Apple has just lost one of its most inspirational figures, Tony Fadell, the man credited with inventing the iPod and the digital download store, iTunes. It was the iPod and iTunes that led to Apple’s utter dominance of the digital music arena and MP3 player market.

Fadell was at Apple for eight years before he decided to stand down from his position.

Mark Papermaster, who works at IBM, will replace Fadell, according to Apple. However that appointment may be in doubt after IBM said they’d enforce a non-compete clause in Papermaster’s contract, which would forbid him from working at Apple for 12 months.

A spokesperson for Apple stated:

We think IBM will see that the iPod and iPhone are not competitive with its business.

Fadell used to work at Philips, where he reported first conceived of the idea for iTunes. However it was Apple that backed his plans, which turned out to be Philips’ loss. Fadell became a senior vice-president at Apple.

The loss of Fadell is a major blow to Apple as he was considered one of the front runners to eventually take over from the Apple boss Steve Jobs.