iPhone and iPod Engineering VP David Tupman Leaves Apple

MacRumors · Feb 7, 2012

Apple's vice president for iPhone and iPod engineering David Tupman has left the company, according to 9to5Mac. While not a member of the senior executive team, Tupman spent a decade at Apple and has been considered to be one of the key iOS hardware executives reporting to senior vice president Bob Mansfield.

Weeks before the introduction of the first iPod, Apple hired Tupman, and he soon became Apple's vice president of iPod engineering.

He had a big hand in the development and success of every iPod released to date, and when it was time to build the iPhone, Tupman joined the team behind that product, too. As Apple shifted its engineering resources to its mobile line of products, Tupman was named Vice President of iPod and iPhone Engineering-- a major role at Apple. Besides playing a major part in growing Apple's mobile device business into one of the most successful businesses ever, Tupman has his name on at around 70 Apple technology patents, such as power and battery life management, noise-canceling ear buds, Apple's tiny iPhone power adapters, and mobile device interaction with accessories.

Tupman's future plans remain unknown, although we understand that he has been taking some personal time following his long term of service at Apple.

Apple is said to be searching internally for Tupman's replacement, but has apparently not yet named a successor.

Article Link: iPhone and iPod Engineering VP David Tupman Leaves Apple

LimeiBook86 · Feb 7, 2012

While it's a bit concerning (and sad) to see him go, (and it's not clear exactly why he left Apple) I'm sure Apple can find someone else to fill his position. Sure nobody can be easily 'replaced' exactly.

But thank you David for the advancements on the iPod & iPhone! Wow has it really been that long since the first iPod...

gmanist1000 · Feb 7, 2012

Interesting. Why are these Apple employees leaving when they have such momentum going?

forty2j · Feb 7, 2012

gmanist1000 said:
Interesting. Why are these Apple employees leaving when they have such momentum going?

Some would say "quit while you're ahead". Others would say "turnover happens". I really don't think there's anything to suggest a panic / abandon ship event.

porky · Feb 7, 2012

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

gmanist1000 said:
Interesting. Why are these Apple employees leaving when they have such momentum going?

Money

ScottishDuck · Feb 7, 2012

Nice to see macrumors burying this story.

I guess it's not as big as Patent lawsuit #1056 or a fast food place buying iPads.

porky · Feb 7, 2012

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

gmanist1000 said:
Interesting. Why are these Apple employees leaving when they have such momentum going?

Money

jonnysods · Feb 7, 2012

Maybe they make him put crazy amounts of time in, and he just can't sacrifice anymore family time.

Just my whacky theory for today.

*LTD* · Feb 7, 2012

ScottishDuck said:
Nice to see macrumors burying this story.

I guess it's not as big as Patent lawsuit #1056 or a fast food place buying iPads.

He's key, but not Scott Forstall or Jony Ive key.

And he can also be replaced quite effectively by Director of iPod and iPhone Engineering Vic Alessi (who worked directly with Tupman), or even VP of iPhone and iPod Design Steve Zadesky.

In any case, Tupman likely left for a better offer elsewhere, or family reasons - who knows, but likely not because Apple is doomed or whatever, LOL. Apple's got the next 5 years in the bag, easily.

AustinIllini · Feb 7, 2012

Maybe he actually does want personal time? I could retire on his money, I'm sure. But it never is that way, is it?

HiRez · Feb 7, 2012

I spent 5 years working at a Fortune 500 company and then quit, couldn't stand it anymore. It actually was a good job, I got paid a ton of money, and it was a great working environment and I worked with really great people. Point is, it's just hard to work at the same place and do the same thing for many years, no matter how cool it is. At some point you want a change, want to try something new. That point comes at different times for different people, but expecting people to stay at a company for their entire career is pretty unrealistic these days, that happened in the 1950s but is very rare now.

ugahairydawgs · Feb 7, 2012

gmanist1000 said:
Interesting. Why are these Apple employees leaving when they have such momentum going?

After all that has come out about the inherent culture of mistrust that new hires are met with I would imagine that working for Apple takes a toll on a person.

cvaldes · Feb 7, 2012

*LTD* said:
He's key, but not Scott Forstall or Jony Ive key.

