Apple’s Next CEO Already Being Discussed

Tim Cook was an obvious choice for the role of Chief Executive Officer with Steve Jobs stepping down from his leading position last year, weeks before his death. But who says Cook was Apple’s only choice to fill that CEO chair?

No one. In fact, according to the author of an upcoming book called Inside Apple, Adam Lashinsky, Forstall is next-in-line to become Apple’s CEO.

"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."

Lashinsky continues: "If there's a knock on Forstall, it's that he wears his ambition in plainer view than the typical Apple executive. He blatantly accumulated influence in recent years, including, it is whispered, when Jobs was on medical leave."

Forstall is known to have many of Steve Jobs’ traits, including an obsession for details.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek once called the iOS whiz “the Sorcerer's Apprentice”, touting his ability to deliver an awesome keynote presentation.

He was also described as brilliant, a tenacious infighter, and “just the taskmaster Apple needs to stay on top.”

For those who don’t know much about Apple’s executive team, Scott Forstall is senior vice president of iPhone Software.

Reporting directly to Tim Cook, Steve Jobs’ successor as CEO, Forstall leads