“Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook on Monday pushed out the powerful head of the company’s mobile software products group, sources said, in a major management shake-up that also claimed the recently hired chief of the retail stores division,” Poornima Gupta reports for Reuters.
“Scott Forstall, a long-time lieutenant of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, was asked to leave following years of friction with other top executives and his recent refusal to take responsibility for the mishandling of the Apple’s much-criticized mapping software, people familiar with the situation said,” Gupta reports. “Sources said Forstall refused to sign a public apology after Apple’s mapping product, which displaced the popular Google Maps on the iPhone and the iPad in September, contained embarrassing errors and drew fierce criticism. Instead, Cook signed the letter last month.”
Gupta reports, “John Browett, who was hired as the company’s retail chief just seven months ago after serving as CEO of U.K. electronics retailer Dixon’s, will also leave Apple. His efforts to improve profits at the stores had alienated employees and sources close to Apple said Cook had concluded he was simply the wrong person for the job. ‘These changes show that Tim Cook is stamping his authority on the business,’ added Ben Wood, analyst with CCS Insight, said. ‘Perhaps disappointed with the Maps issues, Forstall became the scapegoat.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Bullshit. Don’t “analyze” situations or use words whose meanings you do not even remotely understand. A scapegoat is someone blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others. Forstall’s responsibility was to produce a Siri beta and a Maps application that were worthy of the Apple brand. He failed. Miserably. Therefore he is out. That’s what “responsibility” means. It doesn’t mean you get to claim “responsibility,” fsck up repeatedly and get off with apologies – or, in Forstalls’ narcissistic case, not even deigning to sign off on an apology.
Yesterday, Tim Cook excised two festering cancers and Apple Inc. today is much healthier for it.
Gupta reports, “The executive changes hand substantially more responsibility to Jonathan Ive, Apple’s celebrated industrial design chief, who will now oversee both hardware and software design. Eddy Cue, a long-serving executive who runs online products, will take charge of Apple Maps and the Siri voice search software. Craig Federighi, who oversees the OSX software that powers the Macintosh computers, will take charge of the iOS software. The retail stores will report directly to Cook while a search is conducted for a new head of the division.”
“People with knowledge of Apple’s inner workings said Forstall’s departure was years in the making, and came to a head with the Apple Maps incident,” Gupta reports. “Forstall was also considered a hard person to work with, and he alienated other senior executives with his abrasive style, one person familiar with the situation said. This person added that once Jobs passed away, Forstall was left with few defenders at the top of the company.”
“The fate of the executive, who had 1,000 people directly reporting to him, was sealed by the Maps debacle. Even after a public uproar over the shortcomings and widespread calls for Apple to revert to Google Maps, Forstall would not acknowledge the gravity of the problem, a source with knowledge of the matter said,” Gupta reports. “Forstall instead likened the situation to the complaints over the antenna in an earlier iPhone and insisted it would blow over without a public mea culpa, the source said. But Cook disagreed, and issued a public apology with his own signature on it after Fortstall would not go along, the source added… Forstall will serve as an advisor to Cook until his departure.”
MacDailyNews Take: In other words, enjoy these golden handcuffs as a parting gift, lose my number, and you won’t be festooning second-rate apps with faux leather for Google anytime soon, lazy design crutch boy. (Although, with Forstall’s recent record of performance, perhaps it would be wise to let him sign with Google this morning.)
Gupta reports, “Browett, the ousted retail chief, was simply not a good fit for the company, people familiar with the matter said — raising questions about how well the high-profile hire was vetted in the first place. A source familiar with Browett’s hiring said Apple board member Millard Drexler, a legend in consumer retail who is now CEO of J. Crew, did not even meet Browett before he was hired.”
MacDailyNews Take: Browett was a mistake. Cook has acknowledged it. We expect he’ll learn from it. Moving on.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sixteen hours later, we’re still giving a big standing O to Apple CEO Tim Cook and his big brass balls!
Tim, we hoped you had it in you – and now we know for sure that you do. Steve Jobs chose well. Very, very well!
Related articles:
Tim Cook takes full control of Apple: John Browett and Scott Forstall out; Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi get expanded responsibilities – October 29, 2012
Apple software designers sick of doing things Scott Forstall’s way; ‘civil war’ said breaking out – October 10, 2012
Tim Cook open letter: We fell short with new Maps app; we are extremely sorry – September 28, 2012
Apple newbie John Browett brings Dixons to Apple Retail Stores – August 17, 2012
An Apple CEO-in-waiting, Scott Forstall, sells 95% of his company shares – May 2, 2012
