iPod creator says goodbye to Apple

Technology News : The man behind one of the world's most popular digital music players is bidding farewell...

Tony Fadell, referred to as 'father of the iPod', is leaving Apple. One of the world's fastest selling digital music players, the iPod turned around the company's fortunes.

Seven years ago, it was Tony Fadell who led a team of designers and engineers to introduce the iPod. It was his idea to club a Napster-like music store with a hard drive-based MP3 player. Sleek and stylish, the product soon became one of the most hottest selling products from Apple. For the ambitious Fadell, it has been an incredible journey.

He has now chosen to spend more time with his family.

Apple has announced that the iPod division vice president Tony Fadell and his wife, Danielle Lambert, who is vice president of the company's human resources department, are leaving to spend more with their family.

Fadell, will however remain as an adviser to CEO Steve Jobs.

Mark Papermaster will now head the iPod and iPhone engineering teams. Papermaster has 25 years of product and technology experience. He was working as vice president at IBM.

Papermaster has a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Texas, and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont in 1988. He is a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Council, at the University of Texas.

"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."

It has been a successful stint for Fadell at Apple...

Fadell toyed with the idea of inventing a new MP3 player. However, he had to struggle before his idea was finally accepted. He was turned down by RealNetworks and Phillips. It was Apple, which showed interest in the project.

Tony Fadell started working for Apple in 2001 as an independent contractor with a team of thirty engineers and designer to develop the new MP3 player.

Fadell was promoted as vice president of iPod engineering in 2004. Before joining Apple, Fadell worked at Philips Electronics.

He has also worked as a hardware and software architect at General Magic. He graduated with a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991.

A winner in the digital media revolution, Apple's iPod has clocked sales of over 160 million units. But revenues from iPod sales have fallen.

In January 2008, Apple reported the best quarter revenue of $9.6 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion and 42% of Apple's revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 came from iPod sales.

However, in October 2008, Apple reported that only 14.21% of total revenue for the quarter came from iPod sales. This certainly is not good news for Apple.

With competition hotting up, Apple is gearing up for a tough battle with the launch of newer models. Apple aims to capture a larger marketshare with these new models and competitive prices.

Apple has now introduced the iPod shuffle in four new colours starting at $49. The iPod classic in one slimline model with 50 percent more capacity(120GB storage) is now priced at $249.

Besides this, the company has unveiled the fourth generation iPod nano featuring a curved aluminum and curved glass enclosure, in nine colours starting at $149.