Chrome OS launch may change Google CEO’s Apple role
For some months now, the propriety of Eric Schmit’s seat on the Apple board of directors has been questioned with some saying he should step down as the two companies compete in more and more areas. Now, the news that the search giant plans to release an operating system has lead to increasing calls for the Google chief disentangle himself from Apple.
Reuters is reporting comments by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, indicating that even he now admits that the time may when he might have to leave his treasured position on Apple’s board of directors.
“I’ll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there’s no change,” Schmidt said when asked if he should recuse himself from Apple’s board because of the planned release of Chrome OS, the search giant’s foray into the operating system market which is currently dominated by Apple (10 percent share) and Microsoft (89 percent).
In related news, when asked about what he knew of Steve Jobs recent medical leave and liver transplant, Schmidt said, “I was extremely well-informed as a board member with what was going on with Steve,” though he declined to comment further on the matter.
And then what?
Although the ties that bind the two companies are multiplying and becoming closer, becoming more suspect in the process, I’m wondering if there’s another path that Google and Apple could follow aside from separating? In the post national, post monopoly world economy would a new company or trust that manages the two cooperating competitors’ coincident business ventures—an entity that maintains the veneer of separation—be a better answer?
That is, is there a middle way between the destructive, acquisitive greed of Microsoft and the stultifying morass of the telecoms industry? Perhaps there’s more here than just academic jousting…
What’s your take?
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