Ex-Apple big cheese heads to Google on secret new assignment

Post by Aurora Johnson on 6th February 2012
 in Apple, Google

A senior manager at Apple has been poached by Google to help with a secret new project.

An exclusive report from Venturebeat.com said that former Apple senior director of product integrity, Simon Prakash, had worked for the company for eight years.

It's not known what, if any, specific projects Prakash will head up, but according to Venturebeat's article, he will report directly to Sergey Brin, the company's co-founder, whose current brief encompasses overseeing a range of secret research and development projects.

It points out that there are likely to be several hardware development projects under way, after Google's acquisition late last year of Motorola Mobility.

Venturebeat's Dean Takahashi comments that the hiring shows that "if there really was a 'no poaching' agreement between Apple and Google, it's clear that it no longer exists."

And he adds: "That’s probably a good thing, considering that the [American] Justice Department is now paying attention."