iPhone 4 Creator Fired

J

John_Keck

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
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After battling in court for Mark Papermaster, Apple has now let him go. Rumors are circulating that he caught the axe because of the antenna problems, sucks being the new guy!
Sixteen months later, Papermaster is out, replaced as head of the iPhone division by the man who originally recruited him, Bob Mansfield.
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Apple won't admit it because then they would be admitting the iPhone4 has antenna problems.
 
BUT IT's MAGICAL AND REVOLUTIONARY product!!!!!!! does not have flaws
 
With a name like Papermaster we all knew he wouldn't last long in the tech industry.
 
We have no clue what the hell happened, and one guy didn't design the antenna on the iPhone 4 - that's the typical scapegoat mentality. A bunch of folks were involved with it, and more than likely the people most responsible for the actual "let's put it on the outside of the phone where people can actually touch it" are still working there... that's the sad part. :(
 
Ryan711 said:
Why? I don't understand. They fired him because he screwed up big time. Or are you just saying that because you have a difficult time thinking for yourself?
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how is it that two simple words manage to draw out such an assumptuous statement from you?
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
He probably did diserve to get fired. From the sound of it, it sounds like he was the project lead guy in that area. Yes, other engineer's had designed the fail - But he should have been the guy that made the final decision, and tested the product enough to know of any issues. Yes, the issue probably does fall on him.
 
Mchart said:
He probably did diserve to get fired. From the sound of it, it sounds like he was the project lead guy in that area. Yes, other engineer's had designed the fail - But he should have been the guy that made the final decision, and tested the product enough to know of any issues. Yes, the issue probably does fall on him.
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Steve Jobs makes the final decision for every product Apple makes and sells. Too bad he ain't got the fuckin' balls to stand up and take the blame for it... he's "the Captain of the ship" and that's that. Nothing happens at Apple without his grimy hands all over it and he's got the final say...
 
Mchart said:
He probably did diserve to get fired. From the sound of it, it sounds like he was the project lead guy in that area. Yes, other engineer's had designed the fail - But he should have been the guy that made the final decision, and tested the product enough to know of any issues. Yes, the issue probably does fall on him.
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I wonder. they may have produced this issue but with all the user studies and such why did NO ONE pick up on this issue? AT&T would have tested it, they would have done market research on it, in short a slew of other parts of the company would have (or should have) been using the thing and yet no one notices until its released to the public?

That is a hard sell really. It seems more likely to me that the secrecy climate of Apple might have had something to do with this. That is the only thing I can think of that would have allowed a flaw of this magnitude to slip threw. That is hardly the fault of any one individual sans one
 
Ryan711 said:
Why? I don't understand. They fired him because he screwed up big time. Or are you just saying that because you have a difficult time thinking for yourself?
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Yes one man is responsible for the design of an entire phone. He and he alone was the entire design and decision team for the iPhone 4. Like Bahamut said, the poor dude was just a scapegoat for Apple.
 
SixtyWattMan said:
Yes one man is responsible for the design of an entire phone. He and he alone was the entire design and decision team for the iPhone 4. Like Bahamut said, the poor dude was just a scapegoat for Apple.
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They should have fired the ignorant bastager that hired that guy. But what does Apple do...just amazing...
 
We are an Apple family: iPhones, computers of every kind, iPad, etc.
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Hold the phone with just 3 fingers, (thumb, ring and pointer with right hand) which is actually more comfortable during a long conversation. No dropping of calls. I love my phone.
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It's funny how the largely unsuccessful can't wait to tear down someone who is larger than life in his success. They sound so bitter and pathetic.
Jobs should be celebrated, in a culture of huge failures, he pretty much stands alone.
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*sigh*
 
Bahamut said:
We have no clue what the hell happened, and one guy didn't design the antenna on the iPhone 4 - that's the typical scapegoat mentality. A bunch of folks were involved with it, and more than likely the people most responsible for the actual "let's put it on the outside of the phone where people can actually touch it" are still working there... that's the sad part. :(
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Yea but it is always the guy in charge that takes the fall because he allowed it to happen. In other words the guy in charge wasn't aware of what was going on because he didn't bother to check. He didn't do what Apple paid him to do.
 
niconx said:
Yea but it is always the guy in charge that takes the fall because he allowed it to happen. In other words the guy in charge wasn't aware of what was going on because he didn't bother to check. He didn't do what Apple paid him to do.
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I guess you just don't know how Apple works then, no real surprise there. ;)

He did exactly what he was supposed to do and now he's suffering for it... there's a lot there if you think about it. Thus the nature of a scapegoat when one is found, they take the fall so the rest can come up smelling like roses.

