Larry Page and Eric Schmidt. Photo:AP

Everyone’s talking about Google’s “management shake-up” as co-founder Larry Page becomes CEO and Eric Schmidt becomes chairman. While this move has implications for the company’s next moves, it also has the potential to change how the company is perceived by the public.

Some coverage asks if it’s really a shake-up at all, other stories posit that the move is part of its strategy for taking on the start-ups of the world. And in the realm of how the company’s seen, several reports note how its public image has progressed already. That’s very different coverage than Apple’s seeing as Steve Jobs takes medical leave, which questions the company’s future without its “cult CEO.”

The switches, interestingly, are happening as Apple faces increasing competition from Google. A Bloomberg story points to Google as a “formidable competitor” especially given the way its mobile operating system, Android, is selling.