iPhone hardware boss leaves Apple

The NYT reports that Mark Papermaster, Apple's man in charge of iPhone hardware, has left the company. He will be replaced by Nigel Antennamaster.

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Anonymous

Are you the Pencilkeeper? I am the Papermaster.
Little John

With this move he joins the ranks of countless American former full-time workers now without Jobs.
dhl

According to John Gruber, he was canned:

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/08/07/papermaster
Pantograph

According to Apple, they had sold 1.7 million mind control devices by the end of June, so by now 0.5% would be well over 10000 support calls on this single problem.

And we all know that any number over 9000 is serious business.
VagabondAstronomer

Rob, I’m sure you meant Ariel Antennamaster…
pidg

Paperwork? Dude, I’m the Paper fuckin’ MASTER.

(Sorry.)
- Anonymous
  
  Papermaster to Nigel Antennamaster? This sounds absolutely made up! Wasn’t it an ANTENNA problem? Hah!
hapa

(I heard they traded Papermaster to Inter for R.F. Interference, an underrated defensive midfielder)
JohnnyOC

It is not clear if Mr. Papermaster was ousted or left on his own accord.

“Reached on his cellphone, Mr. Papermaster declined to comment.”

That’s surprising. Maybe he had an older iPhone with better reception. :)
Xeni Jardin

http://www.sadtrombone.com/
- Anonymous
  
  i tried so hard to make that sound effect in context in class but sadly no one ever made a dumb enough mistake
johnpaul

I kind of want to buy one of these phones, but I keep reading these things. I would love to see a survey of random users that finds what real use experience is like, because I am super curious if it is actually bad or not. Do you just adjust to not holding it a certain way and then is it no big deal or is it a real hassle. It bothers me not to know. I mean, I don’t know, I feel like I could get used to working around something if it was minor.

On my first cell phone, I remember having to be careful not to touch the hangup button by accident when switching hands, but it wasn’t an issue, just something that happened once and then probably never again.
- Caroline
  
  I own an iPhone 4 and usually hold it in my left hand, in the “bad” spot. Signal drops down to 1 bar but doesn’t drop entirely. (This is in otherwise 2-3 bar spots, with the latest update.)
  
  And putting it in a case, which I planned to do anyway just because cosmetic scratches bug me, makes the problem totally go away. I have it in a very thin hardshell case, adding basically no bulk.
  
  It’s a minor annoyance in my experience. Still a stupid mistake on Apple’s part — they usually avoid those minor annoyances — but it’s minor enough, and everything else works so well, that I’m overall quite happy with the phone.
- Anonymous
  
  I personally wouldn’t even consider an iPhone. Apple has gotten just a little “Too High & Mighty”. I have had a Droid Eris, from Verizon, and am quite happy with it. Will migrate to the Droid X soon.
- blueelm
  
  I had ordered one earlier, because my old phone was really old and the iPhone4 ended up being the cheapest new smartphone for me. I have a flexible case on it, same kind I’d usually use. I also have ATT. I dunno, and maybe I’m just lucky but I haven’t had a call dropped from it yet :/
  
  At the risk of triggering the OH NOES FANBOI response, I think it’s a good phone and it does what I need it to.
  
  But then my needs are pretty simple.
- donnamatrix
  
  It depends a LOT on the network you’re on. I’m hearing much worse horror stories from people with an iPhone 4 on AT&T. I’m in Canada, using Telus, and it’s not bad.
  
  I do naturally hold my phone in the “bad spot” when doing stuff on it — not using it as a phone. Holding it up to my ear, I don’t touch that spot at all. But I hold it in my left hand and use it with my right, and my hand presses directly against the no-no spot, and I do drop a bar or two.
  
  But, I almost always have full bars otherwise. So losing a bar or two is … eh. Big deal.
  
  And the entire problem went away when I put a case on it, which I would have done anyway since I’m not nice to my toys. :)
- Modano
  
  Fwiw, Apple says 0.5% of users have called to ask about it. I have one and it’s a great device that I’d recommend whole-heartedly. Your mileage may vary.
  - Aloisius
    
    Fwiw, Apple says 0.5% of users have called to ask about it. I have one and it’s a great device that I’d recommend whole-heartedly. Your mileage may vary.
    
    And the other 95.5% tried calling in, but kept getting disconnected.
    - kchristensen516
      
      I hate to be the one that points this out, but what happened to the other 4 percent?
      - Chentzilla
        
        Obviously, they didn’t call at all!
Trotsky

Actually, I heard Papermaster was ousted by Scissorsmaster.
Trotsky

Sources indicate Rockmaster is next in line.
Trotsky

Should Rockmaster acquire the position, it might give Papermaster the opportunity he needs to return.
- IamInnocent
  
  Any news of Rob R. Band? He was a serious contender for a time.
Anonymous

Good one, Rob. And I’m not just saying that because my name is Nigel.
Anonymous

blame placed, problem solved!
Anonymous

I laughed for an unusually long amount of time at that antennamaster joke.
DarwinSurvivor

Wow, os the iPhone suffers serious “antenna” problems so they replace the PaperMaster with an AntennaMaster…?

Meh, it might work.