AppleInsider Staff
Johann Jungwirth, who headed Mac Systems Engineering at Apple and was named in some reports as a player on the company's Project Titan electric car team, has left Cupertino for a new job at Volkswagen.
Jungwirth will assume control of Volkswagen's digital strategy, the company announced on Tuesday. He will report directly to Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller.
"With the new function and the appointment of Jungwirth, Volkswagen is strongly reinforcing its position in digitalization, which is a very important future field for the automotive industry," Volkswagen said in a release.
While at Apple, Jungwirth oversaw Mac engineering, managed research and development efforts, and advised the special projects group. He was named as a member of the Project Titan electric car team in a February report, having previously served as a research and development executive at Mercedes.
It's not clear exactly what Jungwirth's brief will include at Volkswagen, but it's likely to focus on occupant-facing electronics. He primarily specialized in smartphone integration and user experiences while with Mercedes.
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87 Comments
[Insert VW pun here]
And the stock is down over 2% this morning because Credit Suisse sent out a research note saying Apple was cutting iPhone production orders by 10% due to weak 6S demand. I know Apple doesn't comment on stuff like this but we all know how the media will pounce on any possible negative Apple news. And if this is BS or CS has bad information I wish there was a way Apple could refute the rumor without directly responding to it.
Wow talk about bad timing, with VW now offering to bribe their owners so they don't get sued for rigging the EPA tests. (Shades of samsung... (engineering software to recognize benchmark tests being run and engineering them to cheat on them, so your products appear better then they actually are, so you can deceive customers. What does that say about a company and how they regard their customers?))
Very strange timing. Someone's got to be really weird -- or was pushed -- to jump ship into a company that seriously runs the risk of having to declare bankruptcy in the next year or two.
Very strange timing. Someone's got to be really weird -- or was pushed -- to jump ship into a company that seriously runs the risk of having to declare bankruptcy in the next year or two.
It's also a little strange that it appears he spent less than a year at Apple.
I can guess a couple of reasons, of which one or more could be true, or non could be true. VW made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He wasn't a good fit at Apple. His mission at Apple has been accomplished. He wants a new challenge. Maybe he gets to move to Germany and wants to live there.
Your guess is as good as mine. Does seem strange though no doubt about it.