When you know how to read between the PR lines of bullshit it gets a lot easier to understand not only corporate mentality and also just how Apple truly works.
 
Bahamut said:
Steve Jobs makes the final decision for every product Apple makes and sells. Too bad he ain't got the fuckin' balls to stand up and take the blame for it... he's "the Captain of the ship" and that's that. Nothing happens at Apple without his grimy hands all over it and he's got the final say...
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Actually, Jobs' role at Apple by your own description is more like an admiral or general.

The captain of the Indianapolis was court martialed for its sinking 65 years ago last week. Think admirals and generals should have been court martialed for McVay not following orders?

Jobs may not even know how to build an iPhone. He doesn't need to.

But he damn well knows Papermaster should have known how.
 
Bahamut said:
I guess you just don't know how Apple works then, no real surprise there. ;)

He did exactly what he was supposed to do and now he's suffering for it... there's a lot there if you think about it. Thus the nature of a scapegoat when one is found, they take the fall so the rest can come up smelling like roses.

When you know how to read between the PR lines of bullshit it gets a lot easier to understand not only corporate mentality and also just how Apple truly works.
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Ah yeah and you know exactly how Apple works. Neat trick. If you're working for a large company you might find out that bosses say yea or nay based on what their employees are able to convince them to publicize. Jobs may have the final say, but he couldn't know every single details that went into things his employees make. No bosses do, especially with the size and magnitude of companies like Apple.
 
Azhar said:
Ah yeah and you know exactly how Apple works. Neat trick. If you're working for a large company you might find out that bosses say yea or nay based on what their employees are able to convince them to publicize. Jobs may have the final say, but he couldn't know every single details that went into things his employees make. No bosses do, especially with the size and magnitude of companies like Apple.
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True but something tells me that Jobs knows a LOT about what goes on with the iPhone. I doubt seriously that he was completely blindsided by the iPhone 4 antenna issues.
 
heatlesssun said:
True but something tells me that Jobs knows a LOT about what goes on with the iPhone. I doubt seriously that he was completely blindsided by the iPhone 4 antenna issues.
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Seeing how anal he is with how perfect his product has to be, I doubt very much he would allow iPhone 4 to launch with the antenna problem beforehand. He sucks royally when it comes to admitting a problem after launch however, but I just can't see him allowing a broken product out the door knowing about it.
 
Grammatical correction

...while knowing about the antenna problem beforehand**
 
Valset said:
I wonder. they may have produced this issue but with all the user studies and such why did NO ONE pick up on this issue? AT&T would have tested it, they would have done market research on it, in short a slew of other parts of the company would have (or should have) been using the thing and yet no one notices until its released to the public?

That is a hard sell really. It seems more likely to me that the secrecy climate of Apple might have had something to do with this. That is the only thing I can think of that would have allowed a flaw of this magnitude to slip threw. That is hardly the fault of any one individual sans one
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This comment might be the answer to this:

"Testers never held the actual device since it was encased in an exterior shell protector, thus no real test of the antenna"
 
So lame. Sure, there may be some antenna problems, but in terms of the design, the iPhone 4 really pushed the envelope again- like 1950s sci-fi reimagined. Antenna problems can be fixed, but awesome designs are hard to come by. I'm sure HTC will be offering this guy a job soon.
 
Tolyngee said:
Actually, Jobs' role at Apple by your own description is more like an admiral or general.

The captain of the Indianapolis was court martialed for its sinking 65 years ago last week. Think admirals and generals should have been court martialed for McVay not following orders?

Jobs may not even know how to build an iPhone. He doesn't need to.

But he damn well knows Papermaster should have known how.
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http://www.allaboutstevejobs.com/

To keep employees from knowing too much, nothing seems excessive. Software engineers work on big boxes and hardware engineers never see the software that will run on their machines — less than a dozen people had actually seen an actual iPhone before Steve unveiled it at Macworld 2007; this is an incredible achievement considering the number of people involved in its creation! In a recent Times article, one could also read that “executives feed deliberate misinformation into one part of the company so that any leak can be traced back to its source. Workers on sensitive projects have to pass through many layers of security. Once at their desks or benches, they are monitored by cameras and they must cover up devices with black cloaks and turn on red warning lights when they are uncovered.” It is rumored that on Apple’s campus, Steve would often ask for an employee’s iPhone at random, and fire that person if her iPhone is not password-protected.
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Jobs is likely one of the very few that actually knows what's being built. No one person outside of administration actually knows how to put together an iPhone4 before the final prototype.
 
marshac said:
So lame. Sure, there may be some antenna problems, but in terms of the design, the iPhone 4 really pushed the envelope again- like 1950s sci-fi reimagined. Antenna problems can be fixed, but awesome designs are hard to come by. I'm sure HTC will be offering this guy a job soon.
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Or Motorola.
 
