Apple has officially confirmed that the company’s Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield is taking a leave from Apple now. The man who was responsible for the beautiful and powerful hardware that comes with almost all the latest Apple Devices will be enjoying his retirement now.
Bob Mansfield joined Apple back in 1999, before iPhone, iPad and many other revolutionary devices came into the market. He has also worked closely with the late Steve Jobs and he was the one who explains the power of the hardware that are featured in an Apple device. But now, Apple has announced his retirement from the company, and Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook says:
“Bob has been an instrumental part of our executive team, leading the hardware engineering organization and overseeing the team that has delivered dozens of breakthrough products over the years. We are very sad to have him leave and hope he enjoys every day of his retirement.”
Bob will now be replaced by Dan Riccio, who currently heads the iPad division of the company. Dan Riccio is now being promoted to Bob’s position and he was a reports to Bob Mansfield till now.
Here’s the official statement from Apple about his retirement:
Bob Mansfield, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, to Retire
Dan Riccio to Take Over Role When Transition is Complete
CUPERTINO, California—June 28, 2012—Apple® today announced that Bob Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, will retire and the role will be transitioned to Dan Riccio, Apple’s vice president of iPad Hardware Engineering, over several months. The entire hardware engineering team will continue to report to Mansfield until his departure.
“Bob has been an instrumental part of our executive team, leading the hardware engineering organization and overseeing the team that has delivered dozens of breakthrough products over the years,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are very sad to have him leave and hope he enjoys every day of his retirement.”
“Dan has been one of Bob’s key lieutenants for a very long time and is very well respected within Apple and by the industry,” added Cook. “Our hardware engineering team is the best engineering team on earth and will not miss a beat during the transition.”
As senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, Mansfield has led Mac® hardware engineering since 2005, iPhone® and iPod® hardware engineering since 2010, and iPad® hardware engineering since its inception. Mansfield joined Apple in 1999 when Apple acquired Raycer Graphics, where he was vice president of Engineering. Mansfield earned a BSEE degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1982.
Riccio currently serves as vice president of iPad Hardware Engineering and has been instrumental in all of Apple’s iPad products since the first generation iPad. Riccio joined Apple in 1998 as vice president of Product Design and has been a key contributor to most of Apple’s hardware over his career. Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1986.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.