Google CEO Schmidt quits Apple board

Google CEO Schmidt quits Apple board

news.yahoo.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Google chief executive Eric Schmidt is resigning from the board of Apple due to "potential conflicts" as the two tech giants compete in certain areas, Apple announced Monday.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
money.cnn.com
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tech.yahoo.com

Not too much of a Conspiracy here... just very, very confused as to why this would occur.

Yahoo with their recent decision to join forces with Microsofts search engine "Bing" is raising Yahoo's stock up daily. Don't get me wrong, Google trumps Yahoo and Microsoft stock exponentially but the tables look as though they may start to change. Slowly.

And as much as I don't want to admit Microsoft success being an Apple user (please don't stone me! ) they have a great new ad campaign that Google should be weary of.

All I can think of is that Schmidt wants to focus his time solely on Google to help combat the issues they will be facing.

It may be me not understanding the hierarchies of Corporations fully, but I would think that one would want to diversify their interests in turmulant times, and invest into a safe company like Apple who is seeing steady profits even through the hurting economy. The same way one would diversify stocks, I would think that one would want to do the same with business investments.

Anybody have some inside Corporate knowledge whether I'm right that it is weird he would do it or could help me know why he might've quit?

Thanks guys!

-Sliadon

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Apparently an ATS alternative news story I submitted on Saturday August 1 didn't make the cut, for whatever reason, but I'm adding it again here because I think it is a story related to Sliadon's post on today's corporate reshuffling. Here is the link to last Friday's story in the Washington Post newspaper about a U.S. government inquiry launched Friday into links between Google, Apple and AT&T:

www.washingtonpost.com...

Briefly, the FCC has launched an inquiry into why the Google Voice application for the Apple iPhone was rejected, who rejected it, what the grounds were for that rejection, etc. They are certainly looking hard at the anti-trust aspects of this issue.

For example, Sliadon, there may be a connection (or a cause and effect relationship, even) between Friday's FCC inquiry and today's board resignation by Eric Schmidt. Look for more fireworks as the arguments and connections (conspiracies, even) between Apple, Google, and maybe even AT&T get hairier. Maybe Google is trying to create distance between itself and Apple, for instance, before the FCC inquiry balloons into a full-fledged investigation, or even an indictment.

Here is the other link I submitted in my Saturday ATS alternative breaking news story on the greater significance of this FCC investigation:

www.washingtonpost.com...

This Washington Post blogger argues that the wireless world should be at least as open to development as the wired world, now that internet access is more available on wireless phones. He's making a really important point. Yes, that would change the roles of wireless providers, maybe even reduce it, but otherwise those who want to use their cellphones for internet access are being unfairly limited in what applications they can use (Google Voice in this case). The blogger also notes that Skype filed a petition last year to open up wireless applications so that Skype will be available via wireless internet access.

Folks, there's a new FCC chairman in town, and the wireless internet may never be the same. Time will tell.

Edit: Oops, on the new FCC chairman in town, I mean that in a good way about changes in the wireless internet. It really is time that the Department of Justice opened up the wireless internet platform. Maybe even the prices will start dropping, ya think?

[edit on 8/3/2009 by Uphill]

reply to post by Uphill


Thanks Uphill!

Do you think that as a consequence of this we will see more occurrences like the AT&T/4chan ordeal? I know that ended up just being an issue of AT&T users having DOS issues but with a new FCC chairmen, do you think he will attempt to enact some of the fears people thought AT&T was trying?

Here is the ATS thread that talked about it:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

To give you cliff-notes of it, the biggest fear was that AT&T was trying to censor the content of the website and concerns arose of the legality of the actions.

-Sliadon

reply to post by Sliadon


Interesting question. For starters, here is the current web page of the U.S. Justice Department antitrust division:

www.usdoj.gov...

They are certainly hitting the ground running on antitrust issues, perhaps particularly with regard to AT&T. There will be quite a bit of news on antitrust cases under U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, apparently.

In this 4Chan story, it's especially interesting that AT&T is not answering questions! Well, the FCC inquiry on Google Voice will start to break open that logjam, and those answers may spur a wider FCC inquiry of AT&T.

Be aware of another website with a lot of breaking news in this area:

www.corporatecrimereporter.com...


[edit on 8/3/2009 by Uphill]

reply to post by Uphill


Thanks for the links, I'm going to go ahead and research those and see what I am able to piece together regarding this situation.

I'm hoping you are wrong in your fears about this new FCC chairman, but as you said, time will tell and we will see.

Thanks again!

-Sliadon

Hey MODs, now the Internet is starting to explode today with follow-up stories on the FCC inquiry into the denial of the Google Voice application by either Apple or AT&T or (gasp) a conspiracy of the two. Here is a PC World analysis:

www.pcworld.com...

And here is today's coverage from Information Week:

www.informationweek.com...

Here is the CNET analysis:

reviews.cnet.com...

The blogosphere is of course really going wild about this story today, and the FCC still is just in the inquiry stage. Fasten your seatbelts, folks.

The plot thickens. AT&T just issued a flat denial in a press statement, stating that they had nothing to do with the rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone:

macdailynews.com...

We shall see. Perhaps in a few days, the FCC will have more to say about this inquiry.

[edit on 8/3/2009 by Uphill]

Here is a story confirming that the FCC (which that reporter calls the 'FTC') is still conducting its inquiry about the rejection of Google Voice (and other Apps) from the App Store for Apple's iPhone, despite Google CEO Eric Schmidt's resignation from the Apple Board:

www.mediapost.com...

My prediction is that this FCC inquiry will result in a formal investigation of open-access issues spanning the entire wireless platform.

In the link below, you can read the full text of the original letter of inquiry sent from the FCC on Friday, July 31, 2009 to AT&T:

hraunfoss.fcc.gov...

Here is the FCC letter of inquiry to Google:

hraunfoss.fcc.gov...

Here is the FCC letter of inquiry to Apple:

hraunfoss.fcc.gov...

And here is a link to the story in the N.Y. Times newspaper that first announced the rejection of the Google Voice app for the iPhone; this is the news article cited by the FCC in the above Letters of Inquiry:

www.nytimes.com...

Hold the phone, just when I was about to log off of BTS for the day, I saw on my other browser a just-posted story on the BBC news website about Eric Schmidt's resignation:

news.bbc.co.uk...

And from that same BBC reporter, here is her blog entry, which sheds further light on Schmidt's action. It is titled "Schmidt and Jobs part company."

www.bbc.co.uk...

It notes, for example, that each time the Apple Board meetings began discussions about the iPhone while Schmidt was a Director on the Apple board, Mr. Schmidt left the room. Yeah right, like that's all it takes to avoid a conflict of interest.

[edit on 8/4/2009 by Uphill]