Brett Bilbrey retired earlier this month, marking an end to a nearly 12-year career at Apple. During his tenure at 1 Infinite Loop, Bilbrey worked in a variety of positions and on a number of projects, most recently heading up the company's Technology Advancement Group.
While at Apple, Bilbrey was a prolific inventor whose name appears on slew of patents, including a patent detailing a wireless charging system, a 3D imaging camera for iOS devices, and in a patent that just made the rounds yesterday, a MacBook concept featuring a dynamic, reconfigurable, and touch-sensitive keyboard.
As for Bilbrey's work history, he originally joined Apple as the company's manager of media architecture back in 2002. In 2004, he began focusing on consumer products where he and his team helped create the Mac Mini, the Apple TV, and iSight camera technology for both the iMac and Mac portables.
Following that, Bilbrey joined Apple's secretive Technology Advancement Group in August of 2008.
I was able to get in touch with Bilbrey, who, in addition to providing me with a brief run down of his work while at Apple, commented ever so briefly on his 5+ year stint heading up Apple's Technology Advancement Group.
As my next role at Apple, I headed up the Technology Advancement Group, where my teams prototyped many projects for Apple. Of course, nothing that I can speak of. All I can offer about the Technology Advancement Group is that it is focused on forward-looking technology that can be deployed in products
As a parting shot, Bilbrey told me that he very much enjoyed his time at Apple and considers himself fortunate to have worked there.
Bilbrey's LinkedIn profile reads in part:
"I had a great ride at Apple," Bilbrey said. "I'm lucky in that I can retire knowing that folks I have worked with are continuing to turn out great Apple products."