Matt Drance, former Apple Evangelist, and founder of Bookhouse software has some great insights in his post titled Regime Change on the shake up at Apple yesterday.
In case you missed the press release while dealing with the effects of Hurricane Sandy, here’s the link: Apple Announces Changes to Increase Collaboration Across Hardware, Software & Services
In short, Tim Cook has fired long-time NeXT and Apple engineer Scott Forstall from his position as senior vice president of iOS software and as anticipated has dismissed John Browett from his position as head of retail. Pedal to the metal , no doubt.
Jony Ive, Craig Federighi, Bob Mansfeld, and Eddy Cue will each take on increased responsibilities as a result, most interestingly with Jony Ive taking over the design of iOS. These Apple executives are rumored to have had a hard time working with Forstall and the iOS 6 Maps fiasco looks to have sealed his exit from Apple. I’m curious to see what Forstall does next following his interim advisory role since I doubt he’ll take his millions in Apple stock and retire.
Drance sums it up fantastically with:
Tim Cook has pulled the reins in. Federighi owns software. Ive owns design. Cue owns services. Period.