THE SENIOR executive in charge of Apple’s iPhone and iPod hardware is leaving the company, just weeks after Steve Jobs, chief executive, made a public apology for problems with the latest iPhone model.
Mark Papermaster, Apple’s senior vice-president of devices hardware engineering, will be replaced by Bob Mansfield, the head of hardware engineering for Macintosh, Apple’s line of personal computers. The reasons for Mr Papermaster’s departure are not yet known.
In a statement given to the New York Timeson Saturday, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said Mr Papermaster "is leaving the company and Bob Mansfield, senior vice-president of Macintosh hardware engineering, is assuming his responsibilities".
Coming so soon after the launch of Apple’s latest iPhone model, the news of Mr Papermaster’s departure has inevitably provoked speculation that his move is related to the iPhone 4’s much-discussed connectivity problems.
In June, the iPhone 4 set a launch-weekend record for the mobile phone industry, with 1.7 million devices sold in its first three days on the market. However, users began to report problems linked to the model’s unusual 3G antenna, which is built into a metal strip that circumnavigates the phone.
Consumers complained that touching the lower left corner of the iPhone’s antenna could reduce connectivity, sometimes leading to dropped calls and the failure of web pages to load properly.
In a rare on-campus press conference in July, Steve Jobs apologised for the reception problems that have dogged the iPhone 4 since its launch, saying the company would give free cases to all buyers of the device at least until the end of September. He said at the time Apple had been singled out for criticism because of its success and showed a video that highlighted similar problems on a BlackBerry by Research in Motion, a Samsung Windows phone and a HTC Android phone.
However, HTC, RIM and Samsung all rebuked Mr Jobs following the comments. “Apple should look to its own problems,” Hui-Meng Cheng, HTC chief financial officer, said.
“The reception problems are certainly not common among smartphones.”
Other manufacturers generally keep the antenna inside with other components, even though that means their phones are bigger. Neither Apple nor Mr Papermaster could be reached for comment.
Mr Papermaster was appointed to his role at Apple in November 2008, having previously worked for IBM.
Mr Mansfield, who will take on Mr Papermaster’s role, joined Apple in 1999, leading the team responsible for a number of Mac computers including the MacBook Air and the iMac.
– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)
