Apple Hires Dolby’s Technology Chief Mike Rockwell

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Apple hired Mike Rockwell, the executive vice president of Advanced Technology Group at Dolby Laboratories according to 9to5Mac based on information from people familiar with the matter. Rockwell has 20 years experience in engineering and technology.

According to the report, Rockwell will assume an executive position at the hardware division of Apple. The sources suggested that the iPhone maker recruited Rockwell to help improve the audio and display performance of its future products.

Most recent high-profile executive to join Apple

Rockwell stepped down from his position at Dolby Laboratories on January 31 based on a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Technology observers commented that he was among the high-profile executives, who recently joined Apple.

Rockwell’s profile on LinkedIn showed that he joined Apple last month. He did not specify his position in the company. In his latest position at Dolby Laboratories, Rockwell led the “invention of new technology and incubation of new business.” He was involved in Dolby Vision’s state of the art color display technology, which is designed to improve the color and brightness of high definition displays.

Prior to his position as EVP of Advanced Technology Group, Rockwell served as EVP of Products and Technologies of Dolby Laboratories from 2009 to 2012. Before that, he also became senior vice president of Worldwide Engineering at the company and supervised the Dolby’s engineering teams in the development of new products and technologies for the entertainment industry.

Before joining Dolby Laboratories, Rockwell owned and served as President of Rockwell Digital, a software business and audio/visual production company. He was also a former chief technology officer at Avid Technology, a company that specializes in audio and video software.

Other executives who joined Apple’s audio hardware division

Some of the executives who recently joined the audio hardware division of Apple were Thomason Holman from THX and Lucas Film in 2011.

Dana Massie, the former director of DSP chip architecture at Audience joined Apple as SoC Audio Architect last year. Apple also hired digital audio veteran Peter Eastty as Director of SoC Audio Processing.

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