“Three members of Apple’s communications staff have left the tech giant for car companies in recent weeks, just as reports have emerged that Apple has scaled back its auto-making plans,” Lauren Goode reports for The Verge.
“Last month longtime Apple staffer Sarah O’Brien joined Tesla as senior director of communications,” Goode reports. “More recently, Colin Smith, who had been communications director of Mac hardware, software, and professional apps for seven years, jumped ship to join Ford Silicon Valley.”
Goode reports, “And another Apple comms staffer, Michaela Johndrow, is joining Ford in Michigan, where she’ll manage communications around electrified vehicles for Ford North America.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Further evidence of the merging of vehicles and tech.
TTK!
Some Apple spokesmen have quit? Apple is doomed!
“Colin Smith, who had been communications director of Mac hardware, software, and professional apps”
really?
until the latest Mac Pro ads I haven’t seen a serious apple Mac ad campaign for years. Has anybody seen an iMac ad? has anybody seen an Apple Web Mac ad (web ads are cheap… ) ?
I didn’t realize Mac had communications staff.
did he play Ping Pong the whole day long?
“latest Mac Pro ads ” should off course be Mac Book Pro because the desktop Mac Pro is of course on life support…
OPPS !
Perhaps I’m TOO HARSH!
Apple Mac PR staff might have OTHER DUTIES..
like for example:
they work hard getting Apple a major presence in power computing conferences like Siggraph where they arrange for Apple SVPs to make major speeches about Mac Computing, or major game conferences like Blizzcon or they arrange Mac Centric conventions like the Mac Games Con World or the….. (but hey those HAVEN’T HAPPENED!)
Nooo.. but Apple PR IS sponsoring the Met Gala : a FASHION SHOW….
ok ok
maybe Mac PR staff spend endless hours visiting businesses that use Macs like High end Graphics, Video, Music studios, Tech Businesses and Labs to liaise i.e to COMMUNICATE (you know mac communications staff ) , we read how Apple PR arranges for Cook, Ive and Schiller to Visit such places.. .. (we read SVPs shaking hands with such Mac business owners all the time on MDN don’t we? when they are not visiting charities, Fashion shows or Rock concerts … ??? )
by this liaison they know how consumers use their Macs, FOR EXAMPLE THEY KNOW CLEARLY that CUTTING OUT FEATURES TO MAKE MBPS slightly lighter and forcing users to buy EXPENSIVE DONGLES will be UNIVERSALLY LOVED… (opps , guess they don’t do that either…. )
of course Mac Communications staff tell their bosses what pros need with their Mac Pros right… ? (do Mac PR staff even know they have Mac Pros? )
pok pok pok pok pok pok…
sound of Ping Pong in the Apple Mac PR centre….
Let me think, the last Mac ad I remember was something about a girl running down towards a cinema screen and throwing a hammer. Was that the last?
No, the last one I remember was the cheese grater Mac Pro…the one where it blew a hole in the side of a house. The same ad that was censured by the U.K. Ad Standards Body. Can’t remember what they objected to.
Tesla needs them desperately – their PR rollouts of new products have been disastrously buried in the news cycle at times when nobody is paying attention.
I’d give Tesla another year tops and they will be out of business.
I love Tesla cars, just can’t afford them. Not that it would lower prices, but I hope Apple buys them, as opposed to Google or Microsoft or any other NSA or foreign enemy infiltrated company.
Apple PR is everywhere, you see them on sites like this one all the time defending Apples latest bad decision. they just don’t identify themselves as Apple employees. My biggest issue with Apple in the last 5 years is how hard they are making my job as a non paid Apple PR guy. Used to be I could explain the huge price difference between Apple and the PC crap. This becoming hard as the OS has become an annual change for the sake of change product, and the free Apps have not seen much love, the hardware has become a hub for adapters and external HDs because 256GB just doesn’t cut it in the real world. Why have a Thunderbolt 3 port that can move 40Gbps and a 2,048 Gb HD you can move the entire drive unless than a minute, the the port sits idle.
Need some tin foil?
ooooh! PR guys. The technical achievements are doomed. They were going to push the new iPhones are free-range and gluten-free Ad campaign.
So Ford and Tesla are doomed now.
Expect no new car for more than 1000 day.
Oh God!!!! Not 3 PR staff? ….. Oh No. How will Apple survive this? Is it the End?
I just saw a Mazda commercial where the spokesperson sounded just like a Jony Ive clone. Similar voice, same inflection, same presentation style, same product graphics style as Apple uses.
Somebody has been watching Apple product demos…