Ondrej Holzman Apple has just announced sweeping changes to its top management. Scott Forstall, senior vice president of the iOS division, will leave Cupertino at the end of the year, and will serve as an advisor to Tim Cook in the meantime. Retail chief John Browett is also leaving Apple.
Because of this, there are changes in leadership - Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi have to add responsibility for other divisions to their current roles. In addition to design, Jony Ive will also head user interface across the company, meaning he could finally translate his famous sense of design into software as well. Eddy Cue, who has been taking care of online services until now, is also taking Siri and Maps under his wing, so a difficult task awaits him.
Significant tasks will also be added to Craig Federighi, in addition to OS X, he will now also lead the iOS division. According to Apple, this change will help connect the two operating systems even more. A specific role is now also being given to Bob Mansfield, who will lead the new Technology group, which will focus on semiconductors and wireless hardware.
Retail chief John Browett is also leaving Apple with immediate effect, but the company is still looking for a replacement for him. Meanwhile, Browett has only been working in Cupertino since this year. For now, Tim Cook himself will oversee the business network.
Apple did not specify in any way why the two men are leaving, but they are definitely unexpected changes in the company's top management, which, although not the first time in recent months, have certainly not been such significant moves so far.
Apple's official statement:
Apple today announced leadership changes that will lead to even greater collaboration between hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will take on more responsibility. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will leave the company next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook for the time being.
"We are in one of the richest times in terms of innovation and new Apple products," said Tim Cook, Apple CEO. “The amazing products we introduced in September and October – iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our apps – could only have been created at Apple and are a direct result of our unrelenting focus on the tight coupling of world-class hardware, software and services.”
In addition to his role as head of product design, Jony Ive will take on leadership and management of the user interface (Human Interface) across the entire company. His incredible sense of design has been the driving force behind the overall feel of Apple products for more than two decades.
Eddy Cue will take on responsibility for Siri and Maps, bringing all online services under one roof. iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore and iCloud have already experienced success. This group has a track record of successfully building and strengthening Apple's online services to meet and exceed our customers' high expectations.
Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X. Apple has the most advanced mobile and operating systems, and this move will bring together the teams that handle both operating systems, making it even easier to bring the best technology and user interface innovations to both platforms.
Bob Mansfield will lead the new Technologies group, which will bring together all of Apple's wireless teams into one group and will strive to elevate the industry to the next level. This group will also include a semiconductor team that has big ambitions for the future.
In addition, John Browett is also leaving Apple. The search for a new head of retail sales is underway and for now the sales team will report directly to Tim Cook. The store has an incredibly strong network of store and regional leaders at Apple who will continue the great work that has revolutionized retail over the past decade and created unique and innovative services for our customers.
Scott is such a shame...
Apple keynotes are completely nothing thanks to Mr. Cook and now Scott.:( I always looked forward to them not only because of new products. I wonder who will present IOS now.
Cook improved quite a bit in the last keynote. The whole thing would also be about something else if the unnamed server ……………eu did not publish leaked photos of each screw. this way you know most things in advance and the cook could break and the wow effect does not appear.
we are in a country where Blesk is the most respected newspaper... it's no wonder that the tabloid works in other industries than show business :o)
Simple advice - don't read that unnamed server. Then the wow effect comes. I was pleasantly surprised by the keynote.
However, I don't read Libor anymore either. I wrote this only for the gentleman above who writes about how Cook is about nothing.
“Jony Ive will add leadership to his role as head of product design and
control of the user interface (Human Interface) across the whole
companies. His incredible sense of design was the driving force behind
the overall impression of Apple products for more than a decade."
Well, this is the best news I've read in a while. :-)
I was personally pleased with this news. According to the information I've gathered over the years, Forstall had ambitions to run Apple, but Jobs turned him down. I think he knew what he was doing, because with Forstall in the cell, Apple might even become a pure SW company. If I'm not mistaken, Forstall didn't have the best relationship with Ive, Jobs probably managed to direct them both, but without her, two roosters in the backyard are a problem, and Forstall was the least popular of them. It couldn't have turned out any other way, and it would have been a bigger shame for Apple if Ive had been sent away. I agree in the discussion with Araon, because I also see very positively that the human interface will be given to Ive. It could mean the end of the hideous "skeuomorphic design" pushed by Forstall at Apple, and in my opinion it is completely contrary to the elegance of the HW design proposed by Ive and, above all, it is contrary to the pure design philosophy of Apple.
When the bug with the maps appeared in iOS 6, I predicted in the pub (I have witnesses to this, we were drinking soft drinks) that Forstall's edge was ringing. The whole thing gave me the impression of a pending execution from which he has no chance to escape. I wouldn't be surprised now if the maps were "jumped" into order before Christmas. I haven't had much SF, but it struck me as an element that "makes" waves and could work against the tendencies of Cook, who is trying to turn Apple into an HP-type corporation, which I think is wrong. But those who defend SF's firing are also right, because Cook probably stopped managing him and it would be a much greater shame to lose Ivo. As for the hideous leather imitation, it seemed to me that on the contrary, Federighi defended and highlighted it a lot in OSX recently, so we'll see...
And why do I think it was prepared? Forstall was in charge of the maps as such, but apparently directly influenced only the software part of the maps. And she is, IMHO, perfect. Inexplicably, the data bases failed. Either orthophoto or vector data. At the same time, both are, in essence, just a question of money, because they are purchased - they are outsourced. This is something SF can't get out of anyone, and that's probably where he ran into it, and at the same time, it seems to me like a relatively simple way to make it impossible. Of course, this is just speculation, based on my own experience with the functioning of another "corporation". In a way, I hope I'm wrong, because Apple would pull this kind of politicking down over time.
Considering Mansfield was the first to quit I think and was then talked into staying, the whole thing with so many resignations seems rather odd, it almost seems like Cook pissed these people off, maybe they can't get along with him as well as Steve .
John probably knew very well why he sold all AAPL shares a few months ago :)