Apple shuffles execs, Scott Forstall now head of iPhone Software

Looks like El Steve's getting the house in order before all the guests roll in for WWDC -- AppleInsider says there's been some exec reshuffling at the top. Most prominently, Scott Forstall has been bumped up to Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, which means he now reports directly to Jobs. Given Apple's big push into the mobile devices space, that's a big responsibility, but Forstall's got the chops -- he's been working on the core of OS X since the NeXT days, and he was responsible for the release of OS X Leopard. Also getting a fatter paycheck is Bob Mansfield, who's the new SVP of Mac Hardware Engineering and will report to COO Tim Cook. MHE hasn't had a leader since 2004, when a committee of Mansfield, Jonathan Ive, and Dan Riccio was put in place to lead development. Of course, all these guys are merely puppets in the grand schemes of Dear Leader anyhow, but hey, someone's got to do the paperwork, right?

[Thanks, Mark]

[Pcerry @ Jun 6th 2008 8:51AM]

Cheerio mate!

[Stewart @ Jun 6th 2008 8:52AM]

well well well

[John @ Jun 6th 2008 8:54AM]

Sieg Heil!

[David @ Jun 6th 2008 8:54AM]

Look sharp Scottey

[tekdroid @ Jun 6th 2008 8:57AM]

Hallo. I'm a Mac:
http://images.appleinsider.com/newapplesvps080605.jpg

..and I'm a PC:
http://images.appleinsider.com/newapplesvps080605.jpg

Oh wait...

[Chris @ Jun 6th 2008 9:11AM]

Who's the dude on the right?

[pundit @ Jun 6th 2008 9:28AM]

I'm gonna guess Bob Mansfield.

Good laugh though!

[Vic the One @ Jun 6th 2008 9:30AM]

EXTRAE EXTRAE READ ALL ABOUT IT!!! Big cheese gets bigger! Cows in Cupertino on strike! Extrae!

[gad get @ Jun 6th 2008 9:57AM]

What the Flipz is "extrae"?

[Jaque-o @ Jun 6th 2008 10:18AM]

@ Gad get

It makes the word "Extra" look extrae cool !

Wait..

[Darren @ Jun 6th 2008 11:36AM]

It's how poor people spell "extra".

[kccboy2004 @ Jun 6th 2008 9:35AM]

Now watch Steve sell his Apple shares like a disowned step-child ahead of the Android release.

Let's face it though, who can blame him. It is all about the money.

Go Steve !

[Eric @ Jun 6th 2008 11:12AM]

If you knew ANYTHING about Steve Jobs, that last thing you would say it's only about the money.

[David @ Jun 6th 2008 11:16AM]

yeah it's about the boardroom fellatio.. right?

[DT @ Jun 6th 2008 11:28AM]

You are the exact opposite of a fanboy. A hateboy. I've never seen such vile directed at a company, regardless of the actions it takes or products they sell.

[kaius @ Jun 6th 2008 9:36AM]

..and this news is related to gadgets? how?

[pundit @ Jun 6th 2008 9:48AM]

Maybe because it's the (likely) second biggest software/electronics company on the face of the earth and he's leading the iPhone software department? Just a guess.

[Andrew Harrison @ Jun 6th 2008 9:51AM]

... one of the biggest, and definitely one of the most well known gadget makers put a new person in charge of development of one of the most well known gadgets they make.

how is this *not* related to gadgets?

[Magallanes @ Jun 6th 2008 10:04AM]

But i bet that will not be any important notice if a Sony exec shift any position. And Sony sold countless products, even for Apple.

[rpflo @ Jun 6th 2008 9:37PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/14/samsung-electronics-names-yoon-woo-lee-as-vice-chairman-and-ceo/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/17/motorola-cto-richard-nottenburg-takes-off/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/19/dells-cfo-resigns-will-be-replaced-by-brian-t-gladden/

www.engadget.com/2008/06/05/steve-ballmer-retirement-2018-if-bill-doesnt-get-in-the-way/

I found those in about 1 minute searching my feed in Apple Mail. I'm sure there are more.

