Apple hunts for replacement for Google CEO Schmidt

On Tuesday, Apple's board of directors will gather to take up the question of who will replace Google CEO Eric Schmidt, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Schmidt recently left Apple's board after three years, citing concerns that Apple and his own company's businesses were beginning to overlap too much. Both are players in the mobile phone market (Google's Android operating system competes with Apple's iPhone) and soon will compete in desktop operating systems, when Google releases its Chrome OS.

The board could bring in a new director from the outside, but there has been talk that COO Tim Cook, who assumed the helm for CEO Steve Jobs while he was on a six-month medical leave of absence earlier this year, is at least being considered.

Besides Jobs, the board has six other members: Intuit chairman Bill Campbell, J.Crew CEO Millard Drexler, former US Vice President Al Gore, Avon CEO Andrea Jung, Genentech chairman Arthur Levinson, and former CFO of IBM and Chrysler Jerry York.

Original article: Report: Apple board discussing replacement for Schmidt next week from CNET News.com