Senior Apple executive to leave: report

(Reuters) - One of Apple Inc's top executives, who was part of the development of the iPod, has decided to leave the company and will be replaced by a former employee of International Business Machine Corp, the Wall Street Journal said.

Tony Fadell, who is a senior vice president of Apple's iPod division and a part of the team involved in the development of the iPhone, is leaving the company citing personal reasons but may remain as a consultant, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Fadell will be replaced by IBM's Mark Papermaster, the paper said.

Papermaster, who was with IBM for the past 26 years, served as a member of the company's Integration & Values Team since 2006.

IBM sued Papermaster last week to prevent him from joining Apple, citing a noncompeting agreement between him and the company that would prevent him from accepting a job with a competitor until A year after leaving the company.

Apple and IBM could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by David Holmes)