TechCrunch's sources at Google have informed them that Apple and Google had a no-poach employee agreement going on over the years that Google's Eric Schmidt was on the board of directors at Apple. "This was not a written agreement, and was considered non-official, but it was well-known and followed within the recruitment division of Google, we’re told."
Google and Apple have been investigated by the DOJ for sharing board members which could theoretically have the byproduct of this type of behavior.
Interestingly, now that Schmidt is off of Apple's board, the "gentle
