Scott Forstall Profiled as Apple's 'CEO-in-Waiting'

MacRumors · Jan 17, 2012

As we noted last September, Fortune's Adam Lashinsky has written a new book entitled Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired -- and Secretive -- Company Really Works, an unauthorized look at the inner workings of Apple. The book is due for release on January 25.

Fortune offers one tidbit from the book today, profiling Senior Vice President for iOS Software Scott Forstall as Apple's current "CEO-in-waiting". The book paints a similar picture to one offered by offered by BusinessWeek last October, portraying Forstall as an aggressively ambitious "mini-Steve".

He's young (43). Comfortable on stage (played Sweeney Todd in high school). Has serious nerd credentials (Stanford, NeXT). Shares Steve Jobs' obsession with detail (keeps a jeweler's loupe in his office to check every pixel on every icon). And the division he heads -- mobile software -- drives nearly 70% of Apple's (AAPL) income.

"He's a sharp, down-to-earth, and talented engineer, and a more-than-decent presenter," one entrepreneur told Adam Lashinsky. "He's the total package."

But Lashinsky also notes that Forstall's open ambition has ruffled a few feathers at Apple, reportedly stemming in part from efforts to consolidate his influence while Steve Jobs was on medical leave. Previous reports have suggested that Forstall's personality was at least partially responsible for "Godfather of the iPod" Tony Fadell leaving the company in 2010.

Tim Cook was awarded 1,000,000 restricted stock units in an effort to keep him in the role of Apple CEO until at least 2021. Roughly eight years Cook's junior, Forstall would be in a good position to succeed Cook at some point in the future should Apple be able to keep him within the senior executive team.

Inside Apple will be available from numerous retailers, including from Amazon as a hardcover book, Kindle e-book, and CD audiobook, and from Apple's iBookstore [iTunes Store].

Article Link: Scott Forstall Profiled as Apple's 'CEO-in-Waiting'

daneoni · Jan 17, 2012

Hmm...not sure i fully see it. He doesn't scream Jobs' charisma to me...then again maybe nobody ever will. Time will tell i guess.

Edit: I'm not saying he isn't qualified i'm just wondering if he can bring that Jobs' style RDF to the table. The one that gets you to press the Buy button before you realize whats going on. Personally i haven't felt that from him...nor Cook to be fair.

Joshwawilson · Jan 17, 2012

I'll be readin that book probably

flynndean · Jan 17, 2012

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Tim Cook has had the Permanent job full-time for only a few short months & his successor is already being identified?!

A LOT can change between now and 2021...

roadbloc · Jan 17, 2012

Scott is always smiling. It looks fake.

Not that that wouldn't make him a good CEO for Apple. But it seems to me he tries to hard to look enthusiastic.

Roessnakhan · Jan 17, 2012

flynndean said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Tim Cook has had the Permanent job full-time for only a few short months & his successor is already being identified?!

A LOT can change between now and 2021...

No harm in being prepared.

tmofee · Jan 17, 2012

i had a boss like him when i worked in melbourne. i think he's going to do very well, as long as he can wait long enough for cook to step down (and apple doesn't die *snorts*)

----------

roadbloc said:
Scott is always smiling. It looks fake.

Not that that wouldn't make him a good CEO for Apple. But it seems to me he tries to hard to look enthusiastic.

it's enthusiasm. i don't think it's fake. i know generally "chipper" people. you do want to kill them with your office scissors before your first coffee, though

pmz · Jan 17, 2012

daneoni said:
Hmm...not sure i fully see it. He doesn't scream Jobs' charisma to me...then again maybe nobody every will. Time will tell i guess.

Better than Tim Cook, good grief.

kolax · Jan 17, 2012

I've always thought he was a bit of a dick, so I think he'd fit well into the Apple CEO chair one day.

basesloaded190 · Jan 17, 2012

pmz said:
Better than Tim Cook, good grief.

What wrong has Tim done thus far?

tmofee · Jan 17, 2012

pmz said:
Better than Tim Cook, good grief.

yeah, have to agree with you there, sir. god knows what happens behind the scenes - he might be one of the best businessmen in the world, but he's onstage performance last keynote left me cold.

28monkeys · Jan 17, 2012

Yeah. Good to see Apple is preparing for future.

*LTD* · Jan 17, 2012

Told yas.

Or rather, Forbes did, quite correctly.

Scott, as they said, is in a few key ways a "mini-Steve." And exactly what Apple needs going forward.

BobbyRond · Jan 17, 2012

tmofee said:
yeah, have to agree with you there, sir. god knows what happens behind the scenes - he might be one of the best businessmen in the world, but he's onstage performance last keynote left me cold.

