Prominent Apple fellow goes to work for Motorola

Network World - Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist and former Apple chief evangelist, announced this week that he has taken on advisory work for Motorola Mobility - which is owned by rival Google.

Guy Kawasaki

The well-known author and tech guru said in a brief posting on his blog that he's happy to take up a role in product and interface design, as well as in marketing and social media.

"Motorola reminds me of the Apple of 1998: a pioneer in its market segment, engineering-driven, and ripe for innovation. I believe that great products can change everything. For example, the creation of the iMac G3 (the Macs that came in colors such as Bondi, Strawberry, Blueberry, Lime, and Grape) was a pivotal event for Apple," he wrote.

The former Apple exec's love for Android is well-known. He made headlines in December after telling a ReadWriteWeb columnist that he'd started using a Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX about a year ago. (He later switched to a Samsung Galaxy S III.)

News of Kawasaki's involvement with Motorola comes just as Google has begun to publicly admit that the hardware maker's upcoming product lines aren't quite up to scratch.

"We've inherited 18 months of pipeline that we actually have to drain right now, while we're actually building the next wave of innovation," Google CFO Patrick Pichette said during a conference call today, according to the Verge. Motorola's forthcoming products are "not really to the standards that what Google would say is wow innovative, transformative," he added.

It's likely that this will dampen enthusiasm surrounding a supposed a high-end Motorola X Phone, which was rumored to be heading for a release sometime in the near future.

Email Jon Gold at jgold@nww.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.