Dropcam Co-Founder Greg Duffy Joins Apple

[MacRumors]

Greg Duffy, the founder and former CEO of security camera company Dropcam, has accepted a role at Apple and will be leaving Google, reports The Information.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed that Duffy has been hired by Apple, but didn't share details on his role at the company. The Information speculates that he could be leading a special project at Apple, given his background.

Duffy who co-founded Dropcam in 2009, led the company until it was acquired by Google-owned Nest for $555 million in mid-2014. Duffy spent several months working for Nest before departing the company in January of 2015 amid rumors of a culture clash between Nest and Dropcam.

Duffy was reportedly unhappy with the way Nest founder Tony Fadell ran the Alphabet-owned subsidiary, going as far as referring to him as a "tyrant bureaucrat."

At any given time, Apple has multiple "special projects" going on behind the scenes, so it's difficult to speculate on what Duffy could be working on at the company. Apple is rumored to have a range of exploratory products in the works, including the Apple Car, an Amazon Echo-style home hub, an AR product, and more.

Article Link: Dropcam Co-Founder Greg Duffy Joins Apple

 

[Drumjim85]

But, I thought everyone was leaving Apple, and they're doomed.

 

[farewelwilliams]

dropcam for the apple car...
call that, crashcam.

 

[mejsric]

be careful, im afraid after they gather info they will go back to google.

 

[Andreas56938]

dropcam for the apple car...
call that, crashcam.

Funny comment! Thank you!

Anyway, I am still chuckling at the idea of an Apple car.
Imagine this.
A few car enthusiasts get together, and the following conversation ensues.
A: What you driving?
B: Porsche 911, yourself?
A: 2016 Dodge Viper.
B: Cool. What about you, C?
C: Audi TT.
A: Hey, I! You are so quiet, what you drive?
I: ... I drive an Apple.
A, B, C: LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO, LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO

 

[69Mustang]

be careful, im afraid after they gather info they will go back to google.

I can see it now:
Former Google-former Apple-current Google employee reporting back to Google execs...

"They are preparing to use OLED like Samsung, and like everybody else has already done, may offer 4K on the ATV at some point. They might build a Home/Echo type device like Google and Amazon. They have the sweetest set of emoji in their pipeline. I did have a chance to peek in a secret lab and get this... a new watchband, well a new watchband color at least. And as far as I can tell, their famous pipeline is actually an empty hallway at the back of the building where they store old cubicles and left over iPod socks."

 

[44267547]

Funny comment! Thank you!

Anyway, I am still chuckling at the idea of an Apple car.
Imagine this.
A few car enthusiasts get together, and the following conversation ensues.
A: What you driving?
B: Porsche 911, yourself?
A: 2016 Dodge Viper.
B: Cool. What about you, C?
C: Audi TT.
A: Hey, I! You are so quiet, what you drive?
I: ... I drive an Apple.
A, B, C: LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO, LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO

For the record, everyone of your posts on this site are disparaging against Apple in a poor fashion and have zero credibility to the actual topic.

Back on topic: Apple is likely seeking to gain more Contribution to the Apple Car with this newest member. Curious to see any more related news on Bob Mansfield and his contributions.

 

[now i see it]

He won't last long. Hard for any previous CEO to now take orders from a so called manager now telling them what to do.

 

[Cosmosent]

Duffy's role at Apple is very-likely related to their wide color efforts.

Apple Dropped the Ball (on Sept 7th) when they introduced their version of wide color (i.e., Display P3), and they are now trying to catch up to the industry ... his role is very-likely directly related to what some of us had envisioned Apple would be doing with the Theatre Mode rumor, which they now refer to as Theater Mode, and which is nothing compared to what it should have / could have been (i.e., real-time Display P3 to DCI-P3 conversion, and with the content driven into a User's big screen 4K UHD TV).

Its all about streaming wide color motion photos, in real-time.

Apple will eventually try to sell a $299+ WiFi to HDMI solution, that is purpose-built for wide color.

However, they are very late to the party.

At least one other will have a better product out, and sooner, in the $49-$69 range, that uses any wide color-enabled smartphone for capture.

Such products are intended for home use, as well as anywhere fabrics & flowers are sold ... plus professional models & photographers, of course.

 

[djcerla]

When you read that Apple "dropped the ball" on color reproduction, you know you're in that special twilight zone called Macrumors.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Wonder he was hired to flesh out Apple's AR plans. Seems like he would be a good fit doing that or consolidating HomeKit compatibility among Apple's OSes. Sounds like he will report directly to TC.

 

[developer13245]

Who cares? The valley is just one circle jerk anyway... Next, ....oops I mean Nest ended up being a disaster so he's not moving far.

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Dropcam was great until Nest bought them. Now the product is unpredictable, has suffered from serious billing issues, and the front end is almost impossible to quickly and accurately navigate footage.

