Papermaster's exit from Apple was cultural, not iPhone 4 specific
The Wall Street Journal (and the often informed Yukari Iwatani Kane) are reporting that while it's unknown how much iPhone 4 antennagate and white iPhone 4 delays played in SVP of mobile hardware, Mark Papermaster's exit from Apple, there were broader cultural issues at play:
Mr. Papermaster had lost the confidence of Mr. Jobs months ago and hasn't been part of the decision-making process for some time, these people said. They added that Mr. Papermaster didn't appear to have the type of creative thinking expected at Apple and wasn't used to Apple's corporate culture, where even senior executives are expected to keep on top of the smallest details of their areas of responsibility and often have to handle many tasks directly, as opposed to delegating them.
One of these people also said Mr. Papermaster had difficulty maneuvering Apple's internal politics.
The WSJ does say it was Steve Jobs, not Papermaster, who decided to go ahead with iPhone 4's new antenna design.
Papermaster apparently also started his tenure with Apple while Jobs was on leave of absence and might not have been prepared for Jobs' intense management style when he came back to work.
[WSJ]
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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First...
Come on over to Android, we will treat you right. Lol
Knob
I've seen thos type of corporate ousting before. He coincidentally was let go right after antennagate.
On the positive side, Jobs took the bullet for Papermaster publicly. So at least he won't have that hanging over him if he choose to work somewhere else.
Hmmm... what happened to all of the Apple-hating alarmists from yesterday?
Yukari Iwatani Kane is widely report as Apple's go to guy for pushing out stories and damping down press inquiry without actually having to issue any formal press releases. He was one of the first to leak the hormonal imbalance stories even before Katy Cotton opened her mouth and destroyed her career.
He was fired.