Mark Papermaster was chosen to lead a team developing future iPhones, even though the company worried about his lack of direct consumer electronics experience.
(Credit: Apple)Apple knew full well that Mark Papermaster would have to learn his new role as iPod and iPhone chief "on the job" when it hired him.
Papermaster's former employer, IBM, filed a lawsuit against him last week, claiming that he broke the terms of a noncompete contract with IBM in accepting a high-profile job with Apple. InformationWeek spotted Papermaster's formal response Friday morning, in which he declares that the two companies are not competitors and that his experience at IBM is not the primary reason why Apple sought his services.
The court filings reveal the interesting process Apple used to hire Papermaster to replace Tony Fadell, a longtime executive in charge of Apple's iPod group. And contrary to speculation, it appears that Papermaster--a well-respected chip executive--will have nothing to do with chip design at Apple on Day 1.
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Apple began searching within the consumer electronics industry in October 2007 for a lieutenant and eventual successor to Fadell, but it couldn't find anyone it liked, according to the court filing. Instead, the company decided to search for an executive with strong overall technology skills who would be a good fit inside Apple, modeling the search on the process used to find current Mac hardware leader Bob Mansfield.
Mansfield was the one who suggested Papermaster as a candidate, though he didn't exactly roll out the welcome mat for his college buddy. On a list of potential candidates sent to Vice President of Human Resources Danielle Lambert (who is married to Fadell), Mansfield described Papermaster: "Mark fits the bill wrt (with respect to) systems and semiconductor understanding, but in every other way is a long shot."
Nonetheless, he was brought into Cupertino in February 2008 to interview with CEO Steve Jobs and Fadell. Apple liked Papermaster in many ways, but it wasn't sure that his experience in server development was the proper background for the role--especially in light of the fact that in February, Apple was working hard on getting the iPhone 3G out the door, and it wanted someone who could hit the ground running.
However, as Lambert said in a statement attached to Papermaster's response, "nobody questioned Mark's ability to lead a development team." The company offered him a role designing laptops, and while Papermaster was intrigued by the possibility of working at Apple, he wasn't all that crazy about that particular role.
But after Apple got this year's crop of iPods out the door in September, the search for Fadell's replacement intensified. Papermaster was offered that role, and he jumped at what he called "the opportunity of a lifetime."
As Papermaster sees it, his role is fairly narrow: he's tasked with overseeing the development of iPod and iPhone hardware. He won't be working on personal computers, he won't be working on servers, and perhaps most surprisingly, he won't be working on microprocesors.
Papermaster's court filing says the P.A. Semi team acquired by Apple earlier this year is part of the group managed by Mansfield, not part of the iPod and iPhone group. That's a surprising organizational decision, given that Jobs has said publicly that P.A. Semi was brought into the fold to work on chips for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Despite a career spent developing chips at IBM, Papermaster supposedly won't have anything to do with Apple's budding chip team.
(Credit: CNET)The filing notes that Apple currently acquires iPhone microprocessors from an outside vendor, widely believed to be Samsung. Unsurprisingly, it stops short of mentioning whether or not Apple plans to eventually design and develop its own microprocessors for that product, as seems evident.
In a declaration accompanying the formal court response, Papermaster notes that "it is also my understanding that I will not be responsible for developing the microprocessors that are used in the iPod and iPhone products, but rather those will be procured from sources outside my group." Whether those sources are outside Papermaster's group but inside Apple is left unstated, but Papermaster also says, "I will be acting solely as a product manager--I am not being hired to develop technology across product lines."
An Apple representative declined to comment on Apple's organizational structure or the court filings, only to say, "We think IBM will see that the iPod and iPhone are not competitive with their business." IBM likewise declined to comment on Papermaster's response beyond the statements they have already made regarding their intention to "vigorously" pursue the case against Papermaster.
