Mark Papermaster leaves Apple for reasons and destinations unknown (update)
By Sean Hollister 
posted August 7th 2010 5:16PM
posted August 7th 2010 5:16PM
We're not quite sure chip guru Mark Papermaster ever truly settled into his role as Apple's SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering in the year and four months since he finally walked through the door, but after the recent antenna troubles someone decided that he wasn't going to work there anymore. The New York Times reports that Papermaster has left and Bob Mansfeld (SVP of Mac Engineering) will assume his role. So far, there's been no official statement as to why the departure is occurring, whether he was ousted or left of his own volition (again, though he oversaw the new iPhone, his background is in processor design) but either way, the former SVP's picture and bio have already been removed from Apple's website. The man himself reportedly refused to comment when contacted by the Times, but as with all truths we're sure this one will come out eventually.Update: The ever-resourceful John Gruber says that Papermaster's departure may be more closely related to Apple's antenna troubles than we originally thought:
Inside Apple, he's "the guy responsible for the antenna" - that's a quote from a source back on July 23. (Another quote from the same source: "Apparently the antenna guys used to have a big chip on their shoulder. No more.")
@Apple4 "Iphone 3gs cost just $99"
Isn't That Cute...BUT IT'S WRONG!.
Just keeps trying.
@Apple4 what's all this nonsense? Android outsells iphone, and it's app store is going to outpace the iphone app store within a year of the first real handset for it being released......
@stabbytheicepic Wow, I have never seen so much garbage come out of such a small statement. Pathetic if you think Android Market will ever over take the App store. Maybe become just as strong, but never over take.
@Apple4 Ok, I'm a proud Apple user, but dude - SteveJack and you make us look bad. Let's pull this apart piece by piece:
1. I wouldn't say Android is "messy", but I would say there's inconsistency throughout the ecosystem. HTC and Motorola install their own UIs over stock Android, certain phones get certain features - there is certainly fragmentation.
I'd also say that, while Android has come leaps and bounds since the G1 days, it's still not as polished as iOS. It's not bad and it definitely has some features I'd love to see on the iPhone, but the fit-and-finish isn't there...yet. It will be. Remember: Google's products are made by engineers for engineers.
2. Microsoft thrived because a) Apple bet the farm on an expensive product that took too long to produce and b) Microsoft licensed Windows out to every PC maker around. Google is taking the same tactic with Android and the same thing is happening - it's thriving due to market saturation.
3. Jesus, there's so much wrong with the second paragraph, I don't know where to start. The part about iPhone pricing is just about the only thing right with this whole thing. Android isn't the "poor man's iPhone" anymore. It's a worthy adversary and people are right to choose it. If they want to stay on Verizon and use a solid smartphone OS, Android is no slouch. No one is "settling" for Android.
In regards to your point about the "bloodbath" going on all over the world: Android sales grew 886% this last quarter. Android is outselling the iPhone all over the world. http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/08/02/android-outsells-iphone-again-sales-up-886-globally/
3. Apple does offer consistency in its products. That's why I buy them. However (and please correct me if I'm wrong), don't all these Android phones charge via USB? A generic dashboard mount that could accommodate an iPhone or an Android phone, combined with a standard USB car charger would do the trick - no?
Android's selling point is that it's on the best network in the country and it's a solid OS. And this is coming from a guy who wouldn't give his iPhone up for anything in the world.
@HCMarks I numbered two items "3." - the last one should obviously be 4. My bad.
@stabbytheicepic So...the Droid Incredible, Droid X and EVO aren't "real handsets"?
@Apple4 "Iphone 3gs cost just $99"
Isn't That Cute...BUT IT'S WRONG!.
Just keeps trying.
@jianmei2asd
echoes?
I imagine the scene is like those in Apprentice with Steve Jobs yelling "You're FIRED !"
He looks like a virgin to me.
I love my iphone4 and it's problems. I'm waiting for windows mobile 7. That would be the only way I swicht. Androids are not my type but for this reason I won't throw shit at moto or htc. Def engdget has something with apple. But at the end of the road apple wins. There is always at least 6 post about apple products daily and I dare engadget to stop writing about apple products for a month and see if you get as many comment or readers. Hahahahaa. Now Grab that anyway you want it and see if you don't lose some kinda of signal(readers)
Bwahahahaha ! Apple is one comedy after another lately.
@bufbarnaby
No worries, while everyone is distracted Apple continued wiping the floor with the competition. Last year Apple surpases Nokia to become the most profitable phone maker company on Earth. Soon Apple will catch and pass RIM as the #2 spot and in 2 years or so will perhaps catch Nokia in market share. But you can keep laughing when that happens.
@bufbarnaby Apple's a company just like any other. They make mistakes. It makes news because those mistakes don't happen often, but that company you call a "comedy" still posted record profits this past quarter.
Master-bator ?
Jobs should fire himself.
In an interview he took full responsibility for the phone `s design because he loved it so much.
No self-respecting master of paper could dabble in these arcane arts of iPhone creation. He just got iPwned and decided to go design paper products.
Merlin Mann said the following on a recent episode of "the Conversation:
"...when a company asks why they can’t get people to innovate, I ask, 'Who's the most powerful person in your company that's failed six times in a row?' And they say, 'What are you talking about? They'd be out of here after one failure!' I respond, 'Okay, well that is a message that has been sent to everyone in the company.'
Innovation requires (a) a tolerance for failure and (b) having a manager who's willing to take stuff off your plate so that you can innovate. And innovating means doing stuff that seems like dicking around. Right? Innovation means I'm doing something that's never been seen before. It's creativity; it's combing two things you've never seen."
