Apple's iPhone 4 antennagate drama has claimed its first executive casualty as the New York Times is reporting that Mark Papermaster, Senior VP of Devices Hardware Engineering has left the company.
It's been only sixteen months since Mr. Papermaster, an executive in charge of the iPhone 4 hardware, was recruited away from IBM by Apple in what quickly became the most contentious hires in the company's history.
In an attempt to prevent Papermaster from joining the Apple team, IBM sued him in federal court claiming that he had signed a noncompete agreement. The case was eventually settled and Mr. Papermaster went to work for Apple in 2008.
It's apparent that Mark Papermaster may be remembered as the sacrificial lamb of Apple's iPhone 4 antenna troubles that sparked a media feeding frenzy shortly after the new device launched on June 24, 2010. Antenna reception issues clouded the launch of iPhone 4 and eventually caused Apple to officially address the issue that ultimately led the company to deliver free bumper cases to all device owners.
Apple spokesman, Steve Dowling, confirmed Mr. Papermaster’s departure. Dowling said that Mr. Papermaster “is leaving the company and Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Macintosh hardware engineering, is assuming his responsibilities.”
Mansfield is the man who originally recruited Papermaster to Apple, which makes his rather sudden departure even more suspect of being a force out. When reached by phone Mark Papermaster declined to comment on weather he was ousted by Apple or chose to leave on his own accord, according to the NYT post.
For Apple, "This changes everything. Again".
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