Schmidt, the CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant Google, had been on Apple’s board for three years. But the Federal Trade Commission has been investigating his membership for a few months, and recent product launches across the two search giants mean that the two companies are beginning to tread on each other’s territories.
In September 2008, Google launched their Chrome web browser. Initially launched for Windows, Chrome is now available on the Mac and Linux as well. Last month, it also announced that it was working on a web-based operating system called Chrome OS.
Apple has a web browser called Safari. Initially a Mac-only product, Safari is now available on Windows platform as well.
Even though they appear to be aimed at Microsoft’s operating system and browser share, Google’s Chrome browser and Chrome OS will nevertheless compete with Apple’s Safari and Macintosh operating system.
In addition, Google’s Android OS for mobile phones means that Google is directly facing off against Apple’s iPhone in the increasingly competitive smartphone business.
Some analysts are also citing the recent rejection of Google’s Voice iPhone application as another harbinger for Schmidt’s resignation.
On July 27, Apple announced that they had rejected Google Voice from the iPhone App Store. On Friday, July 31, the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to the three companies involved--Apple, AT&T and Google--asking for more details. The investigation, which raises the possibility of antitrust action against Apple and AT&T, brings to light a longstanding dispute between carriers--which have attempted to control how their wireless network is used--and consumer advocates, who believe that the consumers have control over what applications to run on the network.
Google has long been an advocate of open networks and a web-centric computing model. That view puts its against the world that Microsoft and Apple have built—a world built on devices and operating systems.
