The apparent Apple-Google conflict of sorts took yet another new turn, with the Google CEO Eric Schmidt announcing his decision to step down from his contentious position as an Apple Director! Schmidt had been serving on the Apple board since 2006.

Schmidt’s decision to resign as the Director of the Apple board comes essentially because the businesses of both the well-known companies are becoming fiercely competitive in areas of mobile telephone technology and computer operating systems.

However, Schmidt’s resignation would likely have no bearing on the federal inquiry into the possible antitrust violations.

While nearly three months back, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated a probe into the overlapping directorships between Apple and Google; some days back, the US Federal Communications Commission opened an appraisal into the reason behind Apple’s rejection of a Google application for its popular iPhone.

The FTC said in a recent statement: “We will continue to investigate remaining interlocking directorates between the companies,” and added that Apple and Google had finally recognized that “sharing directors raises competitive issues, as the companies increasingly compete with each other.”

Meanwhile, commenting on Schmidt’s decision to step down from the Apple board, John Simpson – of the non-profit Consumer Watchdog – said: “It took Eric Schmidt far too long to realize that the two roles are incompatible. Nonetheless, we're glad Schmidt finally did the right thing!”