Analysis: Tim Cook's Apple turnover
Does the departure of two senior Apple executives signal a desire on the part of Steve Jobs' successor, Tim Cook, to make a clean break with the past
It's fair to say that Apple has been suffering something of an image crisis of late. The untimely death of its visionary leader, Steve Jobs, happened just as Google's Android platform began seriously snapping at the company's smartphone heels, and as legal patent wranglings with Samsung, HTC and others began to rumble in the background. It all served to knock the previously invincible-seeming tech giant quite off kilter.
For a while the company seemed to be losing momentum, running for the past few months on little more than the fumes of its past smash hits, such as the iPad and iPhone. Then, just a week after the launch of the iPad Mini and 4G iPad, things really came to a head when news broke that two senior executives had been told to clear their desks.
Scott Forstall had been in charge of user interfaces for iOS devices, while John Browett had only recently been installed as the head of Apple's international retail business.
So are the departures a sign that Steve Jobs' successor as CEO, Tim Cook, is now ready to do things his way? After being accused for so long of running the company in Jobs' shadow, is he showing the world he's ready to flex his muscles with these high-profile staffing reshuffles?
Forstall's exit is the less surprising of the two. Forstall was heavily involved with Apple's much-derided Maps app, and indeed he demonstrated the software at WWDC 2012 back in June. After the app crashed and burned, Forstall became the public face of Apple's first big failure in a five-year run of success - a run that had begun with the first iPhone, the interface of which he had played a key part in designing.
Forstall was also the project manager of the less than universally acclaimed voice-recognition search engine, Siri.
When a message, personally signed by Cook, appeared on Apple's website soon after the launch of iOS 6 suggesting that people use other products such as Google Maps instead, it became clear that heads would have to roll. But Forstall, who will leave Apple for good in early 2013, is a controversial sacrifice.
Forstall had joined Apple in 1997 when it acquired niche computer maker NeXT - the deal that brought Jobs back into the first company he founded.
Forstall has long been described as one of Jobs' key lieutenants. Heading up iOS development for several years, he can easily claim a large chunk of the credit for the platform's success.
Various rumours have suggested that Forstall was unpopular with Apple staff at large. Indeed, rumour has it that top hardware engineer Bob Mansfield decided against "retiring" early following news of Forstall's exit. Then there is the antipathy in the organisation against his apparent love of "skeuomorphic" (the art of making the new feel familiar) design.
Analysis: Tim Cook's Apple turnover
Does the departure of two senior Apple executives signal a desire on the part of Steve Jobs' successor, Tim Cook, to make a clean break with the past
But such gossip is beside the point. The point is, even if Forstall had been difficult to work with, Jobs clearly trusted his ability and judgement, and knew how to draw the best from him.
Browett’s departure is perhaps more puzzling, especially as it was Cook who hired him earlier in the year, as one of his first appointments after becoming CEO. At the time, Cook said of the former Dixons boss that he had a commitment to retail “like no one else I’ve met”.
The mystery over his departure deepens when you consider that retail sales under Browett had risen from $4bn to $4.2bn in his six short months at Apple.
He had, though, faced criticism over his plan for meeting the requirements of new employment regulations, which some said had meant stores were understaffed.
Other than that, it’s hard to see what might have prompted his departure – maybe Cook had recently shopped at Dixons in Heathrow Airport and not been impressed.
With Forstall heading for the exit, software duties are now largely in the hands of stalwart industrial designer Sir Jonathan Ive, who will control the physical and interface designs of Apple’s products. He will be assisted by vice-president of software engineering, Craig Federighi.
Meanwhile, Cook has Apple’s retail channel reporting directly to him.
With increasingly challenging times ahead, Cook is starting to build a team that he feels most comfortable with. He is drawing a line under the Jobs era and finally taking full charge of Apple after almost a year at the helm.
That also means that responsibility for Apple’s future success or failure will fall squarely on his shoulders.