Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple Board

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.” said Apple in a press release a short while earlier.

This move was widely expected and this comes as no surprise as Eric Schmidt was already recusing himself out of board meetings concerning the Apple iPhone because of Google’s own Android platform competing in the smartphone arena. Now that Google is also into Chrome OS, this comes as no surprise.