The BBC News reports that a former Apple exec, Simon Thompson, is helping with the rollout of the UK NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app.
At Apple, he served as the tech giant’s EMEA [Europe, the Middle East and Africa] online store director and then leading worldwide customer experience for Apple’s online store. Thompson is currently chief product officer at the online grocer Ocado. He has been appointed to Baroness Dido Harding’s Test and Trace team, where he will have other duties in addition to the app.
However, the BBC notes that Lord Bethell, the minister for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care, has said the NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app is “not a priority” and he was not sure it would be out by winter. The app, which has been trialled on the Isle of Wight, was initially expected to launch nationally weeks ago.
