Apple reportedly names Steve Dowling as interim PR chief
Apple has temporarily promoted PR rep Steve Dowling to replace the recently departed Katie Cotton, according to a report today from Re/Code.
Sources close to Apple tell Code/red that Dowling was tapped as interim head of public relations last week by CEO Tim Cook, who has been looking to put a friendlier, more approachable face on Apple's public relations efforts. Evidently, Apple's search outside of the company has so far proven fruitless. Dowling's appointment has been framed to employees as an interim one and I'm told Apple will continue to evaluate worthy outside candidates if one should pop up.
For a company that values brand reputation as much as Apple does, its PR department arguably wields a disproportionate amount of influence. For instance, an Apple PR rep wouldn't even let Marc Newson disclose if he helped work on the Apple Watch. Even more interesting, if not downright comical, is that an Apple PR rep a few weeks back ended a Tim Cook interview with BloombergBusinesweek once the topic of an HDTV came up.
Bloomberg: But, you know, the problem with smartwatches so far has been that people wear them for a bit and then put them on the shelf because they're not adding enough utility. So the Apple Watch might be the breakthrough?
Cook: It's kind of the way we are, except we kill things through the development process when we decide, "You know, it's not doing it for me."
Bloomberg: Like what?
Cook: Well, we've stopped some things, yes.
Bloomberg: Before they see the light of day?
Tim Cook: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Because it just didn't keep turning us on every day. Or we concluded that we didn't own enough of the technology in it so that we could really get the user experience that we want. And-
Bloomberg: I'm guessing that television might fall into that category.
Natalie Kerris, Apple public relations: And now I'm going to stop you.
Bloomberg: He was thinking of a thoughtful answer.
Cook: I was thinking about a thoughtful evasion. [Laughs.]
