HomeKit chief leaves Apple after two years on the job

This week, engineer Sam Giadalla announced his departure from Apple after less than three years with the company. At Apple, Jadalla was head of Home Services, which includes HomeKit for smart home automation.

Jadalla confirmed on LinkedIn that he is no longer with Apple. The engineer joined Apple in February 2019 to lead the entire Apple Home team. Prior to Apple, the engineer worked at Microsoft and also founded Otto, his own brand of smart locks. "We're done with Apple," Giadalla said in a post earlier this week.

The engineer's reasons for deciding to leave Apple are unknown. It's also unknown who will take over as Apple's HomeKit chief after Jadalla leaves.

Since Giadalla's arrival at Apple, the company has made a number of improvements to HomeKit, including camera recording in iCloud, improved accessory management, adaptive lighting, automation, Siri API for third-party accessories, and home keys in the Wallet app.

Home automation is becoming more and more important to Apple every year, so it shouldn't be long before Apple chooses someone else to lead the HomeKit team. Especially given Apple's active involvement in the development of the Matter home device standard.

Source: macrumors