Mark Papermaster, senior vice president of engineering for Apple, has left the company. Papermaster, who worked on the company's iPod and iPhone devices, is a 26-year IBM veteran who started work with Apple in April 2009. Neither party has released details regarding the departure.

Apple has only announced that a change in its executive roster has taken place. Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, said in an interview with the New York Times that Papermaster, "is leaving the company and Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Macintosh hardware engineering, is assuming his responsibilities."

Claims have surfaced that Papermaster was let go, possibly due to the "Antennagate" fiasco. It was Mansfield, not Papermaster, who appeared alongside CEO Steve Jobs and COO Tim Cook at the press conference. Papermaster has also been absent from

all iPhone 4 promotional material, this is in spite the fact that his division designed the iPhone 4's hardware. Apple went to great lengths to get Papermaster under their employ. The company allegedly poached Papermaster from IBM in 2008. Papermaster worked for IBM as the company's vice president of microprocessor technology development. IBM sued Apple to enforce the non-compete clause in Papermaster's contract. The suit claims that Papermaster was forbidden from being employed by competitors for a year after his departure from IBM. A decision stopped Papermaster from starting his stint at Apple in November 2008. All parties eventually settled the issue in January 2009.