What you need to know
- Apple health and Apple Watch exec Kevin Lynch is reportedly getting involved in the Apple Car project.
- Lynch will reportedly still be involved in health and Apple Watch, however.
Apple's health and Apple Watch exec Kevin Lynch is reportedly getting involved in the Apple Car project that has been in the works for years now. According to the same report, Lynch will still be involved in the development of Apple Watch despite the change.
According to an Insider report, Lynch's involvement in Apple Car has been confirmed by four different people "familiar with the matter," although Apple has predictably declined to comment on the matter.
The same report notes that Apple continues to try and find new ways to expand beyond iPhone, with Apple Watch doing an admirable job of late. Apple seems to be hoping that Lynch can work similar magic with Apple Car.
Lynch is one of the architects behind the Apple Watch. In 2013, he was brought in specifically to grow the product from an idea into a reality, and is largely credited for helping to define a new product category for Apple, "wearables," that's now making billions per quarter.
Apple has been rumored to have plans for some sort of autonomous cars for years now and was recently reported to be tapping companies for US-built batteries.
While the report says Lynch will still be involved with Apple Watch and health, it goes on to say that he will step back from Jeff Williams' health team.
Lynch will be stepping back from Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams' health staff, a team of health VPs that includes Dr. Sumbul Desai, head of care delivery and regulatory, Myra Haggerty, who leads algorithms, Eugene Kim, head of watch hardware, and other critical drivers of the health strategy.Evan Doll, a director of health software engineering, will replace Lynch on the staff, one of the people said. While Doll will continue to report to Lynch, Lynch's absence on that team, home to the organization's decision makers, means he'll be less tangibly involved in health strategy, two of the people said.
Whether this means we won't see Lynch involved in future Apple Watch announcements or not, we'll have to wait and see. Apple is expected to announce Apple Watch Series 7 before the year's end.
