Apple Computer-Software Chief Stepping Down
Posted by zduncan | Posted in Computer | Posted on 26-03-2011
Tags: Apple, Apple Computer-Software Chief, Bertrand Serlet, Steve Jobs
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Apple has just recently announced the departure of Bertrand Serlet, a senior software engineer at the company since Steve Jobs returned as CEO in 1997. Serlet was also a main architect of the Mac operating system. The 50 year old, who was also Senior Vice President for Computer-Software engineering, is leaving to focus more on research, according to a statement from Apple. Serlet’s position will be taken over by the division’s Vice President Craig Federighi.
According to a statement from Serlet, “I’ve worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science.”
Serlet has a doctorate in computer science that he acquired from the University of Orsay, France and joined Apple in 1997 when they first acquired NeXT, which was the computer company Steve Jobs founded in 1985 after leaving Apple.
There haven’t been a lot of departures lately among Jobs’ top executives which is why this one is surprising. Jobs has kept a core team intact that includes COO Tim Cook who is currently running Apple in Jobs’ absence. Other parts of the team include CFO Peter Oppenheimer, Marketing Chief Phil Schiller, Head of Retail Ron Johnson, Head of Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield, Head of iPhone Software Scott Forstall and Head of Design Jonathan Ive.
One of the most recent departures was Mark Papermaster, a senior vice president hired by Apple in 2008 to run the company’s mobile-device engineering unit. Papermaster left last year and now works at Cisco System Inc.
Serlet was one person who helped develop the Mac OS X operating system that runs Apple’s Macintosh computers. Lion, which is the newest version of the Mac OS X, is set to be released later this year.
Federighi, who worked at NeXT as well, has led Mac software engineering at Apple since 2009. He previously spent 10 years at Ariba Inc. based in Sunnyvale, California. His roles included vice president of Internet Services as well as Chief Technology Officer.
Source: Bloomberg – Apple Says Computer-Software Chief Serlet Is Stepping Down