Ashton Kutcher and 8 Other Surprising Celebrity Tech Hires
The "Dude, Where's My Car" star and tech venture capitalist can now add the title "Lenovo product engineer" to his resume. Lenovo hired Kutcher for the job on its Yoga tablet computer.
REUTERS/CDIC
As it continues to try to shake up the cellphone service business, T-Mobile announced last month that it had signed the hip-shaking Colombian pop star to a multi-year deal as a "T-Mobile collaborator." T-Mobile said the partners will “work together to create exciting platforms to promote and market upcoming Shakira single and album releases, create and distribute unique content, and deliver once-in-a-lifetime T-Mobile customer experiences.” Shakira has also agreed to be a “global ambassador” for the 3D White Collection from Oral-B and Crest.
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
The rap mogul has teamed with companies such as Duracell Powermat and Samsung, which reportedly bought 1 million copies of the album “Magna Carta Holy Grail” earlier this year, for $5 each, to make them available for free to Galaxy device owners. The release of the smartphone app was marred by glitches and privacy complaints.
REUTERS/Gary Hershorn
The R&B singer-songwriter, actress and record producer was hired earlier this year by struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry to be the company's global creative director. But the new Blackberry Z10 phone failed to strike the right chord with consumers.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
J-Lo joined up with Verizon Wireless earlier this year to launch Viva Móvil by Jennifer Lopez, a mobile carrier aimed at the Latino market, starting in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
Flickr/CTIA
Two years ago, Intel went to recording artist, singer-songwriter and record producer Will.i.am to be its director of creative innovation.
REUTERS/Steve Marcus
Another singer-songwriter hired by a struggling business: Lady Gaga was tapped by Polaroid three years ago to be the company's creative director.
REUTERS/Steve Marcus
Last year, actress Jessica Alba helped Microsoft launch its new Windows Phone 8 mobile software as the campaign spokesperson, but didn't land an important sounding title as part of the deal. The lure of the iPhone proved strong, though, as Alba was reportedly seen using Apple’s device months after she said she was switching to a Windows phone.
REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
FC Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi: spokesperson and top-touter for Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings. While no Jessica Alba, Messi is handsome enough and has just enough speaking ability to get through commercials for the company's WeChat product.
WeChat