Former Apple iAd chief Andy Miller to head Leap Motion

Miller, who co-founded mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless in 2006, came to Apple when he sold the company to Apple for $275 million in 2010. It was said that during his tenure at the iPhone maker, Miller answered directly to late co-founder Steve Jobs.

After leaving Apple in August 2011, Miller joined venture capital firm Highland Capital, the same company that helped fund Quattro five years earlier, as a general partner. The motion-control startup Leap Motion is a portfolio company of Highland, reports Fortune.

"Andy had been spending around 80 percent of his time on Leap over the past few months anyway, and he brought up the idea of going there fulltime," said Peter Bell, a general partner at Highland. "We talked about it a lot, and think it's the right move for Andy, the company and Highland. This is one of those companies that really feels different, and having Andy there makes us feel even better about it."

Leap is in the midst of developing a small motion-sensing peripheral that connects to any Mac or PC via USB to create 8 cubic feet of "3D interaction space" in front of the computer's monitor. The technology is four years in the making and the devices should be available late 2012 or early 2013.