Hopefully this guy who started the company brings the best and not the worst.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Yeah there are a ton of home monitoring products, and they basically all suck.

Was visiting my sister and she wanted a setup, so we went to Costco and bought the Netgear Arlo home monitoring system. You talk about a horrid interface and a horrid product overall. The cameras use uncommon CR123 batteries, which cost about $20 a month to replace. Seems like a bizarre way to do it.

She returned it and got a canary, but it's a bit of a different solution and not perfect.

There's a huge opportunity in the market for a company to come and make an apple-like product "that just works" but I suppose Apple is burning all their courage on removing headphone jacks instead of doing what they do best; finding a gap in the market to perfect.

 

[Avieshek]

720p camera on Mac, yeah!

 

[44267547]

Dropcam was great until Nest bought them. Now the product is unpredictable, has suffered from serious billing issues, and the front end is almost impossible to quickly and accurately navigate footage.

Hopefully this guy who started the company brings the best and not the worst.

Nest to me seems also like a company that has had some ups and downs within this last year. Tony Fadell left with some Disputes and I've heard some iffy issues with some of the thermostats build quality.

 

[truthertech]

Yeah there are a ton of home monitoring products, and they basically all suck.

Was visiting my sister and she wanted a setup, so we went to Costco and bought the Netgear Arlo home monitoring system. You talk about a horrid interface and a horrid product overall. The cameras use uncommon CR123 batteries, which cost about $20 a month to replace. Seems like a bizarre way to do it.

She returned it and got a canary, but it's a bit of a different solution and not perfect.

There's a huge opportunity in the market for a company to come and make an apple-like product "that just works" but I suppose Apple is burning all their courage on removing headphone jacks instead of doing what they do best; finding a gap in the market to perfect.

Look, they are spending now around $12 billion dollars a year on R and D. Just because they have decided not to push out an Amazon Echo type product like Amazon and everyone else is, doesn't mean that they aren't working on something much better. The last estimates is that Amazon is losing its shirt on the Echo and has lost over a billion dollars so far in selling them, and the more it sells, the more it loses. Why would Apple follow that scenario.Indeed, the most likely scenario is that they are perfecting something that will blow the market away. Apple owns wireless, has the best rated Wifi router still, and they are the kings of privacy and security, and they have invested billions in next Gen Siri, e.g., Vocal IQ. All of that bodes well for a 2017 blockbuster product that integrates Homekit, Siri, Wireless, and industry leading Apple Security/Privacy. Boom!

 

[macduke]

This is a good pickup by Apple. Dropcam was a great company until it was run into the ground at Nest. Like the article says, and from some of the more in-depth interviews that I've read, they really got screwed over post-acquisition. Nest has been struggling to make money (truly SHOCKING for a Google subsidiary that doesn't sell ads) and even Tony Fadell left.

 

[BeefCake 15]

be careful, im afraid after they gather info they will go back to google.

The more I work in corporations the more I see this as more conspiratorial on our end. Usually companies don't care and if they know information, they don't react as fast or appropriate as we would like to think.

I'm not in Silicon Valley or Tech field so maybe just mistaken...

 

[mdelvecchio]

Funny comment! Thank you!

Anyway, I am still chuckling at the idea of an Apple car.
Imagine this.
A few car enthusiasts get together, and the following conversation ensues.
A: What you driving?
B: Porsche 911, yourself?
A: 2016 Dodge Viper.
B: Cool. What about you, C?
C: Audi TT.
A: Hey, I! You are so quiet, what you drive?
I: ... I drive an Apple.
A, B, C: LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO, LOL, ROFL, LMAO, LMFAO

Your post isn't very funny. It's rather lame actually.
[doublepost=1485447376][/doublepost]

When you read that Apple "dropped the ball" on color reproduction, you know you're in that special twilight zone called Macrumors.

Yeah I was thinking the same. No other phone or tablet comes close but this guy says they dropped the ball? Riiiight...
[doublepost=1485447510][/doublepost]

Yeah there are a ton of home monitoring products, and they basically all suck.

Was visiting my sister and she wanted a setup, so we went to Costco and bought the Netgear Arlo home monitoring system. You talk about a horrid interface and a horrid product overall. The cameras use uncommon CR123 batteries, which cost about $20 a month to replace. Seems like a bizarre way to do it.

She returned it and got a canary, but it's a bit of a different solution and not perfect.

There's a huge opportunity in the market for a company to come and make an apple-like product "that just works" but I suppose Apple is burning all their courage on removing headphone jacks instead of doing what they do best; finding a gap in the market to perfect.

A 1000 no's for a single yes -- home monitoring gizmos isn't their focus. Just because the companies that do focus on that suck doesn't mean Apple should have done it. Not their prerogative.
[doublepost=1485447629][/doublepost]Judging by the few number of posts on this story, it seems industry turn over only means DOOM for apple, and no one else. otherwise google is doomed here, right?