Mark Gurman, with blockbuster news at Bloomberg:

Meta Platforms Inc. has poached Apple Inc.’s most prominent design executive in a major coup that underscores a push by the social networking giant into AI-equipped consumer devices.

The company is hiring Alan Dye, who has served as the head of Apple’s user interface design team since 2015, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple is replacing Dye with longtime designer Stephen Lemay, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the personnel changes haven’t been announced.

Apple confirmed the move in a statement provided to Bloomberg News.

“Steve Lemay has played a key role in the design of every major Apple interface since 1999,” Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in the statement. “He has always set an extraordinarily high bar for excellence and embodies Apple’s culture of collaboration and creativity.”

It sounds like Dye chose to jump ship, and wasn’t squeezed out (as it seems with former AI chief John Giannandrea earlier this week). Gurman/Bloomberg are spinning this like a coup for Meta (headline: “Apple Design Executive Alan Dye Poached by Meta in Major Coup”), but I think this is the best personnel news at Apple in decades. Dye’s decade-long stint running Apple’s software design team has been, on the whole, terrible — and rather than getting better, the problems have been getting worse.

REI took a hike during Black Friday, but the retailer is back with a full week of deals. Now through December 8th, REI is hosting a Cyber Week sale that offers big discounts on gadgets and gear designed for the outdoors. If you’re planning to hit the slopes this winter, now’s a good time to […]

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple interface design chief Alan Dye is leaving the company to join Meta; Apple longtime designer Stephen Lemay will replace Dye  —  Meta Platforms Inc. has poached Apple Inc.'s most prominent design executive in a major coup that underscores a push by the social networking giant into AI-equipped consumer devices.

The discounted Nintendo Switch 2 bundle including Mario Kart World is on a rare sale at Walmart for Cyber Monday.

MLB The Show is coming to iOS and Android. Sony has revealed MLB The Show Mobile, which it says is “a new standalone experience built from the ground up to deliver realistic baseball gameplay on mobile devices.”  The game is live now only in the Philippines (here’s a Google Play link for the game), and […]