[Cycomachead @ Jun 6th 2008 9:48AM]

sounds like a fascist company.

[ClaMs @ Jun 6th 2008 12:55PM]

How exactly?
Do you even know what "fascist" means?

[phanbouy @ Jun 6th 2008 1:28PM]

yeah only fascists promote people

[Cycomachead @ Jun 6th 2008 5:44PM]

how:
"Of course, all these guys are merely puppets in the grand schemes of Dear Leader anyhow, but hey, someone's got to do the paperwork, right?"

[Stu @ Jun 6th 2008 9:51AM]

I quite like this guy, hes clearly a man on top of his game

[Kizorblade @ Jun 6th 2008 10:20AM]

And he looks cool too... bonus points for that

[Menhir @ Jun 6th 2008 9:56AM]

Actually, Scott Forstall has been SVP of iPhone Software since the iPhone SDK presentation. If you watch the video, you'll see his title on the screen when Jobs introduces Scott and Phil.

[Menhir @ Jun 6th 2008 9:59AM]

My bad - just read the Appleinsider article. Apparently he was the VP of iPhone Software back then, and not SVP.

[Tim @ Jun 6th 2008 10:06AM]

By "doing the paperwork," you mean filing patents under stevie-boy's name, right?

[kccboy2004 @ Jun 6th 2008 10:24AM]

@pundit

wow, Apple is the second biggest Electronics company (probably) on the face of the earth ?

Is that second biggest after

....Samsung or is that after
Sony or
LG or
Siemens or
General Electrics or
Phillips or
Fujitsu or
Intel ?? or
NEC or...
Mitsubishi...

or.....did I mention Microsoft ?

LMAO, ROTFWL in a big kind of way....... Apple is an imp when it comes to size.

[Janne @ Jun 6th 2008 11:58AM]

Um, Microsoft isn't that big of an electronics-company. Yes, MS is a big corporation, but only relatively tiny part of that is related to electronics. Only things that come to mind are the Xbox, peripherals and Surface.

Same thing with Intel. they are a huge semiconductor-company, but they are not all that involved in electronics.

[DT @ Jun 6th 2008 11:30AM]

And yet it's impact on the industry is probably the biggest. Nearly every Apple move is copied immediately by all the bigger companies. That says a lot.

[ef15e @ Jun 6th 2008 2:13PM]

Before spitting out stupid comments please do your research:

Market Cap first ill define it as you sound like a very uneducated idiot, Market capitalization (aka market cap is a measurement of corporate or economic size equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company. capitalization could represent the public opinion of a company's net worth and is a determining factor in stock valuation. Likewise, the capitalization of stock markets or economic regions may be compared to other economic indicators. The total market capitalization of all publicly traded companies in the world was US$51 trillion in March 2007 [1].
Now that we know what that is...lets see the numbers:
microsoft 260 billion
apple1 66 billion
sony 50 billion
siemens 98 billion
philips 36billion
intel 133billion
The stupid feeling should be kicking in right now for you.

[Wwhat @ Jun 6th 2008 3:46PM]

Microsoft isn't a big electronics company, they make a few webcams and some mice and the zune (sort-off, they more commission than make it all) but certainly that's not enough to be called biggest in that field, they do software more than hardware.
The other names are a nice rundown though, albeit that it's missing toshiba in that list.

[Jerod @ Jun 6th 2008 10:44AM]

Scott Forestall is the future Jobs. I would almost put money on it.

[kccboy2004 @ Jun 6th 2008 10:55AM]

@pundit

I just don't know where to stop.. .. I just can't stand these Bushism's, otherwise known as "Factoids".

Factoid:
A factoid is a spurious (unverified, incorrect, or invented) "fact" intended to create or prolong public exposure or to manipulate public opinion.


Software companies..

Wiki...

