Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt has joined the board of directors of Apple Computer Inc., Apple said on Tuesday.

Apple, maker of the Macintosh personal computer, elected Schmidt to the board at a meeting earlier in the day, according to a statement by California-based Apple.

Schmidt, 51, joined Mountain View, California-based Google from Novell Inc. in 2001. Before Novell, Schmidt was chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems Inc.

The statement signals closer professional ties between Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose iPod is the most popular digital music player, and Schmidt, who witnessed Google's rise to become the most-used Internet search engine.

There have been few instances that really top-flight people with operational experience can become directors, technological analysts in Silicon Valley said.

Apple shares fell 50 cents to 66.48 dollars at 4:30 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have fallen 7.5 percent this year.

Shares of Google fell 2 dollars to 378.95 dollars at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have declined 8.7 percent this year.

Source: Xinhua/agencies