Apple's Scott Forstall and John Browett to leave firm

BBC News, 29 October 2012

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Scott Forstall joined Apple in 1997

Apple has announced a major shake-up of its management, with two senior executives to leave the company.

The announcement follows embarrassing problems with its new mapping software and disappointing quarterly results.

Scott Forstall, head of its iOS software, will leave next year. He will serve as an adviser to chief executive Tim Cook in the interim.

Head of retail John Browett, the former Dixons boss, is also leaving after just six months in the job.

Apple said the moves were a way to increase collaboration across its hardware, software and services businesses.

Mapping problems

The company faced a barrage of criticism after its new mapping software, introduced last month, showed inaccuracies and misplaced towns and cities.

The debacle led to Mr Cook issuing an apology to customers, while some critics called for Mr Forstall's head as he was the executive behind the panned app.

Mr Forstall joined Apple in 1997 when the technology giant purchased Steve Jobs' start-up Next, and he is credited as one of the original architects of Mac OS X.

Mr Browett left British electronics chain Dixons to take up his post with Apple in April this year. The search for his successor is already underway, with stores reporting directly to chief executive Tim Cook in the meantime.

No specific reasons were given for either man's departure.

Apple's fourth quarter profits of $8.2bn (£5bn) reported last week, also missed Wall Street forecasts, while the 14 million iPads it sold in the quarter fell short of analysts' expectations.

'Relentless focus'

The management changes come a little over a year into Mr Cook's reign as chief executive.

"We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple's history," Mr Cook said.

"The amazing products that we've introduced in September and October... 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."