It might be hard to comprehend that the then-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, served as one of Apple’s board members. However, his tenure was cut short abruptly on August 3, exactly 15 years ago, when he resigned from his position, as there were growing tensions caused by iOS and Google’s Android platform. Schmidt departed two years after Steve Jobs officially unveiled Apple’s first-ever iPhone.
It was not possible for Eric Schmidt to stay around as one of Apple’s board members, especially when Google’s Android platform was competing with iOS
Prior to his appointment, Jobs had the utmost respect for Eric Schmidt, believing his insights to be valuable, as his experience will guide Apple in the years to come. Schmidt became one of the technology giant’s board members on August 29, 2006, which was before the first iPhone materialized. However, seeing how Google’s mobile operating system, Android, was gaining traction and eating into iOS’ market share, it was difficult for Schmidt to divide loyalties between the two organizations that were continuously locking horns.
What made it even more tense was that Jobs demanded unwavering loyalty from Apple’s board members. Google was previously in a different business altogether, but that was before the introduction of Android, and soon enough, both entities were competing with one another, putting Schmidt between a rock and a hard place. Naturally, keeping this position was a challenge, and according to an Apple press release published on August 3, 2009, Jobs announced Eric Schmidt’s departure.
“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful. 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.”
As reported by Cult of Mac, Apple and Google were also being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission, making Schmidt’s appointment even more suspicious to the authorities. Assuming the former Google CEO had not resigned, regulators may have viewed it as a potential antitrust violation. Jobs was later reported to have regretted his decision to bring him onboard and also threatened Google with a ‘thermonuclear war’ for allegedly ripping off the iPhone user interface for Android. In the end, it is just one of those interesting tales that people often forget and makes for an exciting piece of technology history.