Apple reportedly made an extremely interesting hire recently. TWiT host Leo Laporte relayed via Twitter this week that he had it on "good authority" that Apple hired audio engineer Tomlinson Holman to head up audio at Apple.
Though Apple is notoriously secretive about its product and software roadmap, we can sometimes glean details about its plans from public job listings and the hires it makes.In that vein, Apple reportedly made an extremely interesting hire recently. TWiT host Leo Laporte relayed via Twitter this week that he had it on “good authority” that Apple hired audio engineer Tomlinson Holman to head up audio at Apple.
But Holman is far from your run of the mill audio engineer. The winner of the 2007 IEEE masaru Ibuka Award, Holman was the brains behind Lucasfilm’s THX sound system and is also the man responsible for developing the world’s first 10.2 surround sound system. Holman spent 15 years working for Lucasfilm and his audio expertise is quite varied – from his work in film to designing loudspeakers, Holman is an audio jack of all trades (no pun intended).Hollman also teaches a course on Film Sound at USC. Further, his book Sound for Film and Television is required reading in man college film course curriculum’s.So what exactly will Holman be doing at Apple? Where and how will his audio talents be utilized?We can only fathom that it has to be something big. Apple wouldn’t hire a man of Holman’s stature and credentials solely to improve the sound quality on the iPod Touch. Maybe to improve sound quality on the Mac, or songs downloaded from Tunes? Sure, that’s all well and good, but isn’t it possible that Apple is dreaming bigger?The addition of Holman is particularly intriguing in light of the growing number of rumors that Apple is working on its own HDTV. Apple’s iOS and iTunes ecosystem is unbelievably well integrated, and the only missing piece of the puzzle is an Apple branded TV. Of course, there are practical considerations that suggest Apple won’t get into the TV market.The HDTV market, for instance, is cut throat and doesnt offer the healthy margins Apple typically enjoys. Moreover, competition is fierce and an Apple offering would have to be extremely compelling to draw people away from top notch sets from Samsung and Sony.As with anything Apple, we can’t be sure of what Apple has in the pipeline until Steve Jobs gets up on stage and announces it. But with the hiring of Holman, it stands to reason that Apple has grand plans for the living room and is quietly starting to put together some of the pieces of that puzzle.
