Apple Exec Quits to Join AT&T; Labs
In the first executive defection from Apple Computer since Gilbert Amelio became chairman and chief executive two months ago, research and development chief David C. Nagel on Monday quit the troubled Cupertino, Calif., computer maker to become president of AT&T; Labs.
An eight-year Apple veteran popular among the rank-and-file, Nagel’s departure came as a surprise to company insiders. It was not until midday that Apple responded to press queries regarding Nagel’s resignation with a terse statement that Amelio would fill in until a permanent replacement can be found.
Nagel was appointed senior vice president of worldwide research and development last April by former Apple Chief Executive Michael Spindler, and in that role became Spindler’s primary technical advisor and product development czar. As Apple faced eroding market share and mounting losses, Nagel held on when several key executives quit or were fired.
Nagel’s departure comes as the company struggles to complete a crucial software product known as Copland, the next generation of system software for the Macintosh. Apple has delayed Copland in order to pack it with features to further differentiate it from Microsoft’s Windows 95.
Although Nagel had kind words for Amelio, he said the chance to run one of the country’s premier technology research centers--the computer science piece of AT&T;’s renowned Bell Labs--was one he could not turn down. Apple, now awash in red ink, is likely to streamline its 3,000-person research and development organization, but Nagel said that played no role in his leaving.
“I think the state of affairs at Apple have improved,” Nagel said. “Gil Amelio is a first-rate thinker and a first-rate human being, and he has his sights firmly set on what Apple needs to do.”
In his new job, Nagel will supervise 1,900 researchers in the lab’s headquarters in New Jersey, as well as branches in California, Washington and Massachusetts. Nagel will remain in the San Francisco Bay Area where he expects to build a team to concentrate on the Internet.
Apple watchers mourned the loss of Nagel. “There’s no one at Apple who has the depth and breadth that Nagel did,” said Pieter Hartsook, publisher of the Hartsook Letter, an Alameda newsletter covering Apple.
Before becoming research and development chief, Nagel was vice president and general manager of a now-defunct Apple division, Applesoft, a job he held for three years. He was brought to Apple by Spindler’s predecessor, John Sculley, in 1988 to oversee the Advanced Technology Group, the experimental arm of its research and development organization.
He came to Apple from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., where he worked as a scientist studying how human beings interact with computers.
