Henri Lamiraux, Apple’s top Vice President of Engineering for the iOS iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system has left the company, according to a source and corroborated by his LinkedIn profile.
Lamiraux confirmed his departure to me via email. He says that he retired from Apple a “couple of weeks” ago, following the release of iOS 7.0.3. Lamiraux decided a “little while ago” that iOS 7 would be his last release…
Sources within Apple’s iOS division say Lamiraux is respected and he was in charge of developing the applications that come with iOS. The executive also led feature-implementation across the operating system, and he managed both bug-fixing processes and feature distribution to consumers. He also managed the frameworks within the operating system that power features and allow developers to build applications…
With Craig Federighi becoming the Senior VP of both iOS and OS X last fall, Lamiraux’s role became more critical than ever. He was essentially the “head of iOS” while Federighi managed all software, according to descriptions from sources. Before working under Federighi, Lamiraux was a top lieutenant to Scott Forstall, working alongside design, testing, and wireless software vice presidents.
Last year’s executive shakeup moved around some of these vice presidents, but sources say that Apple has since slowly moved VPs back to the iOS division. For example, with Bob Mansfield’s recent role reduction from the executive team, wireless software engineering has moved back to Federighi’s domain.
Lamiraux started his career at Apple in the form of a Mac software engineer. Over the course of his over-two-decade-tenure at Apple, he worked his way to the top via positions as a Mac software engineering manager, director of software engineering for iOS, and senior director of engineering for iOS. Lamiraux moved to the iOS team around 2005, making him one of the few engineers to work on the iPhone project from the beginning. He worked at Apple for 23 years.
Outside of Apple, Lamiraux was known to App Store developers as he frequently appeared in developer sessions and videos at WWDC conferences. Additionally, in 2012, he led the keynote address for developers following the consumer and media presentation.
At a time where Apple’s software engineering division is moving out of almost-decade-long influence from the leadership of Scott Forstall, Lamiraux’s departure as being one of the top leaders of Apple’s arguably single-most-important product, is a significant loss for Apple. It’s unlikely that consumers will see additional changes within iOS because of the departure, and Apple is moving strong with the future of iOS under the guide of Jony Ive and engineering prowess of Craig Federighi.
Apple’s Software Engineering division is already working on the follow-ups to OS X Mavericks and iOS 7. OS X 10.10, codenamed “Syrah,” is expected to feature a redesigned user-interface, while iOS 8 is said to include additional software-integration for the new iPhone and iPad M7 motion chip and new features for Apple’s built-in Maps app.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
