1. iPod Touch + Camera. Apple starting doing big production runs on this and it fucked up, big time. There was a problem with the cameras and the devices were unusable. There was an entire generation of iPod Touch which, as a result, shipped with the necessary connectors for a camera, but without the physical camera or the casing for a camera. As far as I know, this and the antenna were the main reasons.
2. White iPhone was hugely embarrassing.
3. iPhone antenna. Jobs handled it really well: common problem, nobody's perfect. That's not Apple though. Papermaster's team squarely blamed him for this.
4. Bob Mansfield and others identified problems with the cultural fit before he joined, which seemed to be true. He wasn't lazy or dumb, he just wasn't proactive and smart in the way Apple VPs are.
1. iPod Touch + Camera. Apple starting doing big production runs on this and it fucked up, big time. There was a problem with the cameras and the devices were unusable. There was an entire generation of iPod Touch which, as a result, shipped with the necessary connectors for a camera, but without the physical camera or the casing for a camera. As far as I know, this and the antenna were the main reasons.
2. White iPhone was hugely embarrassing.
3. iPhone antenna. Jobs handled it really well: common problem, nobody's perfect. That's not Apple though. Papermaster's team squarely blamed him for this.
4. Bob Mansfield and others identified problems with the cultural fit before he joined, which seemed to be true. He wasn't lazy or dumb, he just wasn't proactive and smart in the way Apple VPs are.