Google links to Apple page in Steve Jobs tribute

SAN FRANCISCO – Google paid tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs Wednesday by putting a button with his name and dates of birth and death under its search engine window, along with a link to the Apple website.

The global online search giant, like Apple a monolith of Silicon Valley, typically marks events and anniversaries by adding illustrations to the multi-colored letters of its own name.

“Steve Jobs, 1955-2011” read the simple button which appeared within minutes of the announcement of Jobs’ death on Google, linking to the front page of Apple’s website, which featured a black-and-white portrait of Jobs.

“He was able in his mind to imagine what would happen when things were 10 times faster or 100 times faster and start to think about how the technology evolves,” Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt told Bloomberg TV.

“Everything he did, he was two or three or four steps ahead in thinking, which I think you see in the products today.”