Google and Apple: Schmidt calls partnerships "quite stable right now"

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as a former board member at Apple, says has "a special place for Apple" in his heart. But can the same be said about Apple, which is rumored to be in talks with Microsoft about making Bing the primary search engine on the iPhone?

During a Q&A conference call with analysts to discuss the Google's fourth quarter earnings, someone asked about the company's relationships with Apple.

In a heartfelt answer, Schmidt made his "special place" comment and further praised Apple for being a very well run company that has "a lot of good stuff coming." (Go ahead and let the rumor mill read something into that one.)

He went on to say that Google and Apple are good partners as well as competitors. "My guess is that's pretty stable for some time."

Pressed further, he would only repeat that the business relationship between the two companies was "quite stable right now" and that he would not comment or speculate about any sort of deals or talks that might or might not be going on.

Next question, please.