And he can also be replaced quite effectively by Director of iPod and iPhone Engineering Vic Alessi (who worked directly with Tupman), or even VP of iPhone and iPod Design Steve Zadesky.

I believe Mansfield and Alessi are both ex-SGIers, they might have a long history of working together and understand each other's style.

dvoros · Feb 7, 2012

Ok, whats going on?

A number of Apple folks have been jumping ship. Do they know something that the rest of us don't?

kjs862 · Feb 7, 2012

I remember reading sometime ago that Forstall was a bit of a trouble maker. Maybe this has something to do with it?

shartypants · Feb 7, 2012

He needs time off to figure out how to spend the millions he has made on stock options.

chrmjenkins · Feb 7, 2012

ScottishDuck said:
Nice to see macrumors burying this story.

I guess it's not as big as Patent lawsuit #1056 or a fast food place buying iPads.

Yes, I'm concerned about the direction of MR articles lately.

2 Replies · Feb 7, 2012

MacRumors said:
Apple’s tiny iPhone power adapters

That's a joke.... right?
At least, tell me you're not referring to the beast that is 30-pin... right?
Because it's one of the largest phone power/sync adapters on the market!
(Especially with nearly all other manufacturers standardizing to micro-usb.)

chrmjenkins · Feb 7, 2012

2 Replies said:
That's a joke.... right?
At least, tell me you're not referring to the beast that is 30-pin... right?
Because it's one of the largest phone power/sync adapters on the market!
(Especially with nearly all other manufacturers standardizing to micro-usb.)

They're talking about the power adapter (i.e. the part that goes into the plug), not the standard apple connector for iOS devices.

Glideslope · Feb 7, 2012

HiRez said:
I spent 5 years working at a Fortune 500 company and then quit, couldn't stand it anymore. It actually was a good job, I got paid a ton of money, and it was a great working environment and I worked with really great people. Point is, it's just hard to work at the same place and do the same thing for many years, no matter how cool it is. At some point you want a change, want to try something new. That point comes at different times for different people, but expecting people to stay at a company for their entire career is pretty unrealistic these days, that happened in the 1950s but is very rare now.

Excellent points. I would add that 10 years at Apple, especially in his role, is similar to 20 years at most other Fortune 500's. :apple:

Agent OrangeZ · Feb 7, 2012

See people. This is why issuing stock to executives is important. Maybe if they had tossed 200,000 shares to this guy with a cash in date of 2021, he'd stick around for a while.

Mal · Feb 7, 2012

ugahairydawgs said:
After all that has come out about the inherent culture of mistrust that new hires are met with I would imagine that working for Apple takes a toll on a person.

Hah. That's funny. The fact that Apple doesn't trust every newcomer before they prove themselves is going to make a 10+ year veteran of the company leave?

You should start a comedy club.

jW

justperry · Feb 7, 2012

HiRez said:
I spent 5 years working at a Fortune 500 company and then quit, couldn't stand it anymore. It actually was a good job, I got paid a ton of money, and it was a great working environment and I worked with really great people. Point is, it's just hard to work at the same place and do the same thing for many years, no matter how cool it is. At some point you want a change, want to try something new. That point comes at different times for different people, but expecting people to stay at a company for their entire career is pretty unrealistic these days, that happened in the 1950s but is very rare now.

I agree.
5 years in a row at one single company is My maximum.
Heck, nowadays for every year I work I take at least one year of(Truth), for every year I work in the "west" I can live a couple of years in a developing country

Macula · Feb 8, 2012

forty2j said:
Some would say "quit while you're ahead". Others would say "turnover happens".

And yet others would say "unbearable grudge for not getting promoted to VP."

jacob11 · Feb 8, 2012

shartypants said:
He needs time off to figure out how to spend the millions he has made on stock options.

LOL..well said..

iPhone and iPod Engineering VP David Tupman Leaves Apple

macrumors bot

macrumors G3

macrumors 68030

macrumors 68030

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors G3

macrumors G4

macrumors G5

macrumors 603

macrumors 68030

macrumors 68040

macrumors 6502

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 603

macrumors regular

macrumors 603

macrumors 604

macrumors 68040

macrumors 603

macrumors G5

macrumors 6502

macrumors member

Our Staff