CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple® today announced executive management changes that will encourage even more collaboration between the Company's world-class hardware, software and services teams. As part of these changes, Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles. Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.
"We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple's history," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "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."

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design. His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple's products for more than a decade.

Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri® and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group. This organization has overseen major successes such as the iTunes Store®, the App Store℠, the iBookstore℠ and iCloud®. This group has an excellent track record of building and strengthening Apple's online services to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X®. Apple has the most advanced mobile and desktop operating systems, and this move brings together the OS teams to make it even easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group, Technologies, which combines all of Apple's wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Additionally, John Browett is leaving Apple. A search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the Retail team will report directly to Tim Cook. Apple's Retail organization has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level who will continue the excellent work that has been done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services for customers.

Scott Forstall — the departing Apple executive who'd become the public face of iOS in his role as head of mobile software — may have met his demise when he refused to put his name on the apology letter Apple released several weeks ago, a rare show of contrition from Cupertino when its revamped (and Google-free) Maps product fell short of expectations at the release of iOS 6. The New York Times and CNNMoney are both reporting the story this evening; we've heard similar from sources as well.

FORSTALL HAD HIS ENEMIES INSIDE THE EXECUTIVE RANKS, SOURCES SAY

The exact circumstances of Forstall's refusal are unclear, but not entirely unexpected: it's widely understood that the hard-charging, ambitious Forstall is abrasive and disliked by a number of others at his level inside Apple — people like head designer Jony Ive, who allegedly refused to take meetings in the same room as him. Forstall, who had been in charge of Maps, is said to have believed that the complaints over data quality were overblown — a belief so strong that he ultimately refused to sign the letter apologizing for the debacle (the letter released to the public ended up bearing CEO Tim Cook's signature instead).

Sources tell us that Forstall has a reputation for deflecting blame, and with fallout intensifying over the Maps situation, now may have seemed like a good time for Apple to part ways with a man who'd done a good job making enemies over the years: Hurricane Sandy has given the company two days of market close to let investor reaction stabilize. Amazingly, it's said that Forstall's coworkers were so excited to show him the door that they volunteered to split up his workload — Eddy Cue takes on Siri and Maps while OS X's Craig Federighi gets iOS. And Ive, who has cemented his reputation as a legendary industrial designer over his two-decade Apple career, gets the opportunity to refresh an iOS user experience that has stagnated over the last several generations. A recent Fast Company report suggested that Ive and Forstall didn't see eye to eye on the platform's UI — Forstall is said to love so-called skeuomorphic interfaces that imitate real-life objects (leather binding, wood, paper, and so on) while Ive is firmly against them. How swiftly — and how comprehensively — Ive will seek to revamp the platform will be a source of intense focus going into 2013 and iOS 7.

For his part, Forstall just cashed out over $38 million in Apple stock earlier this year, so his landing — after he completes his role serving "as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook" for the remainder of 2012, of course — will be a soft one.

Apple announced on Monday that its current SVP of Retail Operations, John Browett, is "leaving the company." Browett was hired earlier this year to replace former retail chief Ron Johnson, who had been poached by JCPenney in 2011. Browett's hiring came with a fair bit of controversy, perhaps foreshadowing his eventual departure just seven months later.

The changes he introduced quickly infuriated employees and customers alike. Comment threads across the Internet—including our own—exploded with vitriol.

"Layoffs were commonplace, and I can assure you, he was hated—passionately—by many, many people I worked with. People who 'wanted' to help customers were told not to and disciplined when they did. I've both seen it with my own eyes and been on the sharp end of a bollocking for it," wrote one unhappy worker who had labored under Browett in the UK. "So, given that the man was well known for it, what particular brand of Really Good Shit was Apple smoking when it decided he was a shining example of good customer service? I'm not an Apple fan, but really? They thought this was going to raise profits or customer satisfaction/loyalty?"

To these people, Browett's eventual failure and firing were inevitable—but what surprised some observers was that Browett managed to last as long as he did.

From "surly ignoramuses" to "Apple Geniuses"

Johnson left considerable shoes to fill, having largely been responsible for creating and executing Apple's retail strategy since 2000. The company's first stores opened in 2001; since then, Apple has opened more than 350 retail locations worldwide. Apple's retail stores were the fastest retail operation ever to reach $1 billion in revenues, and the company credits the ever-increasing number of visitors to its stores as a major factor in its overall growth, both in the PC market and with mobile devices.

Browett came to Apple from UK retail giant Dixons Retail. That company had claimed to have "become a bit customer obsessed lately," and Apple CEO Tim Cook cited Browett's supposed commitment to customer service as a top reason for his hire by Apple.

"Our retail stores are all about customer service, and John shares that commitment like no one else we've met," Cook said in a statement in January. "We are thrilled to have him join our team and bring his incredible retail experience to Apple."

