BlackBerry phone-Google chairman

Eric Schmidt uses a BlackBerry phone.Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt uses a BlackBerry! May be too surprising, but it’s true.

“I am a BlackBerry user. I like the keyboard of BlackBerry,” said Schmidt answering some rapid-fire questions from the Editor of a British daily at Google’s Big Tent India — a forum to discuss internet and its impact on economy, governance etc.

BlackBerry is a technology rival of Google’s operating system Android– an open software– which is used in many makes of smartphones, like Samsung Galaxy.

BlackBerry’s operating system is BlackBerry OS. Schmidt also categorically said there isn’t any plan to converge Android and web browser Chrome and Apps divisions.

“No is the answer, we don’t make decisions based on who the leader is, we make decisions based on where the technology takes us,” he said when asked if the three will be merged.

Nearly a week ago, Indian-origin Sunder Pichai, head of Chrome and Apps, had taken the charge of Android as well.

“…there can be more commonality for sure (between Android and Chrome) but they surely be remain separate for a very long time because they are so different products,” Schmidt said.

40-year-old Pichai, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, has replaced Andy Rubin, the man behind the success of Google’s Android division.

Rubin stepped down as the executive in charge of Google’s Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers, ending a seven-year stint.