Apple hires to possibly boost product development

Apple has hired Dropcam co-founder and former CEO Greg Duffy, as news site The Information reported and Apple confirmed to Axios. Duffy sold Dropcam in 2014 to Alphabet-owned Nest, the smart home device maker co-founded by Tony Fadell who made his name as the "father of the iPod."

Ironic twist: Duffy left Nest in 2015, a year after Dropcam's acquisition, because of Nest's culture and his clashing with Fadell, one of Apple's most iconic alumni.

Now what? Apple declined to comment on Duffy's role, but he's likely to lead a special project, akin to building and running a startup within Apple—a route large companies often use to lure and satisfy high-profile entrepreneurs. Prior to Dropcam, Duffy was an early engineer at Xobni ("inbox" spelled backwards), an email application that sold to Yahoo in 2013.

• Duffy's hiring could be a way for Apple to re-energize its creativity and product range. Under CEO Tim Cook, the company has been criticized for not developing and releasing more new products, instead sticking to incremental updates to its existing lines and after much lagging, putting out its smartwatch in 2015.