Google is already known to be working on an entirely new operating system called Fuchsia. The development of the same is currently underway with new features and testing on a variety of form factors. Google has now hired Apple engineer Bill Stevenson to work on the Fuchsia OS and bring it to the market.
Stevenson is a 14-year veteran at Apple who started in 2004 as a Product Release Engineer for OS X. In this role, he “triaged and diagnosed” application and framework issues, while also working with third-party developers. He later went on to become the senior engineering program manager four years later. Since 2012, Stevenson has been a Senior Manager for Mac/Windows Program Management. He has had a hand in every major release from Lion right up to Mojave last year.
Google hiring an engineer with such background comes as a no surprise. In a LinkedIn post shared yesterday, Stevenson notes “joining Google to help bring a new operating system called Fuchsia to market.” His expertise will also extend to working with hardware groups, as well as third-party developers, which will be important for building an app ecosystem.
According to reports from July 2018, Google might be planning to release a smart speaker running Fuchsia within the next three years and a device with a matching description has been spotted, adding more fuel to the fire. Google even plans to bring phones and laptops two years after the speaker and eventually replace Android in the long run. For now, Stevenson is joining Google this February and his role not yet publicly known.