Slash LaneThe LinkedIn profile of Bob Drebin indicates the former AMD graphics chief recently accepted a Senior Director position at Apple following a one-year void in his professional career. Although his precise role at the electronics maker is unknown, Drebin is likely to deliver knowledge and experience central to the company's Mac and iPhone strategy.
Prior to joining Apple, Drebin was chief technology officer of the Graphics Products Group within AMD , where he oversaw the technical strategy and direction for the chipmaker's graphics-related businesses. He assumed the role in 2006, following AMD's acquisition of ATI, where he was also a director of chip design and strategy.
Earlier in his career, Drebin managed the architecture and design unit of ArtX, which was instrumental in development of the graphics component for the Nintendo Game Cube. He also spent nine years developing high-performance graphics systems for Silicon Graphic.
The LinkedIn professional network site has been an increasing source of Apple hires and departures in recent months. Last fall, an update to the profile of P.A. Semi's senior principle architect Wei-han Lien revealed he had assumed the role of "Senior Manager Chip CPU Architect at Apple" following the company's acquisition of P.A. Semi.
More significant, however, was Lien's further disclosure on his profile page that he was in charge of a team developing an ARM processor that would power the next-generation iPhone, all but confirming the company was moving quickly on plans to distance itself from rival handset makers by developing its own embedded chip solutions.
Earlier this month, LinkedIn was also the source of reports that Research in Motion had hired one-time Apple interface designer Don Lindsay to head up a new a new team of designers tasked with improving the user experience of the company's BlackBerry handsets.
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24 Comments
Fantastic news.
More ammunition for Apple's new mandate. The right to keep and bear ARMs.
I wonder if 2010 will the launch of the custom Apple ARM chips.
I could see Apple wanting it's own chip architecture that will only run a version of OS X and nothing else... similarly that version of OS X won't run on a different mobile phone or netbook. This would be for the iPhone/Touch and possibly tablet/netbook.
Other than fabbing chips, it looks like Apple is betting on its ability to make the whole widget. The risk doesn't seem that great. If they can just keep up with commodity offerings (or even almost keep up) like the Tegra, they pocket the extra profit. If they fall too far behind, they simply move to the commodity hardware. As long as it is uses the ARM instruction set and the graphics support OpenGL, there wouldn't be a problem. I don't see them pulling out far ahead in chip technology. No one ever does. I think it's really just a matter of complete control over hardware and software integration, as well as increasing profit margins.
Son of Lt. Frank Drebin.(I can post stuff like that now since I decided not to apply for the AppleInsider job )
The LinkedIn professional network site has been an increasing source of Apple hires and departures in recent months.
Are you saying "source" as in you actually know that Apple is hiring people through LinkedIn? I'm guessing you actually mean that LinkedIn is the source of news sites finding out that Apple is hiring people after the fact rather than Apple sourcing it's employees from LinkedIn.