Executive
Latest
WSJ: Apple's iPod boss stepping down, replacement stuck in legal limbo (Update: now official)
He might not be a household name, but Tony Fadell is the chief of Apple's iPod division (and credited with bringing the iPod idea to Apple) and part of the executive team responsible for the iPhone's development. At least he was. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources "familiar with the matter," reports that Fadell is jumping off the Infinite Loop for personal reasons but will remain at Apple's disposal in a consulting role. Here's the kicker: Mark Papermaster appears to be the named successor assuming IBM's lawyers don't put a stop to Apple's plans. None of this matters of course since it's common knowledge amongst investors that Steve Jobs does everything from inventing the iPhone to replacing printer cartridges around the Apple campus -- his staff is just there for tax purposes.Update: It's official. Papermaster is in as senior VP of Devices Hardware Engineering reporting to Jobs -- Fadell is out. That means he'll lead the iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams. IBM be damned.Read -- WSJ rumorRead -- Tony Fadell Bio
Leadership crisis facing Samsung, says top executive
When Samsung Electronics named Yoon-Woo Lee as vice chairman and CEO a few months back, we were hoping that all that rioting and poster burning would subside. Although we haven't heard of any more breakouts of late, things are apparently still rocky on the inside. Lee Soo-Bin, chairman of Samsung Life Insurance and current representative for the Samsung Group, admitted that "without a captain or rudder, Samsung now faces a complex crisis, with each unit meeting cut-throat competition independently." He continued to say that the group "was able to ride out a previous crisis together thanks to former chairman Lee Kun-Hee's strong leadership and the guidance of the Strategic Planning Office, [but] now it could not do so." From the outside looking in, it's a bit tough to really understand what he's getting at, but whatever the case, those are most definitely not the words you want coming from the mouth a head exec.
Dell's CFO resigns, will be replaced by Brian T. Gladden
Shortly after hearing of rearrangements amongst the XPS / Alienware dev teams, along comes word the outfit's current CFO will be headed out in June. Donald J. Carty (pictured), who was just hired as chief financial officer 1.5 years ago, will be resigning in June and will be replaced by longtime General Electric executive Brian T. Gladden. Mr. Gladden stated that he was "excited to be joining Dell at a time of transformation," and considering the $700,000 annual base salary along with the $2 million signing bonus (amongst other monetary perks), we highly doubt he's fibbing. It should be noted that the Round Rock powerhouse will keep Carty on its board, and that he actually "indicated several months ago that he wanted to retire as CFO."[Via CNET]
Motorola CTO Richard Nottenburg takes off
Seriously though, how many are surprised to hear that Motorola's Chief Technology / Strategy Officer Richard Nottenburg is jumping off the sinking ship? Apparently dude "left to return to the New York area to be with his family and pursue other opportunities," which is code for a) he was passed over for CEO of the new mobile devices company, b) he was fired, or c) he finally wised up to the direction the company's taken. Either way, we can't really blame him.
Capcom promotes former Atari vet as new COO
Officials at Capcom have announced that company exec Mark Beaumont has been handed the reigns as the publisher and developer's new chief operating officer for both North America and Europe. The promotion, which was effective as of April 1, is the second in as many years for Beaumont, who first joined the company in 2005 before being elevated to the position of executive VP and officer two years later. Beaumont has more than 25 years of industry service to his credit dating back to the original incarnation of Atari. In his new role, the exec's responsibilities will include "growing and managing" Capcom's eye for Western development and licensing. It's a role that's likely to keep the man up to his eyeballs in paperwork given company exec's recent prediction that Capcom could "acquire a western studio in the next two years."
AMD's CTO Phil Hester resigns, not being replaced?
Man, we know AMD's had a bit of trouble meeting shipment (and chip performance) expectations lately, but it looks like things are really beginning to come apart at the seams. Merely four days after AMD trimmed its Q1 sales outlook and announced that it would be doing away with 10-percent of its workforce by Q3, the company's CTO and senior vice president Phil Hester is voluntarily "stepping down." According to Market Watch, the bigwig is doing so to "pursue other opportunities," which is about as canned a reason as you can get. Still, the most intriguing part of the whole bit isn't that Mr. Hester won't be coming in to work on Monday, but that no replacement will be either. A chipmaker. With no chief technology officer. Sorry, but we aren't buying that one just yet.[Via PC Perspective, thanks Ryan]
Motorola anoints new CFO
Despite praise heaped upon Motorola's interim CFO Tom Meredith during his one-year tenure, he's being replaced as of March 1 by Paul Liska, an outsider who's done time with Sears and private equity firms in recent years. The move comes as a surprise, with many predicting that the permanent chief would come from the inside -- either by naming Meredith to the position or selecting someone else -- but let's be honest, Moto can use about as much fresh thinking as it can get its hands on at the moment. A Citibank analyst has gone on record saying he's a "big fan" of Meredith, pegging him as a guy who brought a lot of "financial discipline" into the beleaguered number three manufacturer -- so heads up, Liska, you've got some big shoes to fill.
Get to know Nintendo's new marketing chief
With the Regginator busy being all presidential, Nintendo's been in bad need of a new chief marketing officer to take names and kick ass. That new officer is Cammie Dunaway, who will officially start directing the company's $80+ million annual marketing budget on Monday.In honor of the transfer, Marketing Daily has a quick profile of the former Yahoo! and Frito-Lay marketer, who's wasting no time in spreading the message that Nintendo products are fun for the whole family. "I've seen the excitement on my nine-year-old son's face when he's playing a Pokemon game on his DS and spots someone else at the airport playing, too," Dunaway said. "Then I see my mom, who's in her 70s, having fun playing Wii bowling. Myself, I've started to play brain-training games." Take it easy, Cammie ... you don't start for three more days.The article also details some of Dunaway's previous marketing efforts for Yahoo! Answers, which included building a giant purple brain in New York's Times Square. Here's hoping that a giant, polygonal Dr. Kawashima head is forthcoming.
Microsoft's Jeff Bell gettin' feisty on message board?
No doubt we've heard quite a few calumnies come out of the mouths of high-ranking company officials before (yes, even those at Microsoft), but this one takes things to a different level entirely. Just days after Peter Moore abruptly abandoned ship and swam elsewhere, it seems that frustrations are getting the best of the firm's VP of Global Marketing as well. According to a number of sleuths who used the "bell801" member name to link back to Mr. Bell, the executive actually private messaged a NeoGAF member who was "especially critical of Bell" during an E3 press conference and blurted out: "And your contribution to society is...what?" Yeah, that'll show 'em, Jeff.
Wii Warm Up: Executive power
In the past several years, it seems the reputation of gaming industry executives has begun to reach epic levels, proportionate, perhaps, to the spread of gaming as a culture. But we're also starting to think that maybe the corporate hype machines are getting a little out of control. What matters more, personality or product? Maybe it's just us, but it seems the lines are beginning to blur.We can understand a healthy dose of Miyamoto-worship -- the man is a legend in the industry, and he's responsible for more of our cherished childhood memories than we'd like to admit. And sure, we love Reggie, and Iwata is the man (by that, we mean one hell of a savvy businessman), but is it really their personalities that make Nintendo what it is right now? No, it's certainly their skills ... so what's with all the executive worship that is spreading throughout gaming communities? Is it just that industry execs are out in the open more and more often, or is it something else? After all, most of the people that we're chasing in the industry are just in marketing. They're not doing much to create the things we spend our time on; they're just a face. A name. No different than mascot characters -- it's just now that we're growing up, apparently Sonic and Mario can't bear the brunt of the console wars any longer, and we've moved on to Reggie and pre-exodus Peter Moore. But let us know what you think -- that's why we're here.
Heiron & Smith's Executive pool table sports LCD, PS2
While we've seen some fine marriages between game room entertainment and over the top electronic heaven, Heiron & Smith's flagship pool table just entered a league of its own. The aptly-dubbed Executive measures eight- x four-feet, sports Australian molded cushion rubber, Italian slate, handmade pocket nets, and some of the finest cloth England had to offer. The good stuff, however, consists of a side-mounted LCD TV, stereo with flat-panel speakers, neatly adorned PlayStation 2, racks for your books, games, and other media, and of course, a mirrored indention to stock the sauce. Unfortunately, it'll take a phone call to figure out how many thousands this thing will set you back, and unless you live Down Under (or own a barge), you won't be acquiring one anyway.[Via TechDigest]
DS Daily: The signing
Yesterday's eBay treasure-find got us thinking. We tend to idolize certain figures in the gaming world, even if they happen to just be suave business men. And don't get us wrong, Iwata-san is the very definition of a ladies' man. But in all the realm of gaming, from players to publishers, who would you want to sign your DS?Bonus points if you don't pick Miyamoto, but, uh, we totally pick Miyamoto. I mean, he deserves it, right? And he's got such a cool signature.
Pantech CEO exits stage left
According to an "exclusive" report by Telecoms Korea, Pantech CEO and Co-President Sung-Kyu Lee will be letting go of the company's reigns after a very short time at the helm -- fourteen months, to be exact. Paving significant inroads into the Americas (Helio and AT&T come immediately to mind) must have proven to be a terribly expensive venture, as poor financial performance is being tossed around as the likely reason behind the changing of the guard. Current Chairman Byeong-Yeop Park, who has thus far shared the presidency with Lee, will apparently take sole ownership of the title in addition to his present duties at the head of the board. For what it's worth, rumor has it that Lee's resignation was opposed by the board, and if this dude had anything to do with the Ocean, we're a little opposed, too.
PS3 could debut in Europe for 500 euros, says SCEE exec
La PlayStation Trois! French gamers must be familiar with that combination by now, and if a certain Sony executive gets his way, the PS3 could be appearing in Europe for as low as 500 euros this fall.Apparently George Fornay (president of Sony Computer Entertainment France and vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) confirmed to Generation Europe 1, in French, that the PS3 could be priced around the 500 euro mark, most likely between 499 euros and 599 euros. For the unfiltered French audio, try the Play button near the middle of Europe 1's podcast page here.Such an estimated figure may include Europe's Value Added Tax (VAT), so the final price range in the States might well be lower than the current U.S. currency equivalent of roughly $600-$725 for those many euros. Of course, who's to say whether Mr. Fornay was simply speculating on a local podcast or whether he actually exhibited loose lips before the French press?[Thanks, Fan; also via Joystiq]
