Report: Departing iPhone Exec Lost Steve Jobs' Trust

Maybe there was more to those famous "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads than we all thought.

When Mark Papermaster joined Apple 15 months ago, he probably thought he knew all there was to know about maneuvering through bureaucratic and political mine fields. He was a highly-regarded executive with a long track record at IBM and now he was going to marshal all of that experience to run Apple's mobile devices division.

But over the weekend, we found out that Papermaster was leaving the company.

He had been in charge when the iPhone 4 debacle broke out and caused Apple weeks of grief. If heads were to roll, Papermaster's likely would be among them. Apple doesn't comment on personnel matters - or much else, for that matter. But the Wall Street Journal on Monday quotes sources who summed up the decision in two words: Steve Jobs. The paper says that Papermaster had fallen out of favor months ago. What's more, it says he "hasn't been part of the decision-making process for some time."

"They added that Mr. Papermaster didn't appear to have the type of creative thinking expected at Apple and wasn't used to Apple's corporate culture, where even senior executives are expected to keep on top of the smallest details of their areas of responsibility and often have to handle many tasks directly, as opposed to delegating them.

One of these people also said Mr. Papermaster had difficulty maneuvering Apple's internal politics.

You can read the full story at the Wall Street Journal