Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone Software at Apple, is out.
Forstall was one of the original architects of the Mac operating system and head of its smartphone software. He gave a demo of Siri's voice recognition software at a special Apple event last year and most recently headed up Apple's recent maps disaster, which prompted a public apology from CEO Tim Cook. Forstall will leave Apple next year but will continue to serve as an adviser to Cook in the interim, the company announced on Monday.
Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, will take on responsibility for Siri and Maps, placing all of online services in one group. Those two products, formerly overseen by Forstall, have received mixed reviews and customer complaints in recent months.
“We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple’s history,” said Cook in a press release. “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.”
Despite Apple's recent iPad mini reveal, the company reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street's forecasts on Thursday and an outlook that fell shy of estimates.
Forstall's departure was among executive management changes announced by Apple. John Browett, Apple's senior vice president of retail, is also leaving after just six months on the job.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was included in this report.
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