The Live Indian Entertainment Blog

Despite reports that it was Apple CEO Steve Jobs who loved the iPhone 4's antenna design, and ignored warnings about possible issues, another executive, not Jobs, has apparently taken the fall. Mark Papermaster, the Apple executive in charge of hardware for the iPhone, has left the company.

Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Macintosh hardware engineering, will take over Papermaster's responsibilities. The New York Times states states that Mansfield already oversees several parts of the iPhone, including the A4 processor, and the display.

While unclear if he left or was ousted, the clues are there that Papermaster was fired. For one Papermaster was not on stage at Apple's recent iPhone 4 press conference regarding the new device's well-publicized antenna issues, although Mansfield and COO Tim Cook were.

Ironically, Apple had to put up a big fight to pry Papermaster away from IBM, where he had spent 26 years. IBM argued that Papermaster had violated a non-competition agreement, and sued him in federal court. The two parties eventually settled, and Papermaster joined Apple in April of 2009 as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering.

Meanwhile, the "Antennagate" issue has become a big publicity mess for Apple. While initially saying there was no issue at all, Apple eventually was forced to hold a press conference devoted to the issue, and then told iPhone 4 users they would be receiving free cases until Sept. 30, and refunds for any bumper cases (no third-party cases) they had previously purchased. Cases prevent users from bridging the iPhone 4's external antenna system with their skin, which causes the problem.