Apple appoints former Amazon, Google executive as new VP of Software

Apple has hired, Jon McCormack, Amazon’s former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of its devices unit, appointing him as the new Vice President (VP) of its Software business, Bloomberg confirms.

McCormack stood as the CTO of Amazon Devices between March and August of 2015, later moving to Google as the firm’s Head of Advanced Technologies and Products. More recently, McCormack stood as the Global Head of Software at Hewlett Packard, before becoming the VP of Software at Apple during the beginning of this month.

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The appointment of McCormack comes just days after Apple announced the appointment of John Giannandrea, Google’s former Head of AI as the new lead of Apple’s own AI business unit after Google split its AI and Search Units.

The two hires make a significant statement of intent from Apple in its efforts to bolster its own devices unit, poaching some of its rivals leading talent.

Apple has received some criticism of late as its own smart assistant Siri has continued to lag behind the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa in terms of both AI-powered capabilities and device integration.