Why Bob Mansfield decided to return to Apple after announcing retirement?

Why Bob Mansfield decided to return to Apple after announcing retirement?With Bob Mansfield - chief of hardware engineering at Apple - having announced his decision to return to the company barely two months after announcing his retirement earlier this year, an AllThingsD report has cited unidentified `inside' sources to reveal that Mansfield's decision probably had something to do with the recently-announced departure of Apple's iOS software chief Scott Forstall.

It was in June this year that Apple announced Mansfield's retirement as senior VP of hardware engineering; and appointed Dan Riccio in his place. However, in August, both Apple and Mansfield disclosed that Mansfield would stay on board at the company and will continue to "work on future products" in the hardware engineering unit.

While it was widely speculated at that time that Apple CEO Tim Cook had probably offered Mansfield a "massive cash and stock pay package" to stay on at Apple, the AllThingsD sources have now disclosed that Mansfield's decision to return to Apple was, in part at least, influenced by Forstall's exit.

Revealing that Mansfield often sparred with Forstall over his "confrontational management style," the sources said that though Forstall's ouster from Apple was not the sole reason behind's Mansfield's decision, it seemingly was one of the main factors that prompted him to stay on.

Elaborating on Mansfield's decision to return, one source said: "It wasn't a him-or-me situation. But, put it this way, I think Bob was much more willing to commit to two more years once he knew Scott was on his way out."