Today Leap Motion, the motion controller company, announced that Michael Zagorsek will join the team as VP of Product Marketing. Zagorsek was previously with Apple, where he was a Director for Marketing Communications working on interactive marketing for every product launch since the iPhone in 2007. With Leap Motion, Zagorsek will be responsible for marketing, developer relations, and the building of Leap’s upcoming app store.
Zagorsek is the second former Apple employee to join Leap Motion, following Leap President and COO Andy Miller who joined the company in July of this year. Miller was also an Apple VP through Highland Capital where he was an investor in Leap and liked the company so much that he decided to join it.
Explaining the decision to hire Zagorsek, Miller says, “it’s all about developers,” and Leap has hired a “high class of math talent,” and is “hiring up” so that the company will have the power it needs when they launch, which is planned for 2013.
When asked why he wanted to leave Apple after five of the company’s most successful years, Zagorsek said he saw a great opportunity in what Leap offers:
I’ve always been passionate about joining people and technology together. The Leap is a breakthrough product that will remove barriers between people and their ability to interact and create in 3-D digital environments. It also introduces a unique platform for Leap Motion to foster a strong and vibrant developer community empowered to create life-changing applications across entertainment, art, science, health, education, and so much more.
The Leap App Store will offer a focused way to browse and download content for the devices. Zagorsek says it will be the perfect environment to showcase the work of the more than 40,000 coders in over 140 countries that have submitted to Leap and signed up to join the Leap Software Developer Program.
Leap will begin shipping to consumers next year, but test units will be given out to developers in the next few weeks.
Image Credit: Market Wire
