14 DAY TRIAL // Apple staffers who worked with or alongside Scott Forstall are so happy to see the former SVP leave that they’re going out for celebratory drinks, according to unnamed sources within the company.
Sources deep within Apple are telling Om Malik of GigaOm that Forstall’s ousting was greeted with a sense of “quiet jubilation.”
People who worked in the engineering groups (supposedly led by Forstall) are “going for celebratory drinks, even if there is a little bit of doubt about their roles in the future,” as one of Malik’s sources noted.
Forstall’s departure was a last-minute affair – “Many within the iOS and OS X teams only heard about it minutes after the news went out. Engineers were caught off guard,” according to one source.
Jonathan Ive, the company’s industrial designer, is taking over some of Forstall’s duties, including management of the Human Interface division.
According to the same sources, “There is a sense of excitement around Jony Ive taking over” as many trust him to spearhead a new design direction for a multitude of software products.
Echoing earlier reports about Forstall’s bad temper, the sources also told Malik that “Forstall had less-than-pleasant relationships with many senior executives.”
These executives included Eddy Cue, Bob Mansfield, and last (but certainly not least) Jonathan Ive, with whom “Forstall had a rocky relationship,” the report says.
As for Eddy Cue taking over Siri and Maps, the consensus among Apple staffers is that it was “a smart and natural thing to do.”
Per Apple’s official announcement hitting news wires yesterday, Forstall is staying on Apple’s payroll as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook until next year.
The CEO failed to specify exactly when Forstall will be packing his desk, but something tells us it won’t be long after the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve.