Apple has promoted Zach Kahn, who previously managed the tech giant’s podcast and audiobooks PR, to lead public relations for content on Vision Pro, the company’s forthcoming AR/VR headset.
According to his LinkedIn bio, Kahn will head communications for apps, services and entertainment on Apple Vision Pro, which is slated to feature apps for Apple TV and Apple Music when it launches in early 2024.
Apple unveiled the Vision Pro at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, to be priced at a whopping $3,500 apiece. The company calls it a “spatial computing” platform, and CEO Tim Cook has compared the product’s coming introduction to the way iPhone introduced smartphones to millions of people. At WWDC, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the “revolutionary” platform will let the company create “deeply immersive” stories in ways that were “previously impossible.” Iger said Disney+ will be available on Vision Pro on “Day One” and previewed concepts the company is working on for the device.
In January 2022, Apple hired Andrea Schubert to head PR for Apple Vision Pro. Previously, she led PR for Meta’s Reality Labs, the VR and AR products division that includes the Quest headsets.
Kahn is based out of Los Angeles. Prior to his new role, he headed public relations for Apple’s podcast business for nearly four years. As of January, he was also managing PR for the company’s books business. Before joining Apple in 2019, Khan was senior manager of podcast marketing at Vox Media, and also worked at companies including Google, Nest and Uber.
Taking over PR duties for Apple’s podcast group is Olivia DeJesse, who also manages media relations for the Fitness+ subscription service. Apple has remained a notable player in the podcast space, which it helped create nearly two decades ago, and has moved forward selectively to release its own original podcast programming. In June 2021, the company launched Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a marketplace for creators to distribute premium podcasts, in a bid to start monetizing its podcast app.
On Apple’s September quarter earnings call Thursday, Cook reiterated that Vision Pro is on track to launch in the U.S. in early 2024. The company reported record revenue in its services business segment, which grew 16.3% year-over-year to $22.3 billion, while overall revenue declined about 1%.