When Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
announced its new Chrome operating system earlier this week,
the move put the search company in direct competition not only with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) but also with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), further complicating -- one might even say
compromising -- Google CEO Eric Schmidt's position on Apple's board.
"I'll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there's no issue," Schmidt
told reporters at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Thursday.
Many observers think differently, with tech bloggers calling for
Schmidt to step down from Apple's board.
More importantly, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether the Apple directorships held by Schmidt and former Genentech Inc. CEO Arthur Levinson
violate antitrust laws, which say that a person can't be on two boards if it decreases competition between the two companies.
Schmidt says he already recuses himself from discussions about the iPhone and other areas where Google and Apple compete.
Soon, Schmidt may be spending quite a bit of time in the hall rather than in Apple's boardroom. -
Mary Kathleen Flynn
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