“Tony Fadell, a senior executive who was instrumental in the development of the iPod, is leaving Apple for personal reasons, people familiar with the matter said. Mark Papermaster, a former executive for International Business Machine Corp., will be joining Apple later this month to replace Mr. Fadell, the same people said,” Yukari Iwatani Kane reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Mr. Fadell is the senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division, which designs the popular digital music players. He was also part of the executive team involved in the development of the iPhone, which has become the fastest growing part of Apple’s business. People familiar with the matter said Mr. Fadell planned to take time off after leaving the company though he may still keep a role at Apple as a consultant,” Kane reports.
“Mr. Papermaster is a longtime IBM veteran, who is known to be an expert in chip design and was one of the main architects behind the Power PC processor. IBM filed a lawsuit against Mr. Papermaster late last month, alleging that he breached a noncompete agreement that he had signed,” Kane reports.
More in the full article here.Full article here.
Switching from the UI design guy (Fadell) to the hardcore engineering guy (PaperMaster). The evolution of the product.
Wow, a Blade iPod! I would never have thought of that…
I’m not worried. The iPod’s too good by now for anyone to mess it up much.
The iPhone 5G will have a G5.
hagar57,
We can only hope….We can only hope….
Isn’t he the guy that basically started the iPod? Hmmm…I imagine that it’s developed far enough to be OK without him. I sure hope so.
According to another MDN article posted a few hours later, Tony Fadell is not leaving Apple:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/18981/
“The iPhone 5G will have a G5.”
Wow. That will be one HOT potato.
No matter how exciting a project is, after 5 years anybody can burn out and need something new.
People kept saying iPod is long passe, so what’s the big deal?
The reason they are leaving is because Apple has thrown some money into the same sex marriage campaign.
A young married couple with young kids, probably conservative Democrats, couldn’t get their heads or hearts in the game after that move.
Remember, you heard it from me first.
Once again, the inane political non-sequiter. Must be Ballmer. Homophobes can’t be Mac people- makes no sense. Then again, neither does Rush Limberger…
auramac, I’m homophobic and I’m Mac lover.