Sly said:
http://www.allaboutstevejobs.com/



Jobs is likely one of the very few that actually knows what's being built. No one person outside of administration actually knows how to put together an iPhone4 before the final prototype.
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Not certain how that differs from my analogy?

Jobs may know what's being built, but that does not mean he can do every part of it from the bottom up. I said "may not even know" as given enough time, it wouldn't shock me if he could/would.

But even if he can, he certainly does not. As some level it obviously has to be delegated to someone below.

So, he's not the captain of the ship. He delegated a duty to someone below.

Paper-whoever is probably more along the lines of a general. Perhaps something showed someone below him brought up the antenna/programming issues to him, and he failed to act? So, possible to not be just a scapegoat, perhaps he had been informed and failed to act on it. That happens.

But the suggestion you're giving as to Jobs' abilities and level of involvement suggest a man who should just fire his entire upper and lower management staff. He knew of any and all possibilities with the product, yet no one below him did? That doesn't make sense.

Like I said, I suspect Papermillman was given information from those below that didn't properly make its way above. I'd can him.

(and please don't misinterpret any of this post as pro-Apple...)
 
Bleh. He knew everything about the iPhone 4 from day one, anyone that claims or even thinks otherwise is simply ignorant of the reality of the situation. Spin it any way you like, but if there is one person at Apple that does know the finer points of every project going on, it's Jobs, without any doubt at all.

The CIA, the NSA, the FBI, what's left of the KGB, the Mossad, MI-6, and every other high level intelligence agency on planet Earth could learn a great deal from how Apple functions internally... the word "compartmentalization" should have a direct tie to Apple in the dictionary... ;)

It's not about how many people knew about the problems, it's simply about the one - the scapegoat - that they can lay the blame.

Oh, and that guy that lost the iPhone 4 prototype back in April... yeah, that idiot. He's still working for Apple, ain't he? Right... right... all part of the plan... still working after these past few months... even in spite of doing something that would have not only gotten him fired at any other company on the planet but also probably ruined his potential career path forever and yet he's still working at Apple.

Exactly as planned.
 
Tolyngee said:
Not certain how that differs from my analogy?

Jobs may know what's being built, but that does not mean he can do every part of it from the bottom up. I said "may not even know" as given enough time, it wouldn't shock me if he could/would.
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There is so much irony and ignorance in your statement. Do you think the lead engineer knows eveything too? He to has to deligate. My guess is you have spent little to no time in a high pressure engineering enviroment. Sigh. Stop giving Steve Jobs a free pass while trying to blame someone else. By your own logic...Steve should have known.
 
The fact that Steve Jobs and Apple can round up so much vitriol from people on this board is testament to the fact that love him or hate him, Steve Jobs and Apple are shaping the way the tech industry moves.

I get my iphone 4 in another week or two. When a device comes out with the same battery life, resolution, and overall integration of the iphone call me. Nothing else is there yet. Plus, it has already been jailbroken :D The antenna problems are so overblown it is an absolute joke.

Steve Jobs may be an ass, but by God, he has down pat what consumers do want. If this ruffles feathers here sorry. The MAJORITY of people on earth do not build, customize, hack or overclock. They surf internet, watch movies, and listen to mp3's. As far as presenting the public with a hassle free, well designed experience, Apple has it hands down compared to anyone else.

Besides, that's what my i7 Desktop is for. Having some fun with oc'ing and such. Why can't a guy have both?

As for this guy, sorry, but I do not feel bad for him. He will find a job soon enough, and the reasons for his dismissal will simply be speculation. Not really worth the time to think about beyond the connection to the overblown iphone 4 antenna issue.
 
You say such things now but... you don't have your iPhone 4 yet. I sure hope it actually works for you... <hint, hint> Would hate to see you have to issue a retraction of that damned-close-to-PR post. ;)
 
How about instead of firing the guy who had an imperfect design, they fire whoever decided it was ready for release. Seems like the far worse mistake to me.

Oh, whoops, am I talking about Steve Jobs? Oh well.
 
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