Dr. Eric Schmidt resigns from Apple’s Board of Directors

Apple released a press statement today announcing that Dr. Eric Schmidt has resigned from their Board of Directors. As I alluded to here (I thought I wrote much more on this, but that must have been an email to a friend), I thought Dr. Schmidt would have to leave at some point, so I don't think this is a big deal, other than it finally happened. The wording on the press release is also raising a little bit of a stir in the community:

“Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest."

Everyone is reading a lot into that "unfortunately" statement, but I think they're missing the more favorable prelude to that statement:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

What do you think?