However, readers on the other side of the pond who were familiar with the Dixons experience were flabbergasted with the news of Browett's appointment, describing the experience at Dixons' various stores—especially the Curry's and PC World chains—as "shite" and the "absolute antithesis" of an Apple Store.

"If you want a dingy shop full of distracting, always-on demonstration units and staffed by surly ignoramuses who only want to sell you an extended warranty, then Dixons was the place to go," Phillip Storry, a systems administrator from London, told Ars earlier this year. "Which probably explains why Dixons has been having real troubles of late—consumers are now wise to them and shop elsewhere."

Ars Technica's own Peter Bright, a UK native, confirmed the many negative reports we received about Dixons' shops. "The staff is unhelpful, the prices absurd, and the store design is hideous," he said.

Still—perhaps the fault wasn't with Browett. Perhaps Cook had seen something others had not. Perhaps the critics were simply carping. Or perhaps not.

Profits and problems

The first hints that things weren't going well appeared in late summer. Browett had implemented a new formula to calculate the optimum staffing levels at Apple's stores, designed to lower costs and increase the retail division's profit margin. That new formula—which reportedly went against the advice of seasoned Apple retail executives—led to widespread layoffs and deep cuts in hours for most part-time employees, and it came just weeks before the launch of the iPhone 5. (Our own experience is that Apple Stores are actually at times understaffed for the mobs of people that seem to always fill them, especially in large urban areas like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.)

Apple apparently realized the problems with Browett's new staffing strategy, and in mid-August the company claimed it was going back to its old formula. "Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed," Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet told Dow Jones at the time. "Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve."

Despite the reversal, sources within Apple retail told ifoAppleStore, a blog that closely follows Apple retail operations, that Browett was intent on giving the company's stores a Dixons-style makeover. Part-time employees were limited to 10 hours per week, the minimum number needed to work in Apple retail, and employees that had been demoted as a result of Browett's "new staffing formula" were not restored to their previous positions. Space devoted to workshops and training sessions was trimmed or eliminated, and staff performance was increasingly measured by the ability to sell more accessories like cases, hard drives, and AirPort base stations. Even the cleaning budget was cut, the ifoAppleStore source said, leading to a "grimy and less attractive" store appearance in some areas.

These facts were later confirmed by our own source familiar with Apple's retail operations. "Work that's essential to keeping the place looking perfect isn't being done," our source said. "[Training] sessions get shorter and more crammed into the day. The satisfaction of the customers essentially drops."

A current Apple retail "expert" e-mailed Ars just two weeks ago, corroborating the numerous reports that the company's Apple Stores had suffered since Browett took over earlier this year.

"I was drawn to the job initially due to the cachet of working for Apple but stayed because of the company's amazing customer focus and the possibilities for upward mobility. The changes since Steve passed, Ron [Johnson] left, and Browett took over have been palpable," said the source, who still works for Apple and asked to remain anonymous. "Hopefully enough attention [is drawn] to the topic to make positive change, and hopefully it is not too late for course correction."

Browett's singular focus on the bottom line was in stark contrast to the basic strategy that Johnson had used to grow Apple retail, one championing customer experience over short-term profits. "As long as we hit what's known as 'demand,'" our source explained, referring to Browett's metrics, "it's all fine in the eyes of corporate."

But Johnson's strategy had paid off over for nearly a decade; Apple went from a retail laughingstock to a company generating more revenue per square foot—$5,626—than high-end stores like Tiffany's, Coach, and Ralph Lauren.

Browett gets Cooked

The grumbling went beyond a few unhappy sources within Apple retail. Tim Cook has apparently chosen to correct course now by letting Browett go, and Cook will personally oversee retail operations until Browett's replacement can be found.

Cook may not be quite as stubborn as Steve Jobs tended to be when it comes to admitting mistakes. Apple admitted it made a mistake when it pulled its products from EPEAT's green registry back in July, and Cook made a personal apology for the state of iOS 6's Maps in September. Both of these "course corrections" came relatively quickly.

Browett, however, was given several months after it became clear to those working in Apple retail, and even to outside observers, that his strategy wasn't working. Browett's tenure seemed especially long to one of our sources at a high level within Apple's retail division, and the source suspected that Jobs would have been quicker to hand Browett his pink slip.

"The last time someone embarrassed [Jobs], he got the chop," the source told us, referring to former SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering Mark Papermaster. Papermaster was believed to have been blamed for the iPhone 4's well-documented antenna issues.

"If Steve were around and saw what a clusterfuck Browett made of retail, and the image it was projected with, I've no doubt at all Steve would have sacked him on the spot," the source added.

The move may have been a difficult one to make, given that Browett was Cook's first major hire after taking the reins from Jobs last year—but Cook did it, apparently before any major damage was done to Apple's retail brand. Now Cook faces the unenviable task of making another high-profile hire to replace Browett—and to show a watching world that this lapse in judgment was just a regrettable blip on an otherwise smooth trajectory.