Facebook reportedly hires former manager of Apple Maps

Could Richard Williamson help adapt Home for iOS?

Last year, after the Apple Maps debacle, which forced Apple CEO Tim Cook to not only apologize but to actually recommend other services for iOS customers to use instead, it is not surprising to learn that the manager who led the effort was let go. 

Now that manager, Richard Williamson, has apparently found a new home at Facebook, according to a report from Bloomberg on Tuesday. 

Williamson joined Facebook in the past couple of weeks, and was hired as a manager within the company's mobile-software group, sources told Bloomberg. Williamson's LinkedIn profile, however, puts his title as Director of Engineering at Facebook. 

What exactly Williamson will be working on at Facebook is unclear at this time, though his knowledge of iOS could be useful to the social network, not just in terms of developing new apps for the system, but perhaps bringing a version of the recently launched Home interface on Android to iOS. Facebook is reportedly looking to bring the Home to other platforms, including iOS, an area where Williamson obviously has some expertise. 

He previously worked at Apple for more than 10 years, where he had been assigned by Steve Jobs to build software for the iPhone, before being put in charge of developing Apple Maps, the replacement for Google Maps, which had been the default mapping service, until it was dropped for iOS 6.

Unfortunately for Apple, and for Williamson, Apple Maps was almost universally hated. 

In fact, the reaction toward Apple Maps was so harsh that by the end of September, less a month after debuting, only 4% of iOS users were opening the app at all. And, at the time, Google Chairman, and former CEO, Eric Schmidt told reporters that Google has not submitted its own Maps app to the App Store for consideration. 

All looked lost until Google surprised everyone by debuting its iOS app in December. And it turns out that people missed it to so much that the app was downloaded 10 million times in the first 48 hours it was available (you can count me as one of the 10 million).

Williamson, along with iOS software chief Scott Forstall, both lost their jobs due to the fiasco.

Facebook has hired a number of former Apple employees to come work at the company, including Greg Novick, Mike Matas, Kimon Tsinteris, and software engineers Scott Goodson, Tim Omernick and Chris Tremblay.

Facebook’s head of consumer marketing, Rebecca Van Dyck, also worked at Apple, as did Loren Brichter, who designed Letterpress for iOS, and is now a consultant for Facebook.

By bringing in Williamson, Facebook seems to be another step in the company's pledge to put mobile first. The most recent example of this strategy, of course, was the launching of the Home interface on Android, as well an update to its iOS app Tuesday with some of the Home features. Facebook also recently added free voice calling to iOS.

Facebook could not be reached for further comment.

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