Apple has hired a new communications officer who is apparently supposed to work for the company’s major augmented reality headset plans. Like the financial news agency Bloomberg reports, Andrea Schubert will now work for Apple. Before that, she headed the PR and communication work for the AR and VR area at Facebook, which is now called Meta Platforms. There she is said to have been responsible for press work for the headset subsidiary Oculus, among other things.
Headset as a standalone device
At Apple, Schubert is apparently working in the same field. A first AR headset is expected there by the end of 2022. According to the mostly accurate Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the headset has a processor that can compete with an M1 Mac in terms of performance – thanks to Apple’s ARM-based Silicon.
Neither Mac nor iPhone are necessary when using the hardware. The device will also not only be intended for specific applications, but will also offer a software platform – possibly its own AR app store. Apple has been working on AR or mixed reality hardware for at least seven years. It would be the next big product category after the Apple Watch in 2015.
Bonuses for talents that stay
The new technology could not come on the market early enough at Apple: The company has another BloombergAccording to the report, there are currently difficulties in keeping key engineers in line. Rivals such as Meta are currently successfully poaching Apple employees. The group reacts with a share program: bonuses of up to 180,000 US dollars are to be given to top talents who stay in Cupertino for at least another four years.
Numerous engineers were also offered as a “surprise” blocks of shares valued at between $ 50,000 and $ 120,000, it said. Meta is said to have succeeded in recruiting around 100 Apple engineers in the last few months. This should have gone due to the inconsistent home office policy of the group, among other things.
(bsc)