Internal Apple probe concludes. Executive team cleared

BusinessWeek reports that Apple has cleared both Apple management and CEO Steve Jobs himself of any wrongdoing after concluding its internal probe about backdated stock options.

"The special committee, its independent counsel and forensic accountants have performed an exhaustive investigation of Apple's stock option granting practices," said Al Gore, former VP of the United States and chair of the special committee, and Jerome York, chair of Apple's Audit and Finance Committee. "The board of directors is confident that the Company has corrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has complete confidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team."

As Scott posted earlier today, Apple has finally filed its SEC forms 10-Q and 10-K for the 2006 fiscal year.

So what does this mean to the Apple user community at large? Probably nothing much. Jobs' hiring of personal counsel looks like simple business-as-usual.