Facebook Hires Former Apple Maps Manager Richard Williamson

[MacRumors]

Former Apple employee Richard Williamson has been hired by Facebook, reports Bloomberg. Williamson, who was in charge of Apple's iOS mapping team, was fired in November after Apple Maps faced extensive criticism for its poor performance.

Williamson joined Facebook in the past couple of weeks to be a manager within its expanding mobile-software group, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the information isn't public.

Facebook has acquired several other Apple employees in an effort to improve and expand on its iOS app, which was updated today to add the Chat Heads feature.

Other former Apple employees brought in by Zuckerberg include Greg Novick, a former iPhone manager who helped develop the device's touch interface; Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, software designers who joined when Facebook acquired their company Push Pop Press; and software engineers Scott Goodson, Tim Omernick and Chris Tremblay.

Facebook has also reportedly hired former Twitter employee Loren Brichter, who designed Twitter's original iPhone app and popular word game Letterpress. Brichter is a former member of Scott Forstall's iPhone team.

Article Link: Facebook Hires Former Apple Maps Manager Richard Williamson

 

[komodrone]

Why is eddie cue shown?
And anyone else curious about what is Scott Forstall doing?

 

[Quu]

Why is eddie cue shown?
Also, what is Scott Forstall doing?

When searching for "Richard Williamson" on Google Images, Eddy Cue's face comes up like 50 times so I'm guessing people are confused about who Richard Williamson actually is because of that. haha

 

[tevion5]

...and together they shall write the worst software the world has ever seen! Mmwwwohahahaha!

 

[jclo]

When searching for "Richard Williamson" on Google Images, Eddy Cue's face comes up like 50 times so I'm guessing people are confused about who Richard Williamson actually is because of that. haha

This, along with a momentary lapse of brain functionality. Sorry about that, I updated it in approximately 20 seconds but you guys are too quick.

 

[tigertazz]

Facebook maps! See the world through people's faces

 

[Sayer]

And anyone else curious about what is Scott Forstall doing?

Plotting his revenge in his secret lair under a volcano somewhere in the Pacific?

 

[Squilly]

Seems to happen a lot. People exchanging people from huge companies. Would expect people to take the (semi opposite) route of Steve Jobs, creating their own business after getting fired.

 

[jonnysods]

Does anyone know what Scott is doing for real?

 

[monaarts]

Does anyone know what Scott is doing for real?

He is still an advisor at Apple...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Forstall

 

[lk400]

Seems to happen a lot. People exchanging people from huge companies. Would expect people to take the (semi opposite) route of Steve Jobs, creating their own business after getting fired.

Times have changed somewhat since then. Its a much bigger risk to do that these days.

 

[RoastingPig]

how can i make a joke out of this?

 

[tekboi]

Great! Now they can add even more useless and half-baked serves to Facebook!!!

 

[thefourthpope]

Turn-by-turn status updates!
"Paul will….turn right in….50….feet"
"Paul….has turned….right"
"Paul….is lost"

----------

how can i make a joke out of this?

Good start

 

[Carlanga]

Facebook maps! See the world through the wrong people's faces

Fixed that for you

 

[RicoRich196]

Homage to a great post.

"Okay and just down the hall is your office. Richard! Not that that door! Rich.. Richard! For the love of God that's the conference room! Turn! Turn right! Too far, you idiot! Left a little... now two steps forward... NO! Forward! Never mind, dammit. Just stand there. Have you learned nothing?"

 

[marksman]

Times have changed somewhat since then. Its a much bigger risk to do that these days.

Disagree. Many senior level managers have way more money and resources and opportunities then jobs did back then. The real reason is few people are capable or even want to run their own business. You get 30% of the pay and 1% of the responsibility.

 

[b166er]

I can't imagine they want him for his mapping knowledge. If anything I bet this is just a power move. Just FB flexing its muscles, trying to gain some tech cred by hiring Apple people.

Seriously if facebook is trying to enter the world of maps.... just.... no..... please.

Google won. Apple is awesome, they do awesome things, but Google won the maps battle before Apple even entered the ring. There are so many other angles to compete on where Apple or Facebook could actually gain an edge over Google. But let the maps thing rest for god sakes. Apple maps was conceived entirely out of spite, it was rushed out the door, and it still sucks several months after release.

 

[Snowshiro]

Sadly he only lasted a day.

They told him to go to Mark Zuckerberg's office for a meeting, and he ended up in Oakland.

 

[chriscrk]

You're using the old Facebook icon! Get with the times you guys!

 

[Jayse]

Facebook is such a joke these days...

 

[mrxak]

I think they're probably hiring him because he knows a lot about iOS, and also probably because he's available.

This is a case of Facebook wanting to pick up some iOS knowledge for cheap, pretty much. It has nothing to do with maps.

I mean, Facebook isn't that dumb, are they?

 

[dazed]

A blunder that big meant people had to take the fall, and he was one of them.

It seems unfair to blame it all on him. We don't know what went on behind the scenes, who was the real culprit, and who got thrown under the bus.

This is not the first time Apple has bitten off more they can chew. Cough...MobileMe....Cough.

I think this probably went much higher than even Forstall. Sadly we may never know the truth.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Google won. Apple is awesome, they do awesome things, but Google won the maps battle before Apple even entered the ring. There are so many other angles to compete on where Apple or Facebook could actually gain an edge over Google. But let the maps thing rest for god sakes. Apple maps was conceived entirely out of spite, it was rushed out the door, and it still sucks several months after release.

... Google has been doing this for eight times as long as Apple. It'd be shocking if Apple had already surpassed them in content.

Technology wise, you're wrong, plain and simple. Google's mapping services are bulky and dog slow. They have to load individual prerenderedimages tiles for every zoom level when you're in top down view, and don't even get me started on how stupid their street view implementation is from a resource perspective (or UI perspective.) Apple's vector based maps + flyover put Google maps to shame.

I'm in the US, so my mileage may be different from yours, but I find the content to be acceptable. It hasn't been wrong yet, but there's some things that it doesn't have (like public transit routes... That's by far the biggest reason I have Google Maps installed on my iPhone, although to be honest, I memorized the major routes over a year ago and I rarely need to take any minor routes.)

 

[gnasher729]

I'm in the US, so my mileage may be different from yours, but I find the content to be acceptable. It hasn't been wrong yet, but there's some things that it doesn't have (like public transit routes... That's by far the biggest reason I have Google Maps installed on my iPhone, although to be honest, I memorized the major routes over a year ago and I rarely need to take any minor routes.)

I think Apple should take advantage of opportunities for crowdsourcing. Supply some data to maps, and get some credit on the iTunes store. For example, an iOS app that lets you check the street name and add house numbers / businesses / other things where you are.