Facebook Said to Hire Apple Maps Executive Amid Mobile Push
Facebook Inc. (FB) has nabbed another member of Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s original iPhone team, hiring Richard Williamson, the manager who had led Apple's mapping efforts, according to people with knowledge of the hire.
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook's reported hire follows its planned mobile location-tracking app, making mapping expertise relevant to a broader mobile-product push rather than an isolated personnel move. The hire itself is reported, not confirmed.
Apple had been recruiting former Google Maps staff to build its iOS mapping capability, then faced a reported Maps leadership reshuffle after iPhone 5 flaws. Williamson's move would put a manager from that effort into Facebook's orbit.
First-order effects
- If confirmed, Facebook adds Richard Williamson's mapping-management experience as it develops location-focused mobile products.
- Apple loses a former Maps leader from a unit it had been rebuilding through external mapping talent recruitment.
Second-order effects
- Facebook and Apple face a tighter contest for experienced mapping and location-product personnel, a scarce specialization highlighted by Apple's own recruiting effort.
- Facebook's location-tracking initiative gains an internal source of mapping expertise, potentially reducing its dependence on product knowledge built solely outside the company.
Third-order effects
- If large consumer platforms keep recruiting from mapping teams, location features are likely to become a core mobile-product capability shaped as much by specialist talent flows as by platform distribution.
The trend: Mobile platforms are treating mapping and location expertise as strategic product talent as they seek to make location a deeper part of everyday app use.