Social networking giant and latest Wall Street entrant Facebook is said to be plucking talent from Apple.
According to a report over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the New York Times asserted that its sources confirm a major transition of talent from Apple to Facebook.
The company has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad, the employees and those briefed on the plans said.
The reason for the talent acquisition, according to the rumor mill, is due to Facebook’s lingering desire to build a Facebook-branded smartphone.
Rumors of such a product development first surfaced well over two years ago.
“One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he had met with Mark Zuckerberg,” the report reads, “who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said.”
So is Facebook finally poised to join the smartphone space? If so, the development could be a game changer both for the industry and for investors as FB continues to struggle following its Wall Street debut.