This new antenna design was (regardless of what the idiot trolls say) an innovation. While it matters that the signal drops when held a certain way in the U.S., it matters even more that areas where AT&T signal was awful and calls would drop left and right were suddenly able to hold a call for long periods of time successfully.
It's a shame that after one design flaw, Apple shitcans this guy, but at the same time - it's Apple. First impressions are everything.
@HCMarks
It's also true that when you make assumptions, you're talking out your ass. You don't know the reason Papermaster was fired, or if he was fired at all. Jobs does not have a history of firing people he fights to get on board, as he did with Papermaster. So something pretty nasty must have happened that we don't know about.
@HCMarks
Huh? But Apple has labs to come up with new ideas and test new tech out... that's where the ipad came from like 5 years ago
@Jack Notice how I said, "Apple shitcans the guy" - not "Jobs shitcans the guy." It may not have been Jobs' decision - there's still a board of directors involved here.
Also, Papermaster was with IBM for 25 years - he doesn't exactly have a history of bouncing from one company to another. I'm sure Jobs didn't want to fire him after a) he fought so hard to get him and b) it would've made it look like Jobs made a bad decision.
I think it's naive to assume Papermaster just left of his own volition. He's with the company less than two years and suddenly he's gone? Seems fishy...
@HCMarks You got it all wrong. The basic concept behind the atenna is not bad. Nobody (with a clue) ever said that. Execution was. And the day they introduced it, people with knowledge in the matter said, they better insulate that antenna design... they didnt but they could have. And even if coating stainless stell is a pain in the ass, they could have picked a different material. But it had to be glass and stainless steel and I'm willing to bet top dollars, that was one of Jobs unconditional terms.
Furthermore, I dont think the reason for this demission was that one error. It was because Jobs had to step on stage and dick around that issue. He takes that as a personal insult.
If you have to fire the SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering after introducing your next generation iPhone - you blew it.
If true, isn't this a tacit admission of fault on the antenna design?
@d3si9n
tacit admission? jobs went up on stage and already admitted that having those black lines on the phone was a bonehead move. did you miss that?
@Wesscoast In what reality did Jobs admit anything besides pointing blame at others and suggesting that there is no real issue yet they offer a fix for this non-issue because they want happy customers?
@tuatha
It's also common knowledge that he's right almost all the time.
So that is what the consequences for a non-existent problem lools like, which affects the entire industry but not really apple because they have 18 phd's and a bunch of expensive test facilities who say so, yet offer free bumpers to fix the problem? Jobs own words...
His last name >>>> my concern
...if only that one guy had done his job proper, just that one guy...damn, makes you think about stuff don't it.
Interesting. ...he gets fired right after Andriod leapfrogs Apple and RIM.
And iPhone market share has stalled out.
77% of iPhone 4 buyers already have an iPhone.
2 of 3 new cellphone buyers are going prepaid for which Apple has no competitive product.
Android OS phones already being released on prepaid networks.
Carlos Slim is world's richest man mostly due to owning the most successful prepaid phone companies.
It's a losing proposition for Apple.
Ipods overheating catching fire in Japan.
http://m.yahoo.com/w/ynews/article/tech/5?url=http%3A%2F%2Fxml.news.yahoo.com%2Fus%2Fnews%2Frss%2Frichstoryrss.html%3Fu%3D%2Fafp%2F20100808%2Fbs_afp%2Fjapanusitcompanyappleipod&.ts=1281266357&.tsrc=yahoo&.intl=US&.lang=en
He designed the Paper-pod ?
I have the 167th useless comment. My useless comment is better than your's.
If he left (or was removed) because of the antenna design issue, then I suppose that is accountability. It is also Apple admitting there may be an issue beyond 'holding it wrong'.
There is no problem...that`s why he got fired ; )
He`s now designing paper planes.
No one person can be blamed for the antenna. Also, why haven't they just Teflon-coated the damn thing yet?
ooooh controversial! Lol
Leaving apple? HP has an unexpected job opening :)
iPhone 4 turned out to be nothing but a PaperMaster Tiger ; )
I thought all smartphones have antenna issues? Why fire a guy or pressure a guy to leave when he's responsible for exactly the same effect other antenna engineers in every other smartphone company have made?
@yyandrew If you ignore Apple's FUD for a moment... sure, every cell phone antenna has some sort of problem, depending on how you hold the phone. However, the problems with other antennas don't have to do with direct skin contact... but the position of your hand and how much signal your hand can block. With the iPhone, it's about direct skin contact. So, it's a much bigger problem on the iPhone *in certain circumstances*... for some people, with the way they normally hold their phone, it's not a problem at all.
So, while Apple did a pretty good job at lumping it into the "all phones have a problem" bucket, it isn't as simple as that. It's like saying a suicide and a murder are all "intentional death".
While the problem isn't as significant as the anti-Apple media portrayed it, the fact of the matter is... Apple created an entirely new antenna problem which only required skin contact, not merely hand placement.
Personally, I think their original "fix" in updating their software just made matters *worse*. Now, people who used to see 3 bars in certain areas might now see 2 bars or only 1 bar. They'll be convinced that they are now getting worse signal when, in fact, that was the signal they were getting all along and the phone was just calculating this incorrectly. Apple made one blunder after another, but it looks like they have just about gotten back on the right track. Now they're just doing a bit of spring cleaning over at the Tragic Kingdom.
Get these guys a damn chat room or something. These comments are getting really stupid. I think I'm that much more stupid now after reading half these.
during the WWDC 2010 keynote Papermaster and the hardware team were the first people Steve thanked...now look at Papermaster, Fired!