Gore, known as one of the most technologically savvy U.S. politicians and an early backer of public funding for the Internet, was voted onto the Cupertino, California-based company's board at its meeting earlier on Wednesday.

"Al brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom to Apple, from having helped run the largest organization in the world -- the United States government," Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. "Al is also an avid Mac user and does his own video editing in Final Cut Pro."

Gore, who helped popularize the phrase "Information Superhighway," said in a statement that he had been particularly impressed with Apple's Mac OS X operating system and the company's commitment to the open-source software movement.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the company's news release. She said Gore was not available to comment.

Gore earlier this year announced that he would not run for the Democratic presidential nomination for the 2004 election.

While Apple said that Gore is now a Mac user, he was filmed repeatedly on the campaign trail in the 2000 U.S. presidential election tapping away on a Thinkpad notebook PC, made by International Business Machines Corp. IBM.N .

Gore fills a position left vacant by Oracle Corp. ORCL.O Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Ellison, who calls Jobs his best friend. Ellison stepped down from Apple's board in September.

An article in BusinessWeek magazine last year criticized Apple as having one of the nation's worst boards, partially because Jobs was on The Gap Inc.'s GPS.N board at the same time that its chief executive was on Apple's board. Jobs has since stepped down from Gap's board.

Millard Drexler, who was Gap's chief executive, remains on Apple's board. However, he is now chief executive of privately held retailer J. Crew Group Inc.