It was only a matter of time really.

Apple announced today that Google Chief Executive, Eric E Schmidt, was stepping down from its board because of “potential conflicts of interest”. Well gee.. you think?

Once long time allies, Google and Apple have been competing more directly as Google ventures past its core competency in search and into areas such as operating systems and mobile devices.

Some of the areas where the two companies directly compete include mobile operating systems (Google Android vs Apple’s OS X), computer OS’s (Google’s just announced Chrome OS vs Apple’s OS X), web browsers (Google Chrome browser vs Apple Safari), and of course, the Internet application suite (Google Apps vs Apple Mobile Me).

With so many overlapping services and products, Mr. Schmidt’s role within Apple would have been severely diminished anyhow as he would need to recuse himself from many meetings involving competing services.

[Check it out]

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