Apple has hired Timothy D. Twerdahl, who formerly worked as head of Amazon’s Fire TV, as Vice President in charge of Apple TV product marketing. The executive, who previously held the job, will now be working to negotiate media content deals.
Before hiring Twerdahl, Pete Distad had previously occupied this role. Now, Pete will be helping lead Apple’s content deal efforts, headed by Eddy Cue.
A spokesperson of Apple has confirmed that Twerdahl joined Apple this month. He had been general manager and director of Amazon’s Fire TV business since 2013. At Cupertino, Twerdahl will report to Greg Joswiak, the vice president in charge of marketing for the iPhone, according to a person familiar with the matter.
This move suggests that Apple has once again started focusing on Apple TV and on providing more content for the service. Previously, the iPhone maker made an effort that has been stalled by failed negotiations.
Timothy Twerdahl has significant experience in internet-connected TV devices space. Prior to his tenure at Amazon, he was an executive at Netflix Inc. and later vice president in-charge of consumer devices at Roku, a streaming video box developer. His experience could bolster Apple’s efforts in video content and living room devices at a time when the company is now looking for new streams of revenue to augment iPhone and iPad sales.
The last hardware update for the Apple TV set-top box device was released in 2015, but sales decreased year-over-year from the 2015 holiday quarter to the 2016 holiday quarter, said Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri. The Apple TV business represents just a small slice in the company’s revenue under the category of “other products.” This category amounted to just over 5 percent of revenue for the company.
