Apple appoints Jeff Williams as COO, Johny Srouji as SVP hardware, Phil Schiller now in charge of App Store

Phil Schiller has been leading Marketing at Apple and is now taking charge of App Stores

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has announced the promotion of Jeff Williams as Chief Operations Officer, the addition of Johny Srouji as VP of hardware and SVP of Marketing Phil Schller is now in charge of the App Store.

Williams is Tim Cook's second in command, a former IBM'er and now occupies Cook's position before Steve Jobs turned over the reigns to Cook in 2011. While it may or may not be an indication of succession for Apple's top executive position, it does show confidence in Jeff William's ability to manage operations as Apple scales in terms of operations and services.

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Former HTC design head jumps ship to Fitbit

We previously reported that HTC's Associate Vice President of Industrial Design Jonah Becker was leaving the company. It would seem he has made a move to fitness device maker Fitbit. At Fitbit, he will serve in a newly created position as the company's vice president of industrial design. He will report directly to CEO James Park.  

His experience prior to his stint with HTC might help Fitbit create new looks for their devices. Becker came to HTC after the design firm One & Co., where he was a partner with another former HTC executive Scott Croyle, was bought by the Taiwanese smartphone maker. During his stint with One & Co., he has worked with companies like Adidas, Burton Snowboards, K2 Sports, and Nike. 

Source: CNET 

Tim Cook: " We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick."

I will personally continue to advocate for equality for all people until my toes point up.- Tim Cook 

Apple's CEO Tim Cook penned a very personal and insightful editorial titled "Tim Cook Speaks Up." In his editorial, Cook discusses his pride in being a gay man and how this has made him more empathetic and aware of issues that minorities deal with. Cook writes, "While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me." Cook's letter is worth a read, it serves as a rare call for everyone to, as Cook says, "inspire people to insist on their equality." Check out the piece here.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

The Apple Beat: Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch moves to Apple as VP for technology

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Adobe's loss, it seems, is Apple's gain. Former Adobe CTO and visionary Kevin Lynch is reportedly headed to Apple to take on the VP of technology position which will put the industry veteran and cloud-computing impresario in the middle of Apple's prominent cloud, ecosystem and application product nucleus. Prior to Adobe, Lynch was with Macromedia which originated Flash and Shockwave.

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