Ex-OS X chief Bertrand Serlet at work on cloud tech startup
updated 02:25 pm EDT, Fri June 29, 2012
Joined by 'at least' two other ex-Apple employees
Apple's former senior VP for OS X software, Bertrand Serlet, is at work on a cloud computing startup called Upthere, BusinessInsider says it has learned. The company is based in downtown Palo Alto, where Serlet has reportedly been joined by "at least" two other former Apple workers. Job listings hint at the company's connections. "Our founders were key to building the world’s leading operating system (Mac OS X) and database (Oracle) and have a clear vision of core technology for a Cloud OS," one listing reads.
Other than Serlet, one of the other ex-Apple crew members is allegedly Roger Bodamer, a former VP of product operations and development at Apple who has also spent time at Oracle. "Based on the job postings we’ve seen, it’s clear the startup is looking to rethink the way people store files in the cloud, though just how this service will compare to options like Dropbox or Apple’s own iCloud feature remains unclear," BusinessInsider comments.
Apple announced Serlet's departure in March 2011. In all he had spent 22 years working alongside Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, first at NeXT, and then at Apple itself. Serlet claimed that he wanted to "focus less on products and more on science," but it's uncertain how Upthere might contribute to that, if at all.
