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Kevin Lynch, the former chief technology officer for Adobe, is going to work for Apple, both companies confirmed. Many observers find the news surprising given Apple’s openly expressed dislike for Flash technology, which Lynch championed in his role at Adobe.
All Things D’s John Paczkowski and Peter Kafka reported, “Kevin Lynch, Adobe’s CTO and a longtime defender of its Flash technology, is leaving the company to take a position at one of Flash’s biggest critics: Apple. Lynch tendered his resignation yesterday saying he planned to ‘pursue other opportunities.’ And, according to Adobe, those opportunities are at Apple.”
Poornima Gupta with Reuters added, “Lynch, who joined Adobe in 2005 through its acquisition of Macromedia, will be Apple’s vice president of technology. He will report to Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of technology, who leads the California gadget giant’s wireless and semiconductor team, Apple said on Tuesday.”
Bloomberg’s Adam Satariano noted, “During Lynch’s tenure, Apple and the software maker clashed over the use of Adobe’s Flash video program on Apple’s devices. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said Flash was ill-suited for mobile computing and banned its use on the iPhone or iPad. Lynch said the move would cost Apple customers. The conflict has since abated as Adobe and other technology companies embrace the emerging Web standard HTML5 as an alternative for running video on handheld devices.”
The Mac Observer’s Jeff Gamet commented, “Snapping up Adobe’s Flash champion also brings with it the stigma of bad hiring choices for Apple CEO Tim Cook. The retail mess the company dealt with after hiring — and quickly firing — John Browett raised concerns over Mr. Cook’s hiring decisions. If Mr. Lynch doesn’t work out for the company, that will only help reinforce those concerns. That said, Mr. Lynch has the potential to be a strong player in the Apple executive team. And right or wrong, his Flash history will keep him under close watch to see if he was a good hire or if Apple went down the Browett path again.”
