iPod Creator Leaving Apple to Go Green

[Michael Essany]

Tony Fadell, one of the integral creators of the iPod, has resigned (some say unexpectedly) from his position at Apple, a move that ends a nine year relationship with Cupertino - a period that spanned a tremendous era of growth, much of which Fadell was personally responsible for.

Widely referred to (within the walls of Apple, anyway) as the godfather of the iPod, Fadell spent seven years as the Senior VP of the iPod division at Apple and another two years consulting Apple as the company hit new highs, both in consumer popularity and Wall Street dominance. In his last two years, Fadell worked closely with Steve Jobs and essentially served as a personal adviser to the Apple boss.

Interestingly, Fadell's days at Apple began when he joined the iPod engineering team nearly a decade ago. Fadell would even become head of the department when he replaced Jon Rubenstein. Does that name sound familiar? Rubenstein is now Palm's CEO. And while his name was not widely known or acclaimed, Fortune magazine cited Fadell as one of the chief architects of the modern portable music player.

Although Apple hasn't publicly offered comment on Fadell's departure, some are curious as to why he would choose this exciting time at his company to bid farewell. Fadell, however, tells the New York Times that he is eager to go green.

"My primary focus will be helping the environment by working with consumer green-tech companies. I'm determined to tell my kids and grandkids amazing stories beyond my iPod and iPhone ones."

Not bad. The guy helps craft one of the most groundbreaking mobile devices in technological history and he still has bigger things to accomplish? Now that's ambition.

Image via Apple

[ikesmasher]

not bad at all, but hes leaving apple! its sad to see someone who helped create the ipod go...

[albertonakad]

i guess Fadell is coming back to Lebanon, the land of his ancestors. that's what green means
welcome back

[faschierbasis]

Who cares???

[hitman10]

Apple is slowly losing all there people to other companies. Not to say they are probably bringing over the technology they made also.


@faschierbasis

i care. if you dont, why do you even own ipod or iphone becuase if you dont own any of those.. why are you even on this website?

[glassJAw]

He's off to google.

[Bluprint]

Run while u still can homie, save yourself.

[The Maestro]

Ooo leabanon, i went there once.

Eventually apples going to be completley new people.

[rhekt]

i thought apple was one of the greenest electronics companies out there. whats wrong with this statement?

[Ajblue7]

its not that apple isn't green or he can't help make them green, but he is trying to help with the whole global warming try of thing and other green issues that why he makes the statement he wants grandkids to be alive for them to tell them.

[pyromcr]

lets hope that ipods dont start to suck now...

[willpower101]

smart move. Green tech is where all the big money is now, and will be for the next 15 years. It will replace the bubble that surrounded the invention of the internet. Wireless power, solar power, nanotech, biological power, etc. The green tech bubble will be where we first really start to blur the lines between technology and nature. Plus this old dog (the u.s. tech division and venture capital) needs to learn some new tricks before china becomes a self reliant innovator.

[rhekt]

so what your all saying is that he is going to live off the land growing his own food and hunting what he cant grow. THATS really what going green means. its not political. OR politically correct. its a lifestyle change. of which he is OBVIOUSLY NOT doing. NOR are you all who think you know what GREEN means. quit listening to the media when it comes to these topics.

[GellBrake'rrrr]

Rhekt put the knowledge Smack down!!!

[awesomeSlayer]

Will this affect future iPods?

[ajl917]

Will this affect future iPods?

I doubt it. The basic iPod design will always be here, its just adding little thing like camera etc...