Vice President of Design at HTC Vive Lead designer Claude Zellweger has left HTC to join Google. He continues his work on the virtual reality device with Google Daydream.
Zellweger announced his departure from HTC in his short tweet on late Wednesday, Jan. 25 as reported by TechCrunch. He is reported to to head the industrial design for Google Daydream.
HTC has released official statement regarding the departure of the company’s executive from the Taiwanese industrial giant as reported by Engadget. The company bid farewell and will continue to strengthen its organizational structure by recruiting magnificent talents.
“We appreciate his considerable contribution to HTC, and wish him well in his future endeavors,” read the statement from HTC.
There is no further detail regarding his position and role in the new company. Google Daydream was established in March 2016 with main focus is to create the virtual reality platform, combining the hardware and software infrastructure. It is predicted that Zellweger will lead the industrial design on the Google Dayream.
Zellweger is the founder of One & Co. Virtual reality company. HTC bought his company in 2008 which he founded along with his partner Scott Croyle. Prior to the acquisition, Zellweger and One & Co. had been working with HTC for two years in designing the company’s flagship’s product, HTC Touch Diamond.
He was the one behind the sleek design of HTC One, which was released March 2013. Zellweger was the Associate Vice President of Advanced Concepts in HTC for two years from 2012-2014. Afterward, he was promoted as the Vice President of Design at HTC in October 2014 to start the company’s new venture in virtual reality .
Since 2014, Zellweger worked on the HTC virtual reality project, Vive. HTC co-operated with game developer Valve Corporation, which is known as the creator of renown games Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Dota 2. HTC Vive was officially introduced in 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
HTC Vive has been the landmark of design genius from Zellweger. Watch the hands-on report on HTC Vive from Engadget below: