Tony Fadell, senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division, “father of the iPod,” and an executive involved in the development of the iPhone, is leaving the company for personal reasons, Apple has announced. According to the announcement, Fadell will remain at Apple as an advisor to the CEO; his wife Danielle Lambert, vice president of Human Resources, will also be leaving the company. In Fadell’s place, Mark Papermaster, a former IBM executive, will be joining Apple as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, and will lead Apple’s iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams. IBM filed a suit against Papermaster last month citing a non-compete clause in an attempt to prevent the well-respected chip designer from joining Apple.
“Mark is a seasoned leader and is going to be an excellent addition to our senior management team,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Tony and Dani have each made important contributions to Apple over the past eight years. We’re sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity.”