Former Apple exec joins Tellme

Before retiring from his post in March, Tevanian served as the Chief Technology Officer at Apple.

"Avie's expertise in building products that consumers love is core to what we do," said Mike McCue, Tellme CEO and co-founder. "He is a fantastic addition to Tellme's Board and will help guide our technology team on both product and platform development."

Some of the applications running on Tellme's network include customer service for Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE and American Airlines, directory assistance for Cingular and Verizon and e-commerce services for Amazon.com and Fandango.

Tevanian — whose appointment to the Tellme Board is effective immediately — is a widely recognized technical leader, having spent decades developing software platforms. He was one of the principle engineers for the Mach OS kernel at Carnegie Mellon, and later led efforts to create NeXT's innovative NEXTSTEP operating system before moving on to Apple and taking the reigns of Mac OS X.

"Tellme is set to revolutionize how every consumer uses a telephone based on its Internet-based open platform, which is accessible from any phone," Tevanian said. "I'm excited to be working with the Tellme team on the tremendous opportunities before us."

Tevanian joins current Tellme board members Peter Currie, Mohan Gyani, Kevin Harvey, John LaMacchia, Mike McCue and Naomi Seligman.