That Keynote left me cold too, but you do have to realize that he was on stage with a HUGE gap to fill, also knowing that Steve Jobs was in his final hours and not having anything really new to report. A lot of that Keynote consisted of repetition.

Steve Jobs did have a level of charisma that Tim Cook will never have. Let's just hope the following Keynotes will be interesting to look at again...

basesloaded190 · Jan 17, 2012

tmofee said:
yeah, have to agree with you there, sir. god knows what happens behind the scenes - he might be one of the best businessmen in the world, but he's onstage performance last keynote left me cold.

I was surprised too not to see him more excited about introducing a new product knowing one of his best friends was lying on his death bed.

iRCL · Jan 17, 2012

MacRumors said:
(keeps a jeweler's loupe in his office to check every pixel on every icon)

This all sounds very amazing and romantic, except that's completely stupid. If he actually wanted to check every pixel, he would zoom in photoshop or another digital graphics editing software package that allows enlargement and observation of discrete pixels. If you're using a loupe with a real screen you're magnifying in the real analog world and that's ridiculous for a number of reasons. Do you know any graphic designer who would possibly do this? Of course not, and not because they aren't clever..

Sounds like yet another book full of hype and spin and nonsense

This silly book aside, this guy does seem sharp

jhall527 · Jan 17, 2012

tmofee said:
yeah, have to agree with you there, sir. god knows what happens behind the scenes - he might be one of the best businessmen in the world, but he's onstage performance last keynote left me cold.

Wasn't his last onstage performance when they knew Jobs was in really bad shape, right before he passed away? I'd attribute his demeanor to that. Of course we won't really know for sure until the next time he is on stage.

ggbrown · Jan 17, 2012

flynndean said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Tim Cook has had the Permanent job full-time for only a few short months & his successor is already being identified?!

A LOT can change between now and 2021...

A company that size...it's called Succession Planning. I'm sure it was in the works years before Steve fell ill and Tim Cook stepped in. That plan worked well for Apple, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had a similar plan in place in case something happens to Tim.

dacapo · Jan 17, 2012

Another effort by the media to try and fill in the void left behind by Steve Jobs.

If this rhetoric continues, all it does is set up a plot for internal power struggle within Apple. Would be interesting to see how it plays out.

But in the absence of a strong (if almost dictatorial) leader, a new power struggle was bound to erupt sooner or later.

hamean · Jan 17, 2012

iRCL said:
This all sounds very amazing and romantic, except that's completely stupid. If he actually wanted to check every pixel, he would zoom in photoshop or another digital graphics editing software package that allows enlargement and observation of discrete pixels. If you're using a loupe with a real screen you're magnifying in the real analog world and that's ridiculous for a number of reasons. Do you know any graphic designer who would possibly do this? Of course not, and not because they aren't clever..

Sounds like yet another book full of hype and spin and nonsense

This silly book aside, this guy does seem sharp

I agree this doesn't make sense, unless he was checking actual print proofs. strange little tidbit there.

tmofee · Jan 17, 2012

basesloaded190 said:
I was surprised too not to see him more excited about introducing a new product knowing one of his best friends was lying on his death bed.

yeah maybe. apologies, we didn't know that at the time. but even so, looking at him now, he still feels to me like a tech, a behind the scenes kind of guy. we'll see how he goes next time round...

hamean · Jan 17, 2012

and one other thing... Apple doesn't need the next Steve Jobs. It needs someone to make a name for themselves... their own name, their own way.

firestarter · Jan 17, 2012

This is going to be the problem for Apple...

The board has issues a load of stock options to keep everybody in place for the next couple of years - but without Steve calling the shots I think we're going to see some of the main players exit once their options expire.

daneoni said:
Hmm...not sure i fully see it. He doesn't scream Jobs' charisma to me.

He's got more charisma than Tim Cook!

bpaluzzi · Jan 17, 2012

iRCL said:
This all sounds very amazing and romantic, except that's completely stupid. If he actually wanted to check every pixel, he would zoom in photoshop or another digital graphics editing software package that allows enlargement and observation of discrete pixels. If you're using a loupe with a real screen you're magnifying in the real analog world and that's ridiculous for a number of reasons. Do you know any graphic designer who would possibly do this? Of course not, and not because they aren't clever..

Sounds like yet another book full of hype and spin and nonsense

This silly book aside, this guy does seem sharp

It's not stupid at all. Why would you waste time doing a screen shot and sending it to Photoshop when you can just enlarge it with a magnifying glass or loupe? It works very well.

MacBookPro13" · Jan 17, 2012

Take my money now!!!

Scott Forstall Profiled as Apple's 'CEO-in-Waiting'

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