Talk about an exclusive get-together. According to ABC News’ Jake Tapper, President Barack Obama is reportedly meeting in San Francisco today with some of the technology world’s biggest players: Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google’s Eric Schmidt, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Details of the meeting were delivered by an anonymous source, who did not say what would be covered in the meeting, where it would take place, or whether any of it would be open to the public or the press.
President Obama is traveling throughout California today as part of an effort to boost support for his plans to increase education spending.
News of the meeting coincides with rumors about the health of Steve Jobs, who is currently on medical leave from Apple. Jobs was photographed earlier this month by the National Enquirer entering the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto, California, bolstering suspicions that the Apple founder had been diagnosed with the life-threatening disease. Physicians who spoke with the National Enquirer say Jobs’ illness is “terminal,” but that claim is unsubstantiated.
Google’s Eric Schmidt, who recently handed over his CEO title to co-founder Larry Page, said Tuesday that he was “very, very proud” of Google executive Wael Ghonim, who is widely-credited with helping spark the recent revolution in Egypt — a situation of immeasurable importance for the Obama administration.
Since the beginning of his presidency, Obama has had a tech-centric agenda. Most recently, the president announced a White House plan that aims to bring 4G wireless broadband to 98 percent of Americans. The plan is estimated to cost roughly $30 billion over ten years. In addition to expanding wireless broadband access to the general public, Obama’s plan will also commit around $10 billion towards connecting public safety and emergency services with reliable wireless access.
On Friday, Obama will travel to Oregon to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of a new Intel factory.
