On January 25, Apple announced that exec Dan Riccio (pictured) would transition to a new role focusing on an unspecified new project and reporting to CEO Tim Cook, building on more than two decades of work at Apple. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman now says that focus area will be AR/VR headsets.
“Riccio’s move is similar to the approach taken last year by Phil Schiller, the company’s former marketing chief. Both executives left senior roles but held on to areas that needed extra oversight,” Gurman writes. “In Schiller’s case, it was the App Store and public relations, and for Riccio, it’s the AR and VR headsets. This strategy helps keep key longtime executives at the company.”
Riccio has been a leader in designing, developing, and engineering almost all of Apple’s products. From the first generation iMac to the more recent 5G iPhone lineup, M1-based Macs, and AirPods Max, Riccio built theHardware Engineering teams and scaled Apple’s ability to innovate across multiple new product lines with the highest quality, Cook says.
After joining Apple in 1998 as a leader on the Product Design team, Riccio became vice president of iPad Hardware Engineering in 2010, and in 2012 he joined the executive team as the leader of Hardware Engineering. Apple’s press release says he’ll continue to play an instrumental role in shaping the future of Apple’s products in his new position as a vice president of engineering.
John Ternus will now lead Apple’s Hardware Engineering organization as a member of the executive team.
