Apple just poached an Amazon executive to save its struggling Apple TV business

Timothy D. Twerdahl

(LinkedIn)

Apple has poached Timothy D. Twerdahl, former director and GM of Amazon's Fire TV unit, in an effort to revive its struggling Apple TV business, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Twerdahl's will oversee product marketing for Apple TV, the report said. Twerdahl's LinkedIn page says he joined Apple this month.

Twerdahl spent nearly four years at Amazon, after joining the company's Fire TV unit in 2013. Prior to that, he's held a number of positions at WIMM Labs, Roku, and Netflix.

Twerdahl replaces Pete Distad, who has moved to Apple's content team, run by Eddie Cue.

The hiring comes at a time when Apple TV has struggled to gain much traction. In its most recent earnings, Apple CFO Luca Maestri blamed Apple TV for the "other" category's sales decline.

Amazon hasn't disclosed any sales numbers of its Fire TV, but often calls its TV streaming device the best-selling device on its e-commerce site.

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