'Google was rebuffed as partner by Facebook'

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Google Inc tried to partner with Facebook but was rebuffed, denying the search giant access to the social network's trove of personal information, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday.

Schmidt did not specify which deal in particular he was referring to, but noted that Google's search could be improved with access to Facebook's data about Web surfers' friends and acquaintances.

"We tried very hard to partner with Facebook," Schmidt said.

"They were unwilling to do the deal," he added, noting that Facebook had traditionally partnered with Microsoft.

Schmidt, who was speaking at the D9 conference organized by the blog AllThingsD, also noted that Google had also recently renewed a partnership with Apple in which Google provides map technology featured in the iPhone.

A former Apple board member, Schmidt said their relationship had gotten "rough" as Google began to develop its Android smartphone operating system, although they remained good partners in certain businesses.

Schmidt, who ended his 10-year run as Google CEO in April and handed the reins to 38-year-old Google co-founder Larry Page, is among the more than a dozen tech industry executives slated to speak at the conference, taking place this week at an upscale resort in Southern California.

Google recently renewed a partnership with Apple in which Google provides map technology featured on the iPhone, he said.

Schmidt showed off a new online coupon service

Giving the audience a glimpse of efforts to jumpstart growth, Schmidt showed off a new online coupon service slated to launch in Portland, Oregon Wednesday, that will allow the online giant to compete with Groupon and its ilk.

He said the company will soon announce thousands of merchants for a service twinned with a mobile-payments system that lets consumers tap their phones to pay at the checkout counter.

Schmidt is among the more than a dozen tech industry executives slated to speak at the conference, taking place this week at an upscale resort in Southern California.

Other scheduled speakers include the chief executives of Walt Disney Co , Hewlett-Packard , Twitter, Zynga, Groupon and Alibaba.

With more than 26,000 employees, Google has used its vast resources to expand into various markets beyond Web search, including phone and television, online productivity software and even electronic books.

Its Android software has become the No. 1 smartphone operating system after less than three years on the market.

But investors are increasingly impatient to see a return from these initiatives, and fret that new CEO Page's free-spending ways may pressure profit margins.

Shares of Google, which underperformed the market in 2010, are down roughly 16 percent since the company announced in January that Page would replace Schmidt.

Asked about the difference between his stint as CEO and Page's, Schmidt said that Page would have "much greater product rigor" and move even more quickly than he was able to.

One of the areas some Wall Street investors complain it has not moved swiftly enough, is social networking.

Schmidt did not specify what sort of deal with Facebook he had tried to secure, but noted that Google's search could be improved with access to Facebook's vast trove of data about Web surfers' friends and acquaintances.

"We tried very hard to partner with Facebook," Schmidt said. "They were unwilling to do the deal," he added, noting that Facebook had traditionally partnered with Microsoft