Schmidt doesn't see problem with Apple board seat

Google acknowledged that it's in talks with the Federal Trade Commission over CEO Eric Schmidt's position as a director of Apple, The New York Times reported. Schmidt said it shouldn't be a concern.

“From my perspective, I don’t think Google sees Apple as a primary competitor,” Mr. Schmidt said in a meeting with reporters ahead of the company’s annual shareholder meeting.

Mr. Schmidt said that if there were areas of competition between the two, he would recuse himself from discussions. He added that it was well known that he typically recuses himself from Apple board discussions related to the iPhone.

Information is incredibly important. We should expect governments around the world to pay attention to what we do and also to hold us to the principles that we have articulated.

What has changed is that we are more careful about when and how we do things that are going to raise concerns from any party.

But what exactly has Google changed as a result of said concerns? He didn't have an answer, the Times' Miguel Helft said.