Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple board

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple's board of directors.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Schmidt would have had to recuse himself from large portions of the company's board meetings. That's because Google Inc. is entering more of Apple's core businesses, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and gadget maker said.

The decision comes a few months after Schmidt expressed confidence that a government inquiry into his role on Apple's board won't find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and elsewhere.

He said in May, in a media session ahead of Google's annual shareholder meeting, that he hasn't considered stepping down as an Apple director because he doesn't view the company as a "primary competitor."

Schmidt had been on Apple's board since August 2006. His resignation comes as the Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether Google's common ties with Apple might discourage competition.

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Google's Android operating system is used in mobile devices that compete with Apple's iPhone. And Google is also developing a free operating system based on its Web browser, Chrome. Meanwhile,

Google has recently turned its 2007 acquisition of GrandCentral into Google Voice, which assigns a unique phone number to each user and lets the user direct calls to that number to any other phone line.

Relationships between the two company haven't always been smooth. On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to Apple and Google — as well as Apple's iPhone partner in the United States, AT&T — seeking more information on Apple's rejection of Google Voice's application for the iPhone.