Apple – Roku Hires Apple’s Chief Siri Architect For Software program Position
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Roku Inc. has employed a Siri government at Apple Inc. to steer superior expertise improvement.
Brian Pinkerton has joined the San Jose, California-based maker of TV set-top-boxes and software program the place he’ll give attention to “technical innovation and strategic software development across the platform,” the firm stated on Tuesday. His work can be broader than voice management, which was his specialty at Apple, the place he was the chief architect of Siri till November, in accordance with his LinkedIn web page. Pinkerton was additionally beforehand chief expertise officer for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Roku sells a number of streaming video gamers to entry video content material in addition to sound bars, however the firm has more and more targeted on increasing its software program platform and the Roku Channel streaming service. It has additionally been pushing for its software program to be constructed into lower-end TVs, ceding the high-end to software program like LG Electronics Inc.’s webOS and Android TV from Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Roku just lately began rolling out help for Apple’s AirPlay streaming and HomeKit good dwelling protocols to its TV gadgets. Final 12 months, Roku turned one of many first platforms to function the Apple TV+ subscription service.
Roku shares have been down 2.6% at 3:44 p.m. in New York. They’ve greater than doubled this 12 months whereas Apple has gained 67%.
(Updates with shares in closing paragraph. An earlier model of this story corrected the placement of Roku headquarters.)