Papermaster's argument against the lawsuit is that since Apple and IBM aren't true competitors, and since he isn't working on the small slice of Apple's business--servers--that does overlap with IBM's business, the noncompete should not apply. Likewise, he believes that he's not in a position to divulge any IBM trade secrets because "Mr. Papermaster's position at Apple will involve a completely different product using different technology that Mr. Papermaster will have to learn on the job."
It's quite possible that Papermaster's lawyers are deliberately downplaying his connections to Apple's budding chip design team in order to make this lawsuit go away, since the chip angle is IBM's only real argument. Even if Papermaster isn't directly involved on a day-to-day basis with the P.A. Semi team, he will be in charge of specifying the hardware requirements for the iPhone, and part of that includes the chips that go into that system.
Apple appears to be making a bit of a gamble with this hire, entrusting the care of what has become its most important product to an executive who, though well-regarded, has no experience working inside the fast-paced consumer electronics industry. And the most relevant part of his IBM experience doesn't appear to be part of his marching orders at Apple.
But the company believes that his leadership skills will serve him well at Apple, according to one of the court filings: "Apple has hired Mark Papermaster because he has strong general engineering skills, is an outstanding leader, and because we believe he will be a good cultural match at Apple."
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.
Apple's iPod chief, Tony Fadell, will step down but remain at the company.
(Credit: Apple)Apple on Tuesday confirmed reports circulating on Monday night that Tony Fadell, a longtime executive in charge of the company's iPod division, is stepping down.
Fadell will be replaced by Mark Papermaster, a vice president at IBM, who will join Apple as senior vice president of devices, responsible for the company's iPod and iPhone hardware-engineering teams, Apple said.
CNET News first reported last week that Papermaster was set to leave IBM for a prominent position at Apple, though the nature of his role was unknown at the time.
Fadell will remain at Apple as an adviser to CEO Steve Jobs, the company said, adding that Fadell's wife, Danielle Lambert, plans to step down from her position as vice president of human resources at the end of the year, after a successor is found. She will leave the company, Apple said.
"Mark is a seasoned leader and is going to be an excellent addition to our senior management team," Jobs said in a statement Tuesday. And according to a statement Apple issued Tuesday, both executives are "reducing their roles within the company as they devote more time to their young family."
Apple's iPod chief, Tony Fadell, is getting ready to leave the company, according to a report.
(Credit: Apple)Update 7:25 a.m. PST: Apple confirmed Tuesday morning that Fadell is stepping down, but says he plans to remain with the company as an adviser to CEO Steve Jobs.
One of the fathers of the iPod, Tony Fadell, is leaving Apple after seven years spent inside the division that changed the company's fortunes.
Fadell is to be replaced by former IBM executive Mark Papermaster, according to a report Monday night by The Wall Street Journal. CNET News first reported last week that Papermaster was set to leave IBM for a prominent position at Apple, although the nature of his role was unknown as of then.
It had been thought that Papermaster was set to assume a role leading chip design at Apple, given his status as one of IBM's mostly highly regarding experts on chip technology. However, according to the report he will now assume responsibility for Apple's music player division, which put Apple back on the map in the early part of this decade and continues to play a pivotal role in the company's fortunes.
The report said Fadell was leaving for personal reasons, but did not say what lay next for the Apple veteran. An Apple representative did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Fadell has been part of Apple's iPod group since 2001, as the inaugural member of the iPod engineering team, according to his official company bio. He was promoted to head of the division in 2006, succeeding Jon Rubenstein, and was credited by Fortune as the man behind the idea of a handheld music player combined with a digital music store.
During Fadell's tenure, the iPod grew from a curiosity into the profit engine that paved the way for Apple's renaissance in personal computers and its entry into mobile computing. The company sold 54.7 million iPods during its last fiscal year, which ended in September.
iPod growth has stagnated of late as saturation has arrived in the mature economies of the world. Still, Apple has held 70 percent market share in the U.S. for an awfully long time and shows no signs of giving up any ground.
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