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Dr. Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple’s Board of Directors
- cesare 17y agoNow tell me that this has nothing to do with the recent events (the Google Voice removal from the App Store).
- daleharvey 17y agosince thats what the press release actually says, I doubt all that many people are going to argue.
- cesare 17y agoNot really. The press release says that it's about the potential conflict of interest. It would have been a concern as soon as Google announced Android, and probably even before.
- daleharvey 17y agoQuitting the board of a company like apple isnt a decision taken lightly. As most people and the techcrunch headline pointed out, this has been a long time coming, the google voice situation may have been the tipping point, but this would have happened sooner or later regardless.
- knightinblue 17y agoIt doesn't. There, I told you. In all probability, it's a case of the google voice debacle being the final straw rather than it being the deciding factor.
- ubernostrum 17y agoI think it does have to do with recent events, just not the events you're mentioning. Having on your board an executive from a company that competes with you in multiple ways is awkward, both for your company and for the executive.
- TetOn 17y agoIndeed, iPhone v. Android was trouble enough. Add in ChromeOS vs. Mac OS X, and Google Apps v. their Apple counterparts and you begin to wonder just which parts of the board meeting after coffee and bagels that he could actually take part in. I'd imagine that GV was, at best, a side-show to this decision.
- dtf 17y agoApparently the shit really hit the fan when Steve saw leaked sketches of the new Google Tablet.
- tybris 17y agoHis position has been unmaintainable for a while, but it may have made him realise its time to leave.
- jws 17y agoGoogle Voice is irrelevant to this decision. Schmidt has been recusing himself from all things iPhone related since Anroid. Now he has to recuse himself from all things MacOS related. (I doubt the board discusses Safari and iWork, but they overlap as well) I imagine his presence also constrains the board during general topics. Many relevant asides are foreclosed. I guess he could stay for laptop and desktop hardware strategy and non-product business issues, but he is increasingly unable to apply the special insight that made him valuable as a board member.
- medianama 17y agoWhat took them so long?
- antipax 17y agoGuess the GV thing was the tip of the iceberg for him.
- wglb 17y agoPerhaps you mean the straw that broke the camel's back?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- jerf 17y agoI like to refer to things like this as "the brick that broke the camel's back". "Straws" that break the camel's back should be reserved for an insignificant annoyance that sets you off after a long period of building up grievances; calling it the brick implies the long buildup of grievances but also that this one is pretty significant. (And it tends to get a chuckle, which is a plus in my book.) I think this is a pretty significant finger in the eye from Apple.
- dhimes 17y agohey, hey, one metaphor at a time!
- Eliezer 17y agoAnd if it's really large, "the anvil that broke the camel's back".
- JacobAldridge 17y ago"Man, I'm guessing that was the nuclear warhead that broke the camel's back." "And destroyed most of his neighborhood."
- dejb 17y agoI wonder if the GV thing was a result of internal politics with the aim being to force Schmidt to resign. I mean it seemed a bit too heavy handed even for Apple. Either way he had to go. Hopefully this will mean it's 'game on' for full competition in the mobile space.
- antaeos 17y agoFake Steve Jobs must be ready to explode right around now.
- boredguy8 17y agoYeah, since he's been saying Eric is 'dead to me' for quite a while. Still one of the best tech 'gossip' blogs out there.
- markm 17y agoDaniel Lyons, (aka. Fake Steve) also wrote this article for Newsweek called "Lyons: Why Good Web Sites Should Not Be Free". Lyons pandered to the Newsweek demographic which for the most part wouldn't be heavy Internet users. Newsweek Article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/208163 http://www.newsweek.com/id/208163 Reddit discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/942qd/why_old_people_should_not_write_about_the_internet/ http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/942qd/why_old_people_sh... HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=722991 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=722991 Not intending to cut Lyons at the knees, more hoping to add perspective to his body of work.
- michaelneale 17y agoHe also has some notoriety by going in to bat for SCO (which I recall he now regrets): http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/07/daniel-lyons-fake-steve-jobs-and-the-sco-shill-who-hated-linux/ http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/08/07/daniel-lyons-fake-s...
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- huherto 17y agoA little OT.But I think it is really, really cool that a very technical person is acknowledged to be a capable CEO. Many companies still consider technical people incapable to be leaders (just by definition). Agree some techies may not have the desire or the social skills to lead but not all techies are like that.