In a press release put out on Apple’s website today, Apple confirms that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from his position on the Apple board of directors due to “conflict of interest” and the recent Google-Apple competition in the OS and embedded markets.

In a move humorously “reported” by fake Steve Jobs earlier in July, the rising conflicts between Apple’s longtime products and Google’s recent product announcements came to a head today as Google CEO Eric Schmidt stepped down from the Apple Board of Directors.

Fallout

It is no doubt that Eric’s presence on the Apple BoD has somewhat influenced Apple to start using Google products (namely, Maps and Search) within their products rather than similar alternatives.

Now that Eric is no longer a part of Apple and the tie between Apple and Google is strained if not completely severed, it is a question as to whether Apple will continue to provide Google services within their products as opposed to switching to alternatives or launching their own equivalents.

(That said, I don’t really see Apple using Bing any time soon)

Personal Opinion

I’ve always highly regarded Eric Schmidt personally, both as the author of the Lex programming tool and as the CEO of one of the best companies in the technology industry today, and I’m somewhat disappointed to see him step down from Apple.

As the saying goes, “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” – the move will undoubtedly weaken the bond between Apple and Google as a force against Microsoft and their ever-invasive range of products.

The move doesn’t spell death for anybody, but will still have an impact on how the companies cooperate and the presence of the Google brand within Apple products.