Troubled iPhone Chief leaves Apple

The iPhone 4 has not been a phone launch without controversy, namely the Antennagate scandal.  Now Mark Papermaster, the executive in charge of engineering at the Cupertino company, has left only weeks later.

Apple has refused to comment on his departure by a source told the New York Times that he had been "pushed out over a series of hardware problems, including some related to the iPod Touch".  Mr Papermaster also refused to comment and the New York Times couldn't get through on his phone (sic!)

His duties will be assumed by Bob Mansfield, who is currently the senior vice president for Mac hardware engineering.  Mansfield already oversaw some technologies that were part of the iPhone 4 including the retina display, touch screen and the A4 processor.

Steve Jobs, the Apple boss, hailed the new antenna design at the iPhone 4 launch, which is a steel band that encases the phone, but complaints quickly came in that the phone was losing signal and Apple's response was poor and delayed.

Apple insisted the fault was a software glitch and issued a patch, but was also forced to offer free rubber bumpers to all iPhone 4 users too.  The bumpers, which insulate the antenna from the person holding the phone, do seem to solve the reception issue.

Papermaster worked for IBM for 25 years before joining Apple in 2008.  IBM had sued Papermaster after his departure, saying that he had agreed not to work for a competitor for a year.

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