According to a filing with the SEC, Apple Inc. (AAPL) Senior Vice President of Technologies, Bob Mansfield has sold off 35,000 shares of AAPL stock for the price of $582.21 per share, which equates to about $20.4 million. Mansfield reportedly has 29,548 shares remaining with the company, and will be offered another stock option of 150,000 shares. These shares will be offered on June 2013 and also in March 2016.

Bob Mansfield announced retirement earlier this year when he held the position, SVP of Hardware Engineering. He later decided to stay as SVP of Technologies and now runs Apple’s wireless and semiconductor teams. This new position was given to Mansfield after SVP of iOS software, Scott Forstall was removed from the company following a string of issues with iOS Maps and Siri as well as Forstall’s strained relationship with other executives at the company.

Mansfield is receiving $2 million a month to stay at Apple and run these teams, which are still working through the management shakeup and fixing previous issues. With Mansfield still working at Apple, the company is retaining one of the original executives that is familiar with both the leadership of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Apple has had a major turnover with its retail chief, with the departure of Ron Johnson and John Browett and with the removal of Scott Forstall as iOS chief.

{Via AppleInsider}

Earlier this month, Apple Inc. (AAPL) withdrew its products from being certified by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), which certifies over 95% of electronics in the U.S by a requirement by the government. AAPL’s 39 products under EPEAT’s were pulled without question, however, the company has now taken steps to address the media and the public on the parameters of its decision by issuing a letter.

In a letter from SVP of Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield, the company revealed that they are putting all eligible products back on EPEAT. Apple defended their decision to withdraw a few days ago, pointing out that withdrawing from EPEAT did not change the environmental credibility of their products. In a report from The Loop, Apple defended their decision and made their comments public.

Apple takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our environmental impact and all of our products meet the strictest energy efficiency standards backed by the US government, Energy Star 5.2. We also lead the industry by reporting each product’s greenhouse gas emissions on our website, and Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic materials.

In the letter, Mansfield addressed the company’s decision to withdraw from EPEAT certification and said that it “was a mistake” to do so. Mansfield also mentioned in the report that “all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT”.

We’ve recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake. Starting today, all eligible Apple products are back on EPEAT.

It’s important to know that our commitment to protecting the environment has never changed, and today it is as strong as ever. Apple makes the most environmentally responsible products in our industry. In fact, our engineering teams have worked incredibly hard over the years to make our products even more environmentally friendly, and much of our progress has come in areas not yet measured by EPEAT.

This means that products that meet a standard of disassembly can be certified by EPEAT, and as a result, Apple’s new Retina MacBook Pro might not qualify. It is interesting to note Apple’s approach in issuing a statement through Mansfield as opposed to one from CEO Tim Cook, likely to assure the public that the right steps were being taken to rectify the company’s products under EPEAT.

{via 9to5Mac}

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has been undergoing a number of changes in the past year, from Tim Cook taking over as CEO, the passing of Steve Jobs, and Ron Johnson leaving the company’s retail team. In a press release on Thursday, Apple announced that their SVP of Hardware Engineering, Bob Mansfield is retiring and will be leaving the company.

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.

Mansfield has helped Apple create some of its most successful products. He has worked with Mac hardware engineering since 2005, as well as hardware engineering for the iPhone and iPad since 2010. Mansfield’s dedication to the company began in 1999 when Apple acquired Raycer Graphics, where he held a VP position.

Mansfield will be replaced by Dan Riccio, who has worked with Mansfield in the past on iPad engineering and according to Apple “is very well respected within Apple and by the industry.” Riccio is currently Vice President of all iPad hardware engineering, and has been working on the device since the introduction of the first generation.

Apple will be losing one of the greats in hardware engineering, and like Jon Rubinstein and Tony Fadell, Mansfield will be looking at something new after his over 10 years of dedication to the company and enjoying his newfound retirement.

In a report from Israeli business newspaper Calcalist, it was revealed that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is ramping up its operations in Israel post acquisition of Anobit. The report also mentioned that AAPL has begun looking over resumes to hire for its new research and development center in Haifa, Israel and has looked over “several hundred resumes” from engineers looking to work in the new center.

The new research center is expected to be run by Apple’s new hire, an Israeli high-tech executive Aharon Aharon. The report also notes that Apple is opening up its new research center in a location where companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Phillips currently call home.

Apple is seeking expertise in chip development, more specifically in the electrical circuits and hardware testing and verification departments, many of which the companies mentioned above can provide. Apple’s research center is separate from its acquisition of Israeli flash memory firm Anobit, which, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, is currently being integrated into Apple’s ecosystem and will be headed by hardware engineering chief Bob Mansfield.

Reports from 9to5Mac also suggest that Apple has sent vice president Johny Srouji, who has had experience at other companies such as IBM and Intel, to oversee Anobit’s operations in Israel. Srouji joined Apple in 2008 and is now overseeing VLSI operations at Anobit, which focuses on chip design and implementation.

{via MacRumors}

Apple announced today that Mr. Papermaster will be leaving the company. Apple did not say whether Papermaster was fired or left on his own accord but, regardless, it is clear that Apple is starting to clean house. The iPhone 4 antenna issues, after all, cost Apple a pretty penny forcing them to offer free bumper cases to anyone who had purchased an iPhone 4 and refund anyone who bought Apple’s bumper case.

Bob Mansfield, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Apple’s Mac hardware engineering will replace Papermaster. It is clear that this move was in the planning for a while since Mansfield was present in the news conference that Apple held to discuss the iPhone 4 antenna issues and not Papermaster. Most likely, the last several weeks have been spent going back and forth on a nice settlement.

Whether or not Papermaster will bear the full responsibility of these issues is yet to be seen. Most analysts agree that the iPhone 4 was rushed through testing and released to combat the large number of Android devices that have been released around the same time as the iPhone. Due to cell phone contracts, Apple has to release a new phone around the same time each year to make sure that users whose contracts are up upgrade to the new device and do not go elsewhere (if AT&T’s network was better, Apple would not be in this position but many people have switched to Verizon and Sprint due to AT&T’s network). That said, others at Apple were responsible for releasing the phone. What is clear is that we may never know what exactly happened in the weeks following the iPhone 4’s release. Apple is as secretive as they come.