Apple Executive Jeff Williams to Speak at Code Conference in Late May

[MacRumors]

Apple's Senior Vice President of Operations Jeff Williams will speak at the annual Code Conference, held this May 26-28 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, reports Re/code. Williams joined Apple in 1998 and leads a team responsible for the company's supply chain management, and during the past two years has also overseen development of the Apple Watch and health initiatives such as ResearchKit.

Apple executives Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi spoke at the inaugural Code Conference last year, with Cue discussing how today's TV experience "sucks" and is a complicated problem to solve.

Code Conference is a successor to the D: All Things Digital Conference that Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, among other Apple executives, have participated in the past before Dow Jones closed technology website AllThingsD and replaced it with WSJD.

Williams will participate in Code Conference just over one month after the Apple Watch launch, which some customers believe has not gone as smoothly as past product releases due to, among other reasons, limited supply and no in-store availability. Much of the criticism has been directed towards Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts, although Williams is directly in charge of Apple Watch development and manages the worldwide supply chain. His interview at Code Conference may offer more details about the launch.

Other notable Code Conference speakers announced include GM CEO Mary Barra, Pivotal CEO Paul Maritz, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti and editor-in-chief Ben Smith, Xiaomi vice president Hugo Barra, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao, GoPro CEO and founder Nick Woodman, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Google business lead Omid Kordestani.

Article Link: Apple Executive Jeff Williams to Speak at Code Conference in Late May

 

[thekeyring]

He seems to be coming more and more into the public eye lately.

I wonder if he is the planned successor for Tim Cook?

 

[rekhyt]

He seems to be coming more and more into the public eye lately.

I wonder if he is the planned successor for Tim Cook?

Isn't it too early to think about successors to Tim Cook?

What Tim Cook has done during his CEO-ship is to elevate the senior executives into the spotlight (To prevent market uncertainty ("Who is this guy?! Never seen him before! Why is he running Apple?! AAPL stock to $0!") in the case that he steps down.).

 

[thekeyring]

Isn't it too early to think about successors to Tim Cook?

What Tim Cook has done during his CEO-ship is to elevate the senior executives into the spotlight (To prevent market uncertainty ("Who is this guy?! Never seen him before! Why is he running Apple?! AAPL stock to $0!") in the case that he steps down.).

Yes, it's too early. But I'm interested, so I brought it up anyway.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

He seems to be coming more and more into the public eye lately.

I wonder if he is the planned successor for Tim Cook?

If there is a succession plan, you would think that Jeff Williams is at least in the running to become CEO one day. Interestingly, head of operations is the same position that Cook held under Steve Jobs.

 

[japanime]

Isn't it too early to think about successors to Tim Cook?

In a major corporation, it's never too early to think about the line of succession. In fact, it's a responsibility.

 

[Rogifan]

If there is a succession plan, you would think that Jeff Williams is at least in the running to become CEO one day. Interestingly, Vice President of Operations is the same position that Cook held under Steve Jobs.

Actually Cook had the title of Chief Operating Officer. But maybe there's no real difference between Williams title - SVP Operations - and COO. It is interesting that Watch engineering was given to him and not Dan Riccio. And ResearchKit was introduced by Williams, not Craig Federighi. I get the impression Cook has a lot of confidence in Williams and thus has given him a lot of responsibility.

 

[AngerDanger]

He seems to be coming more and more into the public eye lately.

I wonder if he is the planned successor for Tim Cook?

Please, it'll go: Steve > Tim > Tim S
The latter will feature improved optics (no glasses) and space gray hair.

 

[Rogifan]

In a major corporation, it's never too early to think about the line of succession. In fact, it's a responsibility.

I'd argue there are 4 possible successor candidates right now - Cue, I've, Schiller and Williams but Ive would be the least likely to want the job so would probably not really be considered.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

Actually Cook had the title of Chief Operating Officer. But maybe there's no real difference between Williams title - SVP Operations - and COO. It is interesting that Watch engineering was given to him and not Dan Riccio. And ResearchKit was introduced by Williams, not Craig Federighi. I get the impression Cook has a lot of confidence in Williams and thus has given him a lot of responsibility.

You're right. My point was more so that they've both served as head of operations at Apple, be it with different titles. Updated my comment to clarify that. And I'm sure there is a lot of overlap between teams led by Williams, Federighi and Riccio internally.

 

[Canyonero]

Glad Tim is pushing Jeff more into the spotlight. He seems like the most humble and down-to-earth guy out of Schiller and Cue. They both have massive egos. That's not what Apple needs.

 

[Lateraleye]

I had to look up what the "Code Conference" was, because surely none of those people had written a line of code in their life.

Yep, it is indeed mislabeled.

 

[RogerWilco]

Glad Tim is pushing Jeff more into the spotlight. He seems like the most humble and down-to-earth guy out of Schiller and Cue. They both have massive egos. That's not what Apple needs.

Schiller retired two years ago and is now some kind of special advisor, I doubt he's a candidate for CEO. Since Apple is starting to act more like the company we knew in the early '90s, maybe they'll look outside for talent and bring in fresh meat, someone like this guy. Don't laugh, they did it before!

 

[Robert.Walter]

Maybe Mary Barra can explain why GM is back to the bad old habit of claiming cars with electric steering system defects don't merit a recall.

Looking fwd to Jeff's appearance!

 

[ChuckG]

Schiller retired two years ago and is now some kind of special advisor, I doubt he's a candidate for CEO

Nope. You're confusing Phil Schiller with Bob Mansfield, who was described in the New Yorker piece as "semi-retired".

Schiller is still SVP of worldwide marketing, and it's quite surprising how he hasn't gotten a chance to appear in one of these conferences.

 

[thekeyring]

If there is a succession plan, you would think that Jeff Williams is at least in the running to become CEO one day. Interestingly, head of operations is the same position that Cook held under Steve Jobs.

Not quite, Tim was COO, not head of operations.

 

[acslater017]

If Jeff Williams is speaking, I will need to brew a VERY strong pot of coffee Seriously, he and Cook both could use some public speaking tutoring.

If we're talking successors, I'm going with Federighi or Musk (you know, after they buy Tesla and make him SVP of Transportation).

 

[subjonas]

Glad Tim is pushing Jeff more into the spotlight. He seems like the most humble and down-to-earth guy out of Schiller and Cue. They both have massive egos. That's not what Apple needs.

Didn't Jobs have a massive ego?

 

[James035]

Yay, i though for a moment Apple didn’t get to be at the code conference this year.

 

[nikaru]

It would be great if they can ask him what happend with the Apple Watch launch and the manfucturing/supply problem they had and why the heck there wasnt any plan B to respond to the more than expected demand.

I mean, really, I understand that unexpected **** may happen but as a customer in a market outside of the 8 blessed countries to receive the Apple Watch on Day-1, I would greatly appreciate to get my hands on the said watch before the Apple Watch 2 get announced.

If 200 bilion in the bank cant guarantte you a smoth and nice launch of a new products, I dont know what can...

 

[thekeyring]

Actually Cook had the title of Chief Operating Officer. But maybe there's no real difference between Williams title - SVP Operations - and COO.

I have this vision in my head of Tim, Steve and Jony running Apple together. And when Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO, one of them left. The last remaining responsibilities Steve had as CEO (which he hadn't already given to Tim) was absorbed by Tim.

And while Jeff is obviously as important as any of the SVPs, I don't get that impression that the top three is now Tim, Jony and Jeff.

Would Jeff be the obvious acting-CEO if something were to happen to Tim, for example? I'm not sure.

But then I'm an outsider, with very little to go on.

 

[tevion5]

Ive would be the least likely to want the job so would probably not really be considered.

Probably the least qualified too. Schiller has been in charge of marketing since the late 90's and Apple's success has a lot to thank it's clever advertising and public image for. I'd probably put my money on Schiller for this reason, and I genuinely like the guy (if I had any money and was influential in any way...)