The mastermind was a guy named Tony Fadell, who actually left Apple a few years ago.

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Tony Fadell, the so-called father of the iPod and iPhone and former adviser to Steve Jobs, is the CEO.

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Both Tony Fadell, the so-called father of the iPhone who left Apple to explore green technology, and Andy Rubin, the overlord of Android, both worked at General.

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Or Nest, a thermostat developer that has won fans for its design that looks nothing like the usual boxy variety on the wall (its founder, Tony Fadell, was a former designer at Apple).

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