We covered the departure of Apple Chief Software Technology Officer Avie Tevanian a few weeks ago; now, another key member of the Apple executive team is taking off for greener pastures. Jon Rubinstein, the Senior Vice President of the iPod division, and former Senior Vice President of Hardware, retired recently from his role at Apple. Like Tevanian, Rubinstein was a NeXT veteran who came to the company with Steve Jobs in 1997.
I have a marginally personal connection with Rubinstein; he attended my alma mater, and visited from time to time to meet with engineering students. A close friend of mine (and diehard PC user) met him once, and was impressed enough that he relented, to a degree, on his anti-Apple sentiments. For that in itself I owe Jon a big thank you.
Rubinstein will continue to work in a one-day-a-week consultant capacity for Apple (I wish I could work one day a week). Tony Fadell (aka Sam Seaborn) has replaced Jon as head of the iPod division.
[via MacSurfer]
