Ex-Apple marketing guru Kawasaki signs on as Motorola consultant

In a post (via Android Authority) to the fan page for his books, Kawasaki revealed that he had accepted an advising position at Motorola. He will be focusing on product design, user interface, marketing, and social media.

"Motorola reminds me of the Apple of 1998," Kawasaki wrote, "a pioneer in its market segment, engineering-driven, and ripe for innovation. I believe that great products can change everything. For example, the creation of the iMac G3 [...] was a pivotal event for Apple."

Kawasaki was not a long-time employee of Apple, working with the company for a four-year stint beginning in 1983. He was, though, originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh in 1984. He left the company in 1987 to lead a software company, but returned in 1995 as an Apple Fellow, acknowledged as an individual who had made an extraordinary technical or leadership contribution to personal computing while at the company. The Apple Fellowship, so far, has only been awarded to nine individuals, including Kawasaki, Bill Atkinson, Steve Capps, Rich Page, and Steve Wozniak.

In joining Motorola as an adviser, Kawasaki will be taking part in an effort that Google hopes will revitalize the once-great cell phone manufacturer. Google is working on a supposedly game-changing phone with Motorola. Google's aim, reportedly, is to build Motorola into a more viable Android manufacturer, one that can serve as a counterbalance to Samsung's increasing sway over the Android ecosystem.