Google CEO Schmidt Leaves Apple Board

Jerod Venema writes "Today, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board of directors, citing conflicts of interest. Apple has released a statement that the company and Schmidt reached a decision to split ties as Google enters new markets that directly compete with Apple's iPhone and Mac operating systems. Schmidt had recused himself of portions of Apple's board meetings when conflicts of interest or anything Google-related arose. But Steve Jobs said Schmidt would have to leave much larger portions of the meetings after Google announced last month that it would enter the operating system sphere."

Comments

Google Voice Rejected

[Blahgerton]

Surely this has nothing to do with Google Voice being rejected from the App Store.

Re:Google Voice Rejected

[Anonymous Coward]

No. It has more to do with a pending antitrust lawsuit by the DOJ.

Re:Google Voice Rejected

[Anonymous Coward]

Conflicts of interest made it inevitable that Schmidt would leave, but considering the timing, I wouldn't be surprised if GV being rejected was the impetus.

Re:Google Voice Rejected

[natehoy]

Probably the latest in a long string of conflicts of interest. Schmidt couldn't really honestly get involved in the Google Voice discussions, obviously, since he represents the competition.

As Google wants to eat more and more of Apple's lunch (and vice versa) having the same person on both Boards is almost guaranteed to be an automatic conflict. The timing of this is about right, since Google is getting into new lines of business that compete with almost everything Apple wants to do now.

Re:Google Voice Rejected

[0100010001010011]

No, and don't call me Shirley.

Re:Google Voice Rejected

[lukas84]

Apple apparently signed that contract with AT&T, so trashing them seems to be in order.

only mp3 players left

[robinsc]

Well if you look
Safari => chrome
Mac os => google os
iphone => android
xserve =>google server farms

probably the only thing he didn't have to recuse himself from would be mp3 players....

Re:only mp3 players left

[El_Muerte_TDS]

turtle necks => t-shirts

Re:only mp3 players left

[lorenlal]

hippies => free spirits?

Re:only mp3 players left

[nxtw]

How can you compare xserver(a sold product) to googles server farms that are completely in house

Using hosted Google services is an alternative to running similar applications on a local server. For example, there's no need to have a local email/calendaring server if you use Gmail and Google Calendar. In this example, it's really OS X Server that could be conflicting with Google's services.

But the more relevant conflict is between Apple's MobileMe and Google's collection of (free) web apps.

Re:only mp3 players left

[RichardJenkins]

I read somewhere that Apple also has a line in consumer PC hardware.

Re:only mp3 players left

[dkleinsc]

free spirits => free beer => free speech?

Re:only mp3 players left

[MightyYar]

I of course could be wrong, but I don't think Apple will sell anything cheaper than the Mini. The margins are simply too low for them to be interested in the netbook market, even if that market continues to grow. I think Apple has demonstrated consistently in the last decade that they value margins over market share.

Re:only mp3 players left

[MBGMorden]

Since I don't rent music, iTunes adds no value.

iTunes has never "rented" music in the resurrected Napster sense, and even in the "I call DRM renting" conniving sense virtually every piece of music sold by iTunes no no longer carries any DRM, so no matter which way you try to spin it these days your statement is simple FUD.

Re:only mp3 players left

[MightyYar]

FYI, the two big music stores, iTunes and Amazon, don't use DRM of any kind anymore for their music.

Video, on the other hand...

Re:only mp3 players left

[dissy]

How can you compare xserver(a sold product) to googles server farms that are completely in house

It isn't too hard. One just needs to realize that googles server farms are not completely in house and are also a sold product.

http://www.google.com/enterprise/search/gsa.html

The Google Search Appliance (GSA) provides fast, relevant search for your website or intranet. An on-premise, easy-to-deploy solution, the GSA provides your organization with high relevancy right out of the box, can be customized to meet your specific needs, and scales easily as your content grows.

Not exactly as sexy compared to an xserve, but it is a sold product none the less.

Google Appliance Pict
Xserve Pict

Re:Slooooow news day, huh?

[Sockatume]

Yeah, the internal politics of two of the biggest companies in personal computing in the wake of the Google Voice debacle are of absolutely no interest to anyone. What we need is wiring diagrams, dammit.

Re:First thing on my mind

[pha7boy]

nevermind. it was 150mil stake of non-voting stock. So I guess no board of directors position.

Arthur Levinson?

[Faizdog]

Genentech Inc. Chairman Arthur Levinson also serves as a director on both boards. The Feds are investigating that as well. What about him? The news story keep mentioning that Schmidt would recuse himself from discussions related to Google, what about Levinson? Did he recuse himself from both Google and Apple meetings when the other was being discussed?

Just curious.

Re:Arthur Levinson?

[rsmith-mac]

The FTC/DOJ would be far more interested in Schmidt since he's not just on both boards, but he's an employee for one of the companies. The primary issue they're seeking to prevent is collusion, which is would usually be accomplished by company employees sitting on each others' boards. A common 3rd party board member on two similar companies is also an issue, but it's not nearly as pressing of an issue since they aren't an employee.

Or to put this another way, they're handling one thing at a time.

Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

I've always said that fucking Eric Schmidt is a fucking pussy. It's about time Apple realized that.

-Anonymous CEO

Re:Finally

[Norsefire]

Hi Steve!

Re:Finally

[csartanis]

Ohh, but which Steve?

Re:Why?

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Why is Jobs telling the Board what to do? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

The Board tells Jobs the CEO what to do. Jobs, Chairman of the Board and major stockholder, tells the Board what to do.

Re:Sorry Eric

[NatasRevol]

http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html

Read #6.

It's more than a towel, it's their ideals.

May be good news for Android

[Zebedeu]

I'm happy for these news because rumours have it that Google didn't implement some features such as multitouch in Android at Apple's request.

Now that they aren't buddy-buddy anymore, maybe Google will say fuck it and implement those features anyway (much as Palm did with the Pré).

Looking forward to that multitouch, and hopefully for those spring animations when a list reaches the end (in Android there isn't any visual feedback when you reach the end of a list except for the mini scrollbar on the right).

Re:Or perhaps?

[je ne sais quoi]

Just to emphasize here, according to the NYT, last month, in the middle of the worst recession in decades:

Apple recorded its best nonholiday quarter ever when other electronics makers were hurting because of a downturn in consumer spending.

They saw increasing revenue and profit in every single division of the company. Compare this to Microsoft, who last quarter saw:

On Thursday, the world's largest software company reported its worst fiscal year since it initially sold stock to the public in 1986. Year-over-year revenue and full-year sales of Microsoft's flagship Windows software dropped for the first time.

Microsoft saw billion dollar reductions in revenue in both the windows (Client) and office (Business) divisions, and it's xbox (entertainment) and search (on-line) divisions were actually in the red and are losing the company money.

Apple is not a "ship going down", this statement is demonstrably false, people are even calling it recession proof. You could say that about Microsoft however and not be contradicted by facts.

Well, you know what they say...

[inode_buddha]

"Schmidt Happens"

Re:Why?

[Man On Pink Corner]

Jobs has altered the corporate charter. The Board should pray he does not alter it further.