Thierry's TumbleLog

shaneguiter:

The computer maker Apple announced on Monday that Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, was stepping down from its board because of “potential conflicts of interest” as Google makes a play in the market for computer operating systems.

Mr. Schmidt’s resignation comes as the search giant begins to compete more directly with its longtime ally Apple, maker of the iPhone and iPod. It also follows months of investigations by federal regulators into whether Apple and Google had violated antitrust laws by sharing two directors. The chairman of Genentech, Arthur D. Levinson, remains on the board of both companies.

Mr. Schmidt had been on Apple’s board since August 2006, and Apple praised Mr. Schmidt for his work. But the company’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, said in a statement that Mr. Schmidt’s position would have been “significantly diminished” because he would have been forced to recuse himself from more of the meetings as Google and Apple began to compete head to head.