Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple
Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, joins Apple's Board
Perhaps that Google iPod wrap was a hint; Apple just announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was elected to Apple's Board of Directors at today's Board of Directors meeting. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, "Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead."Google and Apple sitting in a tree? Well, probably not, but if I were in upper management at a certain Redmond based company I would take note of this development.
You can look at the membership of Apple's Board of Directors here.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Silver said 5:07PM on 8-29-2006
Are the forces of good aligning for an assault on the Gates of Mordor? Er, Microsoft?
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Wheels said 6:56PM on 8-29-2006
If I were in upper management at a certain Redmond based company I would be throwing around my office furniture...again.
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Rob Erekson said 7:15PM on 8-29-2006
A good start would certainly be making Google's web apps work much, much better in Safari. :)
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Chris Bell said 7:49PM on 8-29-2006
Alright! Finally, Picasa for the Mac!
.....yeah, right.
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SubGenius said 8:56PM on 8-29-2006
Where this really matters
.Mac (web services)
WebObjects (web applications development)
XServes (enterprise servers)
XRAID (storage solutions)
OS Tech (Search and GFS)
Schmidt is smart and can give expertise in many of these areas.
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frosty said 10:29PM on 8-29-2006
Nice one. I hadn't been paying attention to the board, but it's interesting to see Art Levinson there.
http://www.gene.com/gene/about/management/exec/levinson.jsp
A long time ago I worked for him (about five steps down the ladder). He's a very, very smart cookie.
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doug said 1:52AM on 8-30-2006
No. 1, I am not sure Google represents the forces of good, but they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So i guess this maybe represents that....
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John Iburg said 4:12AM on 8-30-2006
Introducing .Mac 2.0 beta (powerd by google)
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bphollin said 9:29AM on 8-30-2006
In addition to Apple, Levinson also sits on Google's Board of Directors (since 2004). Not surprising that they've gone for Schmidt, too. I seem to recall that Andy Hertzfeld (and I'd imagine others) is with Google now, so there seems to be a pattern of Apple/Google cross pollenation.
Let's see if this inbreeding is a good thing. I'm hoping that "don't be evil" and "you can make money without doing evil" are philosophies not going by the wayside. As long as my Mac and Google do what I want them to do (which they do) and stay fun (which they have), I'm a happy puppy.
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Dan in DC/VA said 8:52AM on 8-30-2006
Sorry to burst your bubble, guys.
Arthur Levinson was already on the Apple board *and* the Google board before Schmidt.
Not much new really happened here. The real headline should be: "2 Google guys on Apple board instead of just 1 ... Al Gore still chillin' with his Macinhood hommies".
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Sinny said 9:05AM on 8-30-2006
You are all wide of the mark here...the big news is what this means for the future development of Apple's 'office' type products, and their possible future intergration with Google.
Google has announced that is to launch web-based business tools with spreadsheets and wordprocessing first up. Its a simple process to give Apple a massive head start in this arena and give Google the credibility it needs...expect Apple branded web based software soon!
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tom barta said 2:51PM on 8-30-2006
Larry Ellison (Oracle) was on the Board, and that seem to accomplish much. This could be different, since GOOG is a growing, dynamic company. Maybe ".mac" can finally be ditched in favor of a google/apple hybrid product offering better value.
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Mike Utugau said 10:19PM on 8-30-2006
Let's do some basic algebra...
The two last letters of Google are L and E,
exactly the same two last letters of Apple, in the same order.
Apple and Google has the same ending sound.
Google has two G,
Apple has two P
if you exchange P and G,
Google would be called Poople
and Apple would be called Aggle
of course, next iPod would be called iGod.
After an imaginary fusion of Apple and Google, Larry Page would change his name to Larry Pages 3.0, Sergey Brin, would receive an upgrade on his name to Sergoogle Brin and Steve Jobs would be called Steve Jooble...
according to this math, Bill is the anti-christ using his throne in redmond to rule the world temporarily.
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autoshow said 6:34AM on 10-04-2006
"if you exchange P and G,
Google would be called Poople
and Apple would be called Aggle
of course, next iPod would be called iGod."
Mike, you're rock
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