Mark Papermaster, the Apple executive in charge of iPhone engineering, has left the company weeks after the “Antennagate” controversy over complaints of poor reception on the company’s latest smartphone.
Apple released the iPhone 4 in June and it was an instant hit with consumers. But reports spread about bad reception when the device was held a certain way, and analysts warned that the company’s reputation for quality was under threat.
The issue snowballed into a publicity crisis and Apple was forced to call a press conference to tackle the matter. Apple CEO Steve Jobs maintained there was nothing wrong with the iPhone 4, and that the reception problem was one shared by other smartphones.
Apple hired Papermaster in November of 2008, luring him away from IBM, where he had worked for 25 years.
