New Apple leader sets stage for the future of the iPod

Tony Fadell (pictured here), the head of Apple's iPod group, is stepping down to make way for the hiring of IBM chip guru Mark Papermaster.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple is ready to start a new chapter in the history of the iPod with a new leader for that group.

The company's selection of Mark Papermaster as the new head of iPod and iPhone hardware engineering points the way toward a more sophisticated future for Apple's mobile computers, as Apple has been hinting for over a year. The veteran chip and system designer will be tasked with overseeing the transformation of the iPod lineup from relatively simple music players to complex and powerful mobile devices, with the iPod Touch as the first example.

Longtime Apple executive Tony Fadell is stepping down to make way for Papermaster. Fadell's place in tech history is assured; after all, he invented the friggin iPod. Apple said Fadell and his wife, Danielle Lambert, vice president of human resources at Apple, are both planning to spend more time with their family and less time with Apple, although neither is leaving the company completely.

As always with these kinds of high-profile executive moves, the question "jumped or pushed?" comes up. There doesn't appear to be any evidence as yet that Fadell had done anything to put him on CEO Steve Jobs' bad side; while iPod growth has stagnated, that's more a function of market saturation than any wrong decisions made by Apple.

Fadell is credited with having brought to Apple the idea of a hardware music player married to a digital music store. That idea worked out pretty well, turning the iPod into one of the most iconic consumer electronics devices ever created and giving Apple a new direction in the tech and music industries.

But over the past year or so, the definition of the iPod has begun to change. At one point, iPods were all about sleek design and style married to a relatively simple user interface. But Jobs believes that the mobile computers of the future will win or lose the public's heart based on the quality of their software, which means that the plain old iPod is going to need some top-notch mobile hardware.

That's where Papermaster comes in. At first glance, it might seem a little weird to tap a server executive with no consumer electronics experience for one of the tech industry's most visible consumer electronics jobs.

And there's a legal component to this hire as well, don't forget. IBM is suing Papermaster for breaking the terms of a noncompete agreement with the company, and reiterated Tuesday morning its intention to "vigorously pursue this case in court." Its task might be more difficult after Tuesday's announcement, given that Papermaster intends to oversee a category of Apple's business that doesn't list IBM as a competitor.

But Papermaster has spent a career working on the design of powerful chips. During the last decade or so, that field has required a strict focus on energy efficiency; learning how to squeeze more performance out of the chip while reducing or controlling the amount of power needed to run the chip. And for the last several years, he has overseen IBM's blade server business, where strong performance in a tight, constrained package is the name of the game.

The iPod Touch is the first example of how Apple is turning the iPod into a mobile computer.

(Credit: Apple)

This is precisely the challenge facing Apple at this stage of the iPod's evolution. Consumers are not going to go back in time and lust after powerful-yet-bulky handheld devices without any style: just ask anyone trying to sell a Mobile Internet Device. But they're going to want more sophisticated software on their devices; in short, they're going to want to do just about anything and everything they can do on a PC or Mac on a handheld computer.

That's going to require a leader who has a keen understanding of where chip design is headed, and how best to make decisions about the inevitable trade-offs between performance, power consumption, and chip size that categorize that field. It's going to require someone who also knows how to design an entire system that adheres to those principles, someone who can bridge the gap between the chip wizards and the industrial designers.

Future iPods will make their name--one way or another--as computers linked to Apple's enhancements to OS X, the mobile operating system on the iPhone and iPod Touch. As Scott Forstall's group adds sophistication to that software, Papermaster's group is going to have to support those advances with powerful hardware that doesn't compromise battery life or Jonny Ive's design principles.

Fadell may not have wanted to take on such a challenge. The man has plenty of money and little to prove. Alternatively, Jobs may have decided that Apple needed someone with broader system and chip design experience to take over the management of the iPod group. In these early hours, we just don't know.

But one thing is clear. Apple is planning for a future where it treats the iPod and iPhone like it does the Mac, with separate software and hardware engineering teams that work together to design the finished product.

And it's also clear that Apple's definition of hardware engineering extends to the components themselves. The new head of Mac hardware engineering, Bob Mansfield, also has a background in chip design at graphics pioneer SGI. Apple acquired P.A. Semi earlier in the year to focus on chip design for iPhones and iPod Touches.

Earlier this year, we wondered about the future of the iPod. As the year closes, Apple is making its intentions clear: the iPod is growing up.

[Mr. Dee]

Here is how the iPod is doomed, complexity creeps in. The moment Apple drifts away from simplicity to support bloat and do everything approach either in hardware or software then the Company will lose its magic. I personally believe the iPod Touch should be just that, the future iPod. Not some iPhone zombie. Its trying to be what the iPhone is, and we all know, for a phone it must have a lot of features. But the core features of the Touch need to go back to its roots and stay there.

[myles taylor]

I disagree. The consumer gets more demanding and want's more features. Simplicity was enough when mp3 players were complicated, but now it's not. Read the reviews; there are plenty of music players that are just as simple to use. So far there isn't a competitor to the iPod touch and for those of us who can't or aren't ready to get and iPhone and don't mind having two mobile devices, we want a more complicated machine.

[daedbird]

I don't think there ever was a question on that the iPod Touch and iPhone will continue to evolve (the two will continue to feed each other on uses) the question in my mind is what will happen to the Shuffle, CLassic and Nano - the single-use iPods. The reason the iPod was such a success was that integration of hardware and software, making it easy to listen to music (and now watch video) and there will continue to be a lot of people who will want to keep that separate from their phone. My concern is that Apple will see the profit margin drop on those devices as more players come on the market to challenge, and just decide to break free all together, focusing on the micro computers the Touch and iPhone already are. Does it make sense to keep making those single use appliances to have a stable of products that appeal to every consumer, or will they see little profit continuing them? Or will they try to do everything, have multiple products, and get bogged down by a bloated catalog? Some wonder if Apple will come out with a iPod phone, light, simple, with narrow function. Others may want the Touch to grow in size with a larger screen. Many questions will continue to remain unanswered.

[myles taylor]

Nature of Apple. That's how it is. We'll get our answers.....but not before Apple is good and ready for us to have them.

[myles taylor]

This is Apple's new "netbook". I want to see a device the size of my iPod Touch that I can attach peripherals to and make it a netbook. Maybe....I'm not sure.

[dk jones]

i have iPod Touch 1G & i love it, about the only addition i think feasible for Apple to add is a flash memory card slot on which one could put Keynote presentations or projects involving all iWork files or for the addition of more music & video files(my line of work) for client preview. i don't have the need for an iPhone, 'cause i can use free Wi-Fi most places to check my email & web search. for other communication i use my basic cell phone w/ no camera.

[toomath]

Wow, Tony was my very first boss right out of college at Philips Electronics. He's a good guy. Had no idea he went on to invent the ipod, though the stuff we were working on at the time reminds me a lot of the design aesthetic apple has today. Hope he continues to do well. I'm sure nobody's heard the last of him.