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Former iOS boss Forstall reportedly forced out at Apple

Updated Oct 30th, 2012 10:02PM EDT
Apple Executive Shakeup

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As Hurricane Sandy swept the East Coast on Monday evening, Apple (AAPL) announced a significant executive shakeup that shocked the industry. Amid the shuffling, Apple stated that senior vice president of iOS — and someone who was widely believed to be a future CEO candidate — Scott Forstall was leaving the company. Apple’s press release obviously didn’t go into detail, but a new report suggests that Forstall was forced out and that his departure was met with “a sense of quiet jubilation.”

“There are a lot of people going for celebratory drinks,” an unnamed source told GigaOm. The site reports that Forstall butted heads with many at Apple including Johny Ive, Eddie Cue and Bob Mansfield, and that those in engineering groups in particular are happy to see him go.

According to the report, the last straw came recently when Forstall was asked to sign a letter apologizing for the poor performance of Apple’s widely panned Maps app, and the former executive reportedly refused. The New York Times was the first to report that this was the case but Apple obviously has not confirmed the story.

GigaOm also reports that Apple employees are excited to see Johny Ive take over the new human interface group, and that Eddie Cue’s shift to commanding Siri and Maps is seen as “a smart and natural thing to do.”

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.