Apple pulled a Hurricane Sandy surprise late yesterday, announcing its iPhone software chief and head of retail would leave in a major shake-up that follows embarrassing problems with the company’s new mapping software and disappointing quarterly results.
The moves, which come a little more than a year into Tim Cook’s tenure as Apple’s chief executive,, were described by the company as a way to increase “collaboration” across its hardware, software and services business.
Scott Forstall, one of the original architects of the Mac operating system and head of its smartphone software, would leave next year, the gadget maker said. Until then, he was to serve as an adviser to Cook.
Forstall was the executive behind the panned Apple Maps app,, and Apple said responsibility for maps and Siri, the voice search assistant, would be taken over by Eddy Cue, another longtime executive.
Critics of the maps debacle, which led Cook to apologize to customers, had been calling for Forstall’s head.
Apple said a search is under way for a new retail chief to replace John Browett and that the retail team would report directly to Cook.
Browett took over as head of Apple’s retail stores earlier this year, replacing Ron Johnson, who went on to become the CEO of JC Penney.
The once highflying stock, which hit $705.07 in September, closed at $604 last Friday.