Apple’s iPod Wiz Steps Down

One of the chief designers of both the iPod and iPhone will leave his vital position at Apple for a less involved role as an adviser to Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs may take the lion’s share of credit for the device that launched Apple to mainstream success – the iPod – but one of the other main men behind the curtain will be stepping down from his powerful position at Apple. On Tuesday, Apple announced that Tony Fadell would leave his position as senior vice president of the iPod division, and the company will bring in fresh blood from IBM as his replacement.

Both Fadell and his wife, Danielle Lambert, who was vice president of human resources at Apple, have stepped down from their positions at Apple to focus on their young family, according to Apple. Fadell will stay aboard in a reduced capacity, as an advisor to Steve Jobs.

“Tony and Dani have each made important contributions to Apple over the past eight years,” Jobs said in a statement. We’re sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity.”

Mark Papermaster, a 25-year veteran of IBM’s chip design and blade server departments, will take over as the head of the iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams with the title of senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering.