Schmidt leaves Apple board

Ending a three-year terms as an Apple director, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple's board today. Here's the official word, hot off the Internet from Apple PR's Steve Dowling:

Apple® today announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, is resigning from Apple’s Board of Directors, a position he has held since August 2006.

“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.”

Android is Google's operating system for cell phones; a new T-Mobile/HTC model with the latest version of Android hits stores Wednesday and will be reviewed here in the "Your Tech" column. Apple has no shortage of high-profile directors, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.