Scott Forstall leaves Apple, Jony Ive takes over Apple design

Scott Forstall, a Longtime head of retail at Apple has been removed from company’s board of directors. His responsibilities of Apple Maps and Siri will be taken over by Eddy Cue, while Craig Federighi will take over iOS and OSX.  Meanwhile Jony Ive will take over all hardware and software product design, which is a huge responsibility only previously managed by Steve Jobs.

Forstall is known for his work on Apple Maps and iOS development in general and the understanding is that the executive’s departure could be linked to the criticism faced by Apple’s mapping solution which lacks in data, features and accurate representation of key landmarks.

Forstall has been with Apple for several years, first joining NeXT in the early nineties with roles in developing NeXTStep, Mac OS and iOS. His vision is said to have been in line with the thinking and design ideas of Steve Jobs, which could also have been a part in his departure, especially if he continued to bring Jobs’ polarizing personality in Apple.

He is known for being one of the people who wanted iOS to draw similarities from Apple’s desktop OS and contributing to make the platform what it is today. He is also known for bringing skeuomorphic designs to iOS apps, which is why iOS and Mac OS apps resemble textures and objects in real life. Forstall’s design methods are said to contrast with the simplistic design ideas of Jony Ive. Jony and Scot are known for not seeing eye to eye on many decisions, especially related to design.

Now that Apple has bid good-bye to one of their veterans, it will be interesting to see the direction the company takes in the months and years ahead. Tim Cook has already proven he leadership approach is different to how Apple was led under Jobs, and it will be interesting to see if Apple’s design decisions with iOS and Mac OS change under Ive’s leadership.


source – NY Times | John Gruber | PocketLint