Google is facing more and more pressure from regulatory bodies as it ventures increasingly in the path of new competitors. Its entry into the mobile phone market and now into the operating system market with the upcoming Chrome OS put it at odds with Apple, a company it has been very cozy with up to this point joined by their common enemy Microsoft. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who had been on the Apple board for several years, recently quit his position there and now Arthur Levinson has resigned from Google's board of directors in favor of keeping his similar position at Apple.

"Art has been a key part of Google's success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who considered Levinson a good friend and valued colleague. "Though he leaves as a member of our Board, Art will always have a special place at Google."

"Working with Eric, Larry, Sergey and the whole Google team has been a remarkable experience for me. I greatly admire what they've built and have no doubt that Google has a terrific future," Levinson, who has been serving on Google's board of directors since 2004, stated. There haven't been any official comments on the reason for the departure but most believe the move is a clear response to the scrutiny Google has been seeing from the US Federal Trade Commission, which has been looking into the relationship between Google and Apple as the two companies become increasingly adversarial.

A couple of months ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who had been on Apple's board since 2006, resigned his position but claimed at the time that Levinson's predicament wasn't a problem and that he could continue to serve both companies. Apparently, things have changed and Levinson left Google with the only possible tie between the two companies being former US vice president Al Gore, who is a member of Apple's board and also a senior advisor for Google.