The Software 500 by Software Magazine:
1. IBM
2. Microsoft
3. Electronic Data Systems
4. HP
5. Accenture
6. Computer Sciences Corporation
7. Oracle Corporation
8. SAP
9. Cap Gemini
10. Hitachi

The Software Top 100 by the Top 100 Research Foundation:
1. Microsoft
2. IBM
3. Oracle Corporation
4. SAP
5. HP
6. Symantec
7. Computer Associates
8. Electronic Arts
9. Adobe
10. Nintendo


Forbes 2000.....

Well talk to me again when they make in into the Top Ten. Then we will talk about jostling for number 2 spot.

Oh.....maybe you were talking about a company that makes electronic and software ??? Well, they pretty well all do.

Sigh....

[Eric @ Jun 6th 2008 11:20AM]

Big means good?

How about profitable. Apple has almost eight percent market share right now in PCs, and Microsoft supplies Windows to about 90 percent of the rest, and yet Apple's profits are one half of Microsoft's and Apple made 25 percent of the profit made by all computer makers combined! They own 66 percent of the market share of computers over $1,000.00 could be important too.

I'd say smart is better than big.

[Zak @ Jun 6th 2008 11:49AM]

Yeah, kcc, maybe this hasn't been explained to you yet, but here it is.

Apple is a HARDWARE company.

HARDWARE.

What's the market share of the iPod again?
What's Apple's standing among all PC makers (again, HARDWARE)?
What's Apple's market cap compared to other PC makers? (Here's a hint - it's higher than HP, Dell and Intel)

[David @ Jun 6th 2008 12:51PM]

Yes Apple's market capitalization does put them pretty near top of the heap, because of thei epic margins and much-vaunted growth prospects.

However profits are the concern of investors, not us gadget fans. We worry about the physical product that comes out of the factory gate, and in that sense Apple are some way down the list.

I admire Apple's business model from a business point of view, but personally I don't buy any of their stuff - its generally too overpriced/restricted for me.
I just wish they had a genuine competitor to rein in their margins

Bring on Asus and the sword of Eee!!

[Zak @ Jun 6th 2008 2:14PM]

David, it sounds like you're just uninformed. That's pretty typical for people who think all of Apple's products are overpriced. Now if your only criteria is a specific feature set that Apple doesn't offer, that's great. But the whole "overpriced" thing is usually way off base.

[Alex @ Jun 6th 2008 2:44PM]

@David:

I don't think Apple's products are overpriced for their features, it's just that you may not want everything that's offered in their products. Apple is good at selling their products by making you buy things (or features) you didn't need but are nice to have.

For example, MBP is the only macbook that offers a more powerful GPU, an expresscard slot, and a bigger screen.

So if you need just any one (or more) of those features that are only available on the MBP, you are kind of forced to buy the extra features that you didn't need in the first place (on top of the ambient sensor, backlit keyboard, isight camera and IR sensor).

[Eric @ Jun 6th 2008 11:13AM]

Does anyone else think Scott looks like a young Christopher Walken?

I can see him in the OS X development team's conference room, yelling, "Finder is still a bit slow, we need more Cowbell!"

[Wormbolt @ Jun 6th 2008 11:18AM]

Can Apple hire SOMEONE who doesn't look like a cult leader?

[Wwhat @ Jun 6th 2008 3:48PM]

Yes, but then he'll have to get a makeover to fix that ;)

[phanbouy @ Jun 6th 2008 1:29PM]

wow... all the bitches really come out of the woodwork for apple postings. aren't all of you skipping school right now?

[Samurai Jack @ Jun 6th 2008 2:06PM]

There is only one "Dear Leader", the divine KIM JONG IL! These others are but false gods!

[Hotrod @ Jun 6th 2008 5:19PM]

Him and Steve jobs need to intake a little more calories, and put some pounds on. They both are incredibly skinny, they look unhealthy. With every keynote, Jobs looks older and more brittle. He may be a prick, but we don't want to lose him, he is a visionary.

[Silenthillnight @ Jun 7th 2008 4:23AM]

This guy looks like complete fail. Or the bottom in a gay porno.