Google CEO: Facebook is doing 'a really bad job'

Google's CEO Larry Page wasn't afraid to be candid when expressing his views on rival tech companies during a recent interview. Talking to Wired, he says Facebook is "doing a really bad job on their products", though he does admit the social networking giant is "strong" in its space.

And it's not an attempt to do down Facebook's recent Graph Search either, as the interview took place in December, before Facebook announced its search tool.

Page had something to say about Apple too, admitting that while the company's approach is very successful, it's not one he'd seek to emulate. "You may say that Apple only does a very, very small number of things, and that's working pretty well for them," Page told Steven Levy. "But I find that unsatisfying. I feel like there are all these opportunities in the world to use technology to make people's lives better."

He says investors always worry about Google spending too much money on "crazy things", but adds, "If you're not doing some things that are crazy, then you're doing the wrong things."

On Steve Jobs' bid to "go thermonuclear" on Android, Page said, "How well is that working?" but wouldn't be drawn further on the matter. Boo hiss!

He says most companies are focused on incremental improvements, but that's misguided, because "incremental improvement is guaranteed to be obsolete over time." Hence Google's Glass specs, self-driving cars, and all the rest of its space-age projects.

What, though, of the company's rival to Facebook (though Google insists it's not a social network), Google Plus? "I'm very happy with how it has gone," Page said. "We're working on a lot of really cool stuff. A lot of it has been copied by our competitors, so I think we're doing a good job."

Is Facebook doing a bad job with its products? How does Google compare? And what do you think of Page's comments on Apple? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.