Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on the board of Apple for three years and at one time it was said that they had a pact not to poach each other’s employees. They were always thought to be united in fighting a bigger enemy – Microsoft.

In 2007, however, Google released Android, a mobile phone operating system; while the iPhone runs on a propitiatory operating system developed by Apple. At first, this was was seen as primarily an attack on Microsoft and its Windows OS. Still, the handwriting was on the wall, and Schmidt resigned from the board of Apple a month later.

Then, in the July 2009 Google announced the Google’s Chrome OS, a web-based operating system meant for netbooks, and has more recently even announced its own “app store” that would directly compete with the Apple app store. With the launch last week of the iPad – essentially a high end netbook – it seems Apple now considers the Chrome OS a direct threat.

Now it has really come to a head. Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs reportedly verbally attacked Google Inc. at an employee meeting after rolling out the new iPad tablet computer last week. Wired reported that Google’s entry into the phone business with its Nexus One drew the ire of Apple CEO. They quoted attendees of the meeting in which Jobs reportedly let loose a tirade where he called Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto “bullshit” “We did not enter the search business, they entered the phone business,” it reported Jobs told his employees. “Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

Apple and AT&T are being sued for $1.2 billion (£590 million) over the Apple iPhone. The complaint was filed in a Californian district court by law firms Folkenflik & McGerity and Hoffman & Lazear on behalf of Apple iPhone owners. The lawsuit claims that Apple’s decision to offer the Apple iPhone on just one mobile network is illegal under US antitrust laws and California’s unfair trade practice laws. The lawsuit claims that Apple iPhone users are being restricted to using only AT&T’s mobile network and Apple applications on their devices.

In what will undoubtedly be a blow to the Skype founders’ seller rating, eBay finally acknowledged that its bid for the VoIP firm may have been a tad overenthusiastic and that whatever expectations it had were not being met. EBay announced that in the quarter just ended, it will take $1.4 billion in write-offs and charges related to the Skype acquisition. About $530 million will go to former Skype shareholders to help them forget about those additional performance-based payouts. And eBay will write off about $900 million in Skype-related “goodwill” to more accurately reflect the acquisition’s value. And just in case the message wasn’t clear, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom was eased out of the CEO’s office and given the non-executive chairman’s seat at the Skype board table.

Broadcom Corporation, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a significant expansion of its cellular design center in Taiwan that will help to drive development of a new generation of Microsoft Windows Mobile smart phones based on Broadcom’s highly integrated 3G cellular chipsets.  “We expect smart phones to capture increasing market share as optimized silicon solutions drive handset costs lower,” said Jim Tran, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Mobile Communications line of business…  The Broadcom Taiwan Design Center is located in the Xin-Yi district of Taipei City… Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe.