Andy Miller sold Quattro Wireless, a company he co-founded, to Apple in 2010 for $275 million. Ever since then, Andy has been the head of the iAd division at Apple. But now Miller is leaving for Highland Capital, a Boston based firm that originally funded Quattro Wireless.
Andy Miller worked and communicated directly with Steve Jobs during his tenure at Apple. Shortly after the acquisition, Steve said the following about Quattro:
“We tried to buy a company named AdMob, but Google came in and snatched them from us. So we bought Quattro, and they are teaching us. We are making ads that are different than anything I’ve ever seen.”
But Apple’s dream was short lived, as it had to compete with platforms from Google and Facebook, that both had already perfected. A year ago, Apple started iAd and shut down Quattro. iAd serves up ads for the iPhone and iPod, on a mobile platform. But Apple’s high prices and micro-management of the ads, pushed companies away. However, Apple recently started giving more flexibility to ads and companies are starting to look again. Mobile advertising will become a billion dollar industry very soon, with 2010 coming in at $743 million.
Miller will be helping Highland Capital better form it’s digital investments. He has a very broad spectrum in his background, working with advertising, marketing and startups.
We are still waiting for an official comment from Apple.
[via allthingsd]
