Apple puts former IBM exec in charge of handheld products
"Tony Fadell, Appleâs senior vice president of the iPod Division, and his wife Danielle Lambert, vice president of Human Resources, are reducing their roles within the company as they devote more time to their young family," the company said in a statement.
Fadell will remain at Apple as an advisor to chief executive Steve Jobs, while Lambert will depart the company at the end of this year after a successor is in place.
Mark Papermaster, a former vice president at IBM with 25 years of product and technology experience, will take over for Fadell as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting directly to Jobs. He'll be tasked with leading both iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams.
"Mark is a seasoned leader and is going to be an excellent addition to our senior management team," Jobs said. "Tony and Dani have each made important contributions to Apple over the past eight years. Weâre sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity."
Papermaster has a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Texas, and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont in 1988. He is also active with the University of Texas where he is a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Council.
During his tenure at IBM, Papermaster was largely regarded as the company's top expert in Power architecture and technology. He's expected to employ his vast knowledge of chip architectures while working with personnel and assets Apple acquired in its recent purchase of fabless chip designer PA Semi, which is expected to be integral in the development of future iPhone and iPod SoCs.
Last month, IBM filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block Papermaster's move to Apple, citing ongoing competition between the two companies.
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The fabless chip developer recently introduced a new, highly efficient processor based on a PowerPC design, which is likely to form the foundation of new custom SoC hardware that will power future iPods, iPhones, and other Apple handheld products.
I thought PASemi will be building a SoC based around ARM and PowerVR. So they are going to return to PowerPC afterall?
Apple on Tuesday confirmed the imminent departure of iPod chief Tony Fadell, saying he'll be replaced by a former IBM executive who'll oversee engineering of the company's handheld products. ...
Well this will certainly help in making the argument that Papermaster won't be doing work that is similar to what he did at IBM.
Erm no, unless they can make PowerPC macs run Windows cause that is what fueling Apple growth besides the iPod and iPhone its because of compatibility. Besides if they go to PowerPC back, Fusion and Parallel cannot work thus making possible Switchers now to switch.
Even though Papermaster will be leading the iPod and iPhone division, I'm sure after a year he will get his old job back(with PPC architecture to develop PASemi ARM Processor for the iPhone and iPods)
I thought PASemi will be building a SoC based around ARM and PowerVR. So they are going to return to PowerPC afterall?
Apple, Acorn Computers and VLSI Technology formed ARM in 1990.
Apple, IBM and Motorola created the PowerPC architecture in 1991.
PA Semi's head, Dan Dobberpuhl designed the DEC Alpha(RISC) and StrongARM and processors back in the 90s.
"In February 2007, P.A. Semi debuted a 64-bit dual core microprocessor which the company asserted was 300% more efficient than any comparable chips. It consumes only 5 to 13 watts running at 2 gigahertz." -Forbes
Mac OS X currently runs on 3 architectures X86, ARM & PowerPC.
The purchase of PA Semi is all about Apple being able to differentiate itself in the future.
The rest of the mobile computing industry will have two choices intel Atom or ARM.
Apple will be moving future iPods and iPhone to it's own custom SoC designed by PA Semi.
No one else will have access to this chip and won't be able to easily duplicate or reverse engineer Apple's advances.
The PA Semi move is all about mobile computing and currently has nothing to do with Apple's desktop and notebook computers.
I'm glad to see Apple putting a seasoned engineer in charge and not a marketing guy.