Amazon Fire TV chief jumps ship to Apple TV
Apple has poached the former head of Amazon Fire TV to head-up its own Apple TV business as it ramps up its involvement in the sector.
Timothy Twerdahl has joined Apple in a product-focused role as vice president, taking over the reins of the Apple TV business from Pete Distad who moves on to focus on striking new content deals.
Twerdahl’s four-year stint at Amazon saw him oversee the launch of its Fire TV products having previously spent time with Netflix and smartwatch start-up WIMM Labs.
Apple TV has barely changed since launching in 2015 although the diminutive black box does now boast a new TV app and single sign-on functionality in tvOS 10 having previously struggled to gain traction from content providers.
An accompanying TV app store has been steadily acquiring content including digital media satire brand Cracked and Tinder.