Apple’s Papermaster out after iPhone 4 Antenna Debacle
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Mark Papermaster, Senior Vice President for Devices Hardware Engineering at Apple, has left the company in the aftermath of the iPhone 4 antenna problems that have plagued Apple for the past several weeks.
Papermaster was recruited by Apple in 2008 while he was still a VP at IBM. The announcement of his new job sparked a legal battle with IBM in an attempt to keep him from taking his new position. The litigation between Papermaster and IBM was finally resolved and he was cleared to begin his new role with Apple.
As the head of device engineering, Papermaster oversaw the hardware for key hit products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad during his short tenure with Apple. The iPhone 4 was the comapny’s most successful product launch with millions sold in the first week. The device has been well received by the public with only a small percentage of customers reporting problems with the antenna. In an effort to resolve the issue, Apple announced it would give away millions of free iPhone bumpers to help mitigate the iPhone 4′s antenna reception issue.
Its unclear if Papermaster left the company on his own accord or was asked to leave as a result of the iPhone 4 issues. Papermaster’s executive bio on Apple’s website was removed today but a cached version is still available. Bob Mansfield, Senior Vice President of Macintosh Hardware Engineering, will assume Papermaster’s set of responsibilities.
[h/t The New York Times]
