Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that Meta is creating a new in-house creative studio inside Reality Labs, and it’s going to be thanks to Apple.
The move follows Meta’s hiring of longtime Apple design leader Alan Dye, who spent nearly two decades shaping the look and feel of Apple’s products and platforms. Bloomberg broke the story that Meta had poached Dye, with Apple confirming the departure, which is pretty rare.
“Today we’re establishing a new creative studio in Reality Labs led by Alan Dye, who has spent nearly 20 years leading design at Apple,” said Zuckerberg on Wednesday.
Zuckerberg said the new studio will blend design, fashion, and technology as Meta pushes into devices like AR glasses and other AI-powered hardware. “Our idea is to treat intelligence as a new design material and imagine what becomes possible when it is abundant, capable, and human-centered,” he wrote.
Dye won’t be alone in the shift from Apple to Meta. Zuckerberg confirmed that Billy Sorrentino, another former senior design leader at Apple, is joining the team. They’ll work alongside Joshua To, Reality Labs’ current interface design lead; Meta’s industrial design group led by Pete Bristol; and the metaverse design and art teams overseen by Jason Rubin.
Zuckerberg said the goal is to make future Meta hardware feel more natural and people-focused: “What matters most is making these experiences feel natural and truly centered around people.”
He added that he’s “excited to welcome Alan and Billy to Meta” as the company builds what it sees as the next major shift in personal technology.
What’s interesting about Zuckerberg’s announcement is he mentioned Apple explicitly two times, both for Dye and Sorrento, with the latter described as “another acclaimed design lead from Apple.” In other words, he’s touting how Meta was able to poach Apple talent. Is Apple beginning to rot from the core?
We’ve seen four executives leave Apple this week including two more from yesterday. Who’s leaving next week?
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
