CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore was elected Wednesday to the board of Apple Computer Inc.

Gore, who popularized the "information superhighway" as vice president and helped secure money to build the Internet as a congressman, praised chief executive Steve Jobs and other Apple executives for making the computer company "once again the very best in the world."

But despite critically acclaimed products and a supportive fan base, Apple only has a 3 percent share of the U.S. personal computer market, according to the research firm IDC.

Jobs cited Gore's wealth of knowledge about running the U.S. government - and pointed out that the former vice president does his own video editing in Apple's Final Cut Pro software.

"Al is going to be a terrific director, and we're excited and honored that he has chosen Apple as his first private sector board to serve on," Jobs said.

Gore, who announced last fall he would not seek the presidency in 2004, also serves as a senior adviser to the search firm Google Inc. and is a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University.

Gore fills a seat left vacant by the September resignation of Oracle Corp. chief executive Larry Ellison. Other board members include Jobs, William V. Campbell of Intuit, Millard "Mickey" Drexler of J. Crew, Arthur Levinson of Genentech and Jerome York of Micro Warehouse Inc.