Facebook Inc (FB) Hires Former Apple Inc. (AAPL) Maps Chief [REPORT]

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recently hired yet another member of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone team, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The executive is none other than Richard Williamson, who was the head of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s mapping team. The iPhone maker had fired Richard Williamson after it began to lose customers’ trust due to the mapping blunder.

The Menlo Park-based social networking site hired Williamson in the past couple of weeks to join its rapidly growing mobile-software group. The sources declined to be identified as the information hasn’t been made public. Williamson had been with the iPhone maker for over a decade.

Initially, Steve Jobs had assigned him to develop software for the iPhone. Later, he headed the company’s mapping team after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) decided to replace Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) maps with its own mapping software in iPhone and iPad. But the map developed by Williamson’s team was widely criticized for showing inaccurate landmark locations and inappropriate directions.

Richard Williamson is not the only executive from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to join Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Mark Zuckerberg has earlier hired many other Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) employees to help design its latest product Facebook Home. Other Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) executives who joined Facebook are Greg Novick, who has developed the touch interface for iPhone; Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris whose startup Push Pop Press was acquired by Facebook; and other software engineers including Chris Tremblay, Tim Omernick and Scott Goodson.

In an entirely different move, the social networking site hired the software designer Loren Brichter as a consultant who created Twitter’s original iPhone app and Letterpress, a word-puzzle game. Brichter is also a former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) employee. Former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) employees aren’t limited to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s product creation team. Rebecca Van Dyck, the chief of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s consumer marketing, is also an ex-Apple employee.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were down 5.88 percent to $401.24 and Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) shares declined 1.62 percent to $26.48 at 12:22 PM EDT.