Apple Said to Discuss Job With Ex-Obama Spokesman Jay Carney

Apple Inc. has talked with former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about a public-relations job, a friend of his said.

Carney hasn’t made up his mind, according to the person, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private and no agreement has been reached. Carney declined to specify whether he’s talking to Apple or any other specific company.

“I’m talking to a lot of different people about a variety of potential opportunities,” he said yesterday in an e-mail.

Apple has been seeking a successor to Katie Cotton, the company’s longtime vice president for worldwide communications, who announced her departure in May. Carney, 49, would give the maker of the iPhone a high-profile public face.

A former Washington bureau chief for Time magazine, Carney joined President Barack Obama’s administration as the first communications director for Vice President Joe Biden. He took over the briefing-room podium when Robert Gibbs resigned as press secretary in February 2011. He left the job last month and was succeeded by Josh Earnest.

Re/Code, a website that covers technology, reported earlier that Apple was interested in Carney.