On Monday Apple Inc. (
AAPL
) reported a major management shake-up that could have a lasting
impact for the company moving forward.
In a surprise turn of events Scott Forstall, the senior Vice
President of iOS software, will leave the company in 2013. In the
meantime he will step down as senior Vice Preisdent of iOS and
serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook.
Forstall has been an important figure within Apple since 1997
and has been credited with much of the success of the iOS (iPhone
Operating System) platform. However, it has been suggested that his
leadership in the development of the much maligned Apple Maps
application is a reason for his leaving of the company.
Apple executives Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig
Federighi will all be taking on more responsibilities as a result
of the management changes.
Jony Ive will take on Human Interface (
HI
) management leadership in addition to his role as leader of
Industrial Design. Ive's designs have been a driving force behind
Apple's look and feel for over a decade.
Eddy Cue, senior Vice President of Internet software and
services, will be taking over the management of the company's Siri
and Maps divisions. This will help put all of Apple's online
services, including the iTunes Store, the App Store, iCloud, and
the iBookstore, under a single management group.
Craig Federighi, senior Vice President of Mac Software
Engineering, will now lead both iOS and OS X teams in an attempt to
provide greater integration and user experience over the different
operating systems.
Bob Mansfield will now management a new segment of Apple,
Technologies, which combines all of Apple's wireless teams into one
organization. The hopes for Apple is that this lead to great
innovation with better communication within the company.
In addition to the software management shake-ups, head of retail
John Browett is also leaving the company. Tim Cook will oversee the
Retail group until a new manager is found.
Apple shares were down $14.01, or -2.32%, in morning trading on
Wednesday.
Apple Inc. (
AAPL
) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™
Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the
Best Dividend Stocks
, as well as a detailed explanation of
our ratings system here
.