Google poaches ex-Apple senior director, Amazon Kindle head for hardware focus shift

AppleInsider

Design executive David Foster, once a senior director at Apple, and most recently responsible for Amazon's Echo, Kindle, and Kindle Fire development has moved to Google, and will head up the search engine giant's smartphone push that is expected to start on Tuesday.

Foster spent six years at Apple between 1998 and 2004, as the "primary technical liaison" on the G4 and G5 towers, iMac and eMac families, the Xserve ecosystem, and specifically the iPod hard drive.



Following a brief stint at Gibson Guitar, Foster worked on Microsoft's Windows Phone, and with the Zune "cross-functional Group" from 2005 to 2011.



Foster started at Amazon in 2011 as vice president of hardware engineering, and was responsible for all hardware and technology development for Kindle and Kindle Fire product lines. Prior to his departure from Amazon, he oversaw the design team for all hardware devices for Amazon Lab126, including the Kindle, Kindle Fire, Echo, Fire TV, and Dash product lines.



Google is expected to launch a pair of smartphones on Tuesday, said to be called the "Google Pixel." Google does not manufacture its own hardware, and the initiative is said to be in conjunction with hardware partner HTC.



Other rumored announcements include the Google Home voice recognition-powered home assistant's pricing and availability, a 4k Chromecast, a Google-branded Wi-Fi router, and possibly a new computing platform similar to Chrome OS dubbed Google Andromeda.

techguy911

Google missed the hardware train already.  Especially this year with the Note disaster and iPhone missing headphone jack press.  I think the Pixel is going to be another mediocre Google standard phone that only the diehard fans will buy.  As Microsoft, HP, and Blackberry found out, you have to go big or go home.

5133

techguy911 said:

Google missed the hardware train already.  Especially this year with the Note disaster and iPhone missing headphone jack press.

But the Note is a Samsung phone, what are you talking about ? People in the website...

5133

sog35 said:

What a great hire!!!

This is the dude the lead the charge on the super successful Fire Phone!!!!

Echo ? Kindle Fire ? Fire TV ? Those are not a success ? So you choose the only mistake and didn't talk about all the other success ?

edited October 2016

spamsandwich

That Zune, though...

gatorguy

I doubt he's heading up Google's hardware division, instead working under former Motorola President Rick Osterloh who was hired several weeks ago. 

edited October 2016

maestro64

They are gathering up the cream of the crops here, just think this guy left Apple (not sure on his one accord) just as Apple was ramping up and went to competitors to take on failing attempts to displace Apple. Either this guy thought he knew better than Apple and through he could out do apple at it own game or he had no clue.

minisu1980

On the topic of google hardware I was under the impression that the only one making any money in the hardware side of Android was Samsung. Now Google wants to try and take the few scraps of profit from that as well. How is attempting to screw your partners over a good business move? Am I missing something?

spamsandwich

If you're a very visible higher up at Apple, Google, Amazon or Microsoft you can pretty much write your own ticket these days. A good time for job hoppers.

sirlance99

sog35 said:

What a great hire!!!

This is the dude the lead the charge on the super successful Fire Phone!!!!

Everyone and every company fails. Even with all the amazing successful products Apple and Jobs failed multiple times. 

edited October 2016

thewhitefalcon

maestro64 said:

They are gathering up the cream of the crops here, just think this guy left Apple (not sure on his one accord) just as Apple was ramping up and went to competitors to take on failing attempts to displace Apple. Either this guy thought he knew better than Apple and through he could out do apple at it own game or he had no clue.

Or he just wanted a new challenge? 

applesauce007

Microsoft Zune and Windows Phone... and Google what?

Uh Oh...  Look out below...

techguy911

5133 said:

techguy911 said:

Google missed the hardware train already.  Especially this year with the Note disaster and iPhone missing headphone jack press.

But the Note is a Samsung phone, what are you talking about ? People in the website...

People on the website? you have 2 posts here lol.  Anyway, the iPhone is an Apple product, what's your point?  I was listing negatives of the two main competing smartphones that potentially opened an opportunity for Google to release something that got some traction, but with the Pixel already designed and probably not being any good, they missed it.

edited October 2016

coolfactor

maestro64 said:

They are gathering up the cream of the crops here, just think this guy left Apple (not sure on his one accord) just as Apple was ramping up and went to competitors to take on failing attempts to displace Apple. Either this guy thought he knew better than Apple and through he could out do apple at it own game or he had no clue.

Seems to me he's just following the money, and has no loyalty to anybody except himself. He probably gets bored easily and moves on to the next project.

stantheman

I thought the "Google" trademark was to be used on the company's search and internet services, then everything else was to be named "Alphabet."

rogifan_new

So basically the MO of Google and Microsoft is to get better at hardware faster than Apple gets better at the cloud/AI/Machine Learning.

ny1822

...

edited October 2016

rayz2016

rogifan_new said:

So basically the MO of Google and Microsoft is to get better at hardware faster than Apple gets better at the cloud/AI/Machine Learning.

Astute. 

cali

5133 said:

sog35 said:

What a great hire!!!

This is the dude the lead the charge on the super successful Fire Phone!!!!

Echo ? Kindle Fire ? Fire TV ? Those are not a success ? So you choose the only mistake and didn't talk about all the other success ?

Fire Phone? He is working on iPhone knockoff push. His last iKnockoff was Fire Phone.

This is the only website I know of that isn't filled with 12-year-old trolls who hate Apple for no reason and cannot afford a real iPhone.
with that said I would see myself out if I were you. If you're not going to be mature and you're just going to troll be gone.

edited October 2016

tmay

rogifan_new said:

So basically the MO of Google and Microsoft is to get better at hardware faster than Apple gets better at the cloud/AI/Machine Learning.

I'd add that the MO of MS is to add advertising revenue faster than their Windows Phone revenue is decreasing...

1st

sog35 said:

Dude, read the article:

He "will head up the search engine giant's smartphone push"

I don't give a crap how 'successful' he was selling $49 tablets below cost (any idiot can sell stuff below cost) 

I could sell several million units of a product if I had the luxury of undercutting the entire industry and sell it well below costs. 
I could sell a million cars if I could sell them for $10k."
$49 tablets are bait for you to buy ebooks, just like all the other amazon gear, sell you the cloud, before you know you lost your soul.  If gas is 200 dollar, i am sure the car maker will team up with the oil company and would sell you car for 10K... strategic selling below cost either get rid of your competitor, or bait the customer to use your other service... I would say, he did what the master want him to do - so far, not too bad.  (Blu phone sell well with amazon ads is another example).  you pay one way or the other... (should I mention the carrier try to sell you phones that cost "zero" out of pocket?  I rest my case).