Apple vice president to leave company in 2013

Cupertino, CA, United States (4E) – Apple has announced recently that the senior vice president of iOS software will be leaving the company in 2013, after declaring that there would be major changes in the company’s management.

According to a company press release, senior vice president Scott Forstall, who is in charge of Apple’s mobile operating system, will remain as an advisor to chief executive officer Tim Cook until his departure next year.

The 43-year-old’s duties will be distributed to four of Apple’s current executives. Jony Ive, who is the head of the Industrial Design department, will function as the Human Interface department head as well. He will be taking charge of the hardware and software designs at Apple.

Eddy Cue will be managing Siri and Maps, Craig Federighi will be supervising both iOS and OS X while Bob Mansfield will be commanding a new group called Technologies that deals with all the wireless teams at Apple.

Apple observers have long considered Forstall as a favorite to replace Steve Jobs as chief executive officer after the latter’s death last October, being the man behind the system that provided Apple’s industry-changing iPhone and iPad. He was recently being pegged as the next in line after Cook.

In a written statement, Cook said that “we are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple’s history.”

He added that “the amazing products that we’ve introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services.”

Forstall has worked with Apple since 1997. Aside from directing iOS, he is one of the original planner of the company’s desktop and laptop software, Mac OS X. He has been credited for several versions of the software, especially Mac OS X Leopard in 2007.

He also worked with Steve Jobs’ NeXT, the computer company he led between jobs at Apple.

The press release also stated that John Browett, Apple’s head of retail who joined the company in January this year, is also scheduled to leave. The company is seeking a replacement for him.

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