HTC’s Jeff Gattis picked up by Google-backed Magic Leap

The name Jeffrey Gattis may not sound familiar to you, but the products overseen by him definitely are. RE Camera? Grip? Vive? All projects that Gattis was involved in as HTC’s Executive Director of Global Marketing for Connected Products. Anything involving imaging, wearables, virtual reality, and home automation at HTC received Gattis’ attention. He joined the company in in July 2014 after spending more than three years at TiVo, but now Gattis has left for another virtual reality-focused company backed by Google.

Magic Leap, a startup developing a virtual reality headset akin to Microsoft’s HoloLens, successfully poached Gattis from HTC.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gattis sat down with UploadVR to explain why he left HTC:

“I think what struck me so much about Magic Leap was the quality of the technology and seeing how far along it was. I knew there was a great division but I didn’t know how far along the technology was and how close it is to becoming real and commercial. That was the biggest takeaway for me, and how it advanced and how quickly it has gotten to the point.”

Gattis’ LinkedIn profile already reflects his move from HTC to Magic Leap. Early next year, HTC is expected to start selling its Vive headset. The addition of Gattis to Magic Leap could indicate that its own virtual reality headset is incoming in the first half of 2016 as well.

Source: UploadVR

Come comment on this article: HTC’s Jeff Gattis picked up by Google-backed Magic Leap