Tony Fadell, the man behind the development of Apple’s iPod and iPhone has stepped aside to make way for ex-IBM chip guru Mark Papermaster who will be the company’s senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering. Papermaster will manage Apple’s iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams.

Papermaster has worked with IBM for several years and The Big Blue filed suit against him when it found out that it was switching sides and will be hired by one of the biggest competitors – Apple. Papermaster was IBM’s president for blade server development and was also a member of the company's Integration & Values Team.

The Big Blue filed suit on October 22, claiming that Papermaster would breach a noncompete agreement he signed in 2006 if he would work Apple. IBM claimed that Papermater had access to company secrets "in his capacity as a member of the [Integration & Values Team].”

"Mr. Papermaster's employment is a violation of his agreement with IBM against working for a competitor should he leave IBM," IBM spokesman Doug Shelton said. "We will vigorously pursue this case in court.

IBM claims that Apple is one of its competitors in developing servers, PCs and microprocessors, probably referring to Apple's Xserver line of servers and its purchase of P.A.
Semi.

Apple announced it hired Mark Papermaster on Tuesday, but didn’t mention anything about the court case.

Tony Fadell, who joined Apple in 2001, will remain with Apple as an adviser to Chief Executive Steve Jobs.