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Tony Fadell | |
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.jpg) Fadell in 2022 | |
| Born | Anthony Michael Fadell (1969-03-22)March 22, 1969 (age 56) |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan (BS) |
| Employer(s) | General Magic Apple Inc Nest Labs |
| Known for | iPod iPhone |
Anthony Michael Fadell (born March 22, 1969) is an Americanengineer, designer, entrepreneur, and investor. He was senior vice president of theiPod division atApple Inc. and founder and former CEO ofNest Labs.
Fadell joined Apple Inc. in 2001 and oversaw all iPod hardware, software, and accessories development. He is known as the "father of the iPod". As the co-creator of theiPhone, he also worked on the first three generations of the iPhone and oversaw all iPhone hardware, firmware, and accessories development from March 2006 to November 2008.
In May 2010, he co-founded Nest Labs, which announced its first product, theNest Learning Thermostat, in October 2011. Nest was acquired byGoogle in January 2014 for $3.2B.
Fadell has authored more than 300 patents and was named one ofTime's "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2014. In 2016Time named the Nest Learning Thermostat, the iPod and the iPhone as three of the “50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time".
Fadell was born on March 22, 1969,[1] inMichigan, to aLebanese father andPolish mother.[2][3] Fadell is an alumnus ofGrosse Pointe South High School inGrosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. He graduated from theUniversity of Michigan with aBachelor of Science (BS) degree inComputer Engineering in 1991.[4]
After college, Fadell worked for Apple spinoffGeneral Magic for three years, working with Sony, Philips, Matsushita, Toshiba and other consumer electronics firms in the "General Magic Alliance" to develop a line of personal handheld communicators. He started in 1992 as a diagnostics engineer and progressed to a systems architect.[5]
In 1995, he was hired byPhilips where he co-founded their Mobile Computing Group and served as thechief technology officer, and director of engineering. He developed a number ofWindows CE-based hand-held devices, notably thePhilips Velo andNino PDA.[5] Fadell went on to become a vice president of Philips Strategy and Ventures where he was in charge of developing Philips's digital audio strategy consisting of technology direction for silicon and software, as well as its investment portfolio and potential business models.[6][7]
After Philips Fadell worked atRealNetworks for six weeks.[7]
In July 1999, Fadell started his own company called Fuse to develop the "Dell of the Consumer Electronics". One of the devices he had in mind was a smallhard disk-based music player and an online-store-for-music. Fuse failed, however, to find a second round of funding, and Fadell started exploring developing the product at other companies.[7][8]
Fadell is known as the "father of the iPod".[9][10] Fadell found support for his business idea of an MP3 player complemented by an online music store inApple. In 2001 Fadell was hired by Apple as a contractor designing theiPod and planning Apple's audio product strategy.[7] His idea for a small hard disk-based music player and an online-store-for-music had caughtSteve Jobs's attention. During that time, he created the concept and initial design of the iPod. He was then hired by Apple to assemble and run its iPod & Special Projects group in April 2001. He was tasked with overseeing the design and production of theiPod andiSight devices.[7][11]
Due to the engineers and resources at Apple being constrained with the Mac line, Fadell hired engineers from his startup company, Fuse, and veteran engineers from General Magic and Philips to build the core iPod development team. He also hired an outside company to develop the software for the player.[12]
He was promoted to vice president of iPod engineering in 2004 and on October 14, 2005, Apple announced that Fadell would replace the retiringJon Rubinstein as Senior Vice President of the iPod Division on March 31, 2006.[13][14]
On November 3, 2008,The Wall Street Journal broke the story of Fadell's departure from Apple.[15]
Fadell developed the business plan for Nest while living in Paris in 2009.[10][16]
Together with Matt Rogers, a former Apple colleague, he set out to redesign the traditional thermostat. In May 2010 Fadell and Rogers co-founded Nest Labs in Palo Alto, CA.[17] Nest announced its first product, theNest Learning Thermostat, in October 2011.[18] Nest was acquired byGoogle in January 2014 for $3.2B.[19] Fadell announced his resignation as CEO of Nest on June 3, 2016.[20]
As of 2017, Fadell has been running a venture fund originally called Future Shape, now called Build Collective.[21][22]
His bookBuild: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making was released May 3, 2022.Build has been named aNew York Times,Wall Street Journal, andUSA Today best seller.[23][24][25]
In 2012, he was the recipient of the Alva Award, honoring him as "the next great serial inventor".[26] Vanity Fair also recognized him as a trailblazer on their 2012 Next Establishment list.[27] In 2013, Fadell was acknowledged as one of Business Insider's Top 75 Designers in Technology,[28] Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People,[29] and CNBC's Top 50 Disruptors.[30]
Overview of awards and recognitions:
I wake up in cold sweats every so often thinking, what did we bring to the world?
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