Apple's Scott Forstall and John Browett to leave firm

October 30, 2012•3 Minutes
RTC Director RTC Director

Apple has announced a major shake-up of its management, with two senior executives to leave the company.

The announcement follows embarrassing problems with its new mapping software and disappointing quarterly results.

Scott Forstall, head of its iOS software, will leave next year. He will serve as an adviser to chief executive Tim Cook in the interim.

Head of retail John Browett, the former Dixons boss, is also leaving after just six months in the job.

Apple said the moves were a way to increase collaboration across its hardware, software and services businesses. No specific reasons were given for either man’s departure.

As part of the changes, Sir Jonathan Ive, who runs the team designing Apple’s hardware, will also oversee the user experience on its software.

Mapping problems

The company faced a barrage of criticism after its new mapping software, introduced last month, showed inaccuracies and misplaced towns and cities.

The maps debacle led to Mr Cook issuing an apology to customers, while some critics called for Mr Forstall’s head as he was the executive behind the panned app.

Mr Forstall joined Apple in 1997 when the technology giant purchased Steve Jobs’ start-up Next, and he is credited as one of the original architects of Mac OS X.

A profile in Businessweek called him the ” best remaining proxy for the voice of Steve Jobs”, the iconic co-founder of Apple, for his strong views on how consumer technology should function and was responsible for the development of iOS, the operating system on iPhones and iPads that bring in most of Apple’s money.

But he was reportedly unpopular with the rest of senior management.

There are several reports that he refused to sign the apology that Mr Cook eventually issued for the maps disaster.

Mr Forstall made almost $39m this year from selling shares, and is likely to be in high demand from rival firms in Silicon Valley.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X now, while Sir Jonathan will take on responsibility for the design of “human interface” in its software.

One analyst said Sir Jonathan – responsible for much of the look of the iPod, iPhone and other devices – could now help reinvigorate the look of Apple’s software, which has been slower to evolve than Google’s Android.