Meta is speeding up efforts to strengthen its hardware business by hiring Alan Dye, the key designer who introduced the "liquid glass" UI to the latest iPhone operating system (OS). With a core staffer who led design at Apple for nearly 20 years leaving, attention is again turning to organizational changes at Apple.
On the 3rd (local time), Reuters and Bloomberg reported that Meta hired Alan Dye, who has overseen Apple's user interface design, as chief design officer (CDO). Dye, who joined Apple in 2006, is a key figure who developed the UI for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS, app icons, and visual design across devices. Most recently, he applied the "liquid glass" design, including translucent buttons, to Apple's product lines and also oversaw the interface for the Vision Pro headset, which competes with Meta.
Meta plans to establish a new design studio centered on Dye and task it with overhauling the design of next-generation hardware product lines, including AI-enabled smart glasses and VR headsets. Dye will officially join Meta on the 31st of this month and report to chief technology officer (CTO) Andrew Bosworth, who oversees wearables.
Meta has recently accelerated its shift from a social network corporations to a hardware corporations, launching AI-based smart glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban and Oakley. The hiring of Dye is seen as a signal that the company intends to put this strategy into full swing.
Apple, meanwhile, is losing another core design staffer. Following Jony Ive, who left in 2019 after working with the company since the Steve Jobs era, Dye, who has led the company's overall UI, is also departing, prompting expectations that changes to the design organization are inevitable. Apple selected Steven Lemay as his successor.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "Design is central to Apple's identity, and Lemay has played an important role in Apple interface design since 1999."
Apple has recently seen changes in its executive ranks. Jeff Williams, long dubbed "Tim Cook's doppelganger," stepped down as chief operating officer (COO) last month, and senior vice president John Giannandrea, who led AI, also recently resigned. Some in the industry are even raising the possibility of an early retirement by CEO Tim Cook.