• The New York Times et al., Friday, January 21, 2011 12:07 PM

The big news from Google's earnings call on Thursday was co-founder Larry Page's imminent plans to replace Eric Schmidt as CEO. And, as you'd expect, no clear explanation from Google left the field wide open for speculation and innuendo.

Under the headline, "Google Shake-Up Is Effort to Revive Start-Up Spark," The New York Times writes: "As it has grown into the dominant company in Silicon Valley, Google has lost some of its entrepreneurial culture and become a slower-moving bureaucracy, analysts and insiders say, in contrast to Facebook, Twitter and other younger, more agile competitors."

In what sounds more like a prescriptive suggestion than a question, DailyFinance asks: "Will Page steer Google back to the spirit of that first founders' letter, plowing revenue into new research projects that might bear fruit five or 10 years from now, pulling down margins in the meantime?"

Meanwhile, some are suggesting that Schmidt is walking away now because he senses that Google's fortunes have peaked. Along with the continued rise of Facebook and Twitter, InformationWeek notes: "He is stepping aside just as Google spins the wheel on its riskiest bet yet: the launch of Chrome OS, the company's Web-based operating system."

Together with its growing Facebook problem, "Critics are also getting more vocal about the rapid deterioration of Google's search results, its core business, thanks in part to the contributions of "content farms" such as Demand Media," GigaOm writes.

On a more practical note, "Google's change could be designed to erase memories of some awkward statements made recently by its outgoing CEO," writes CNNMoney.com. "Schmidt's public image took some hits after a string of verbal gaffes." Notoriously, on CNN's "Parker Spitzer," Schmidt recently suggested that people who are uneasy about their properties showing up on Google Street View should move. Still, "People are surprised," Fortune tech writer Michael Copeland tells CNNMoney. "Nobody expected this." According to MediaMemo: "Most important, for now, is that investors seem okay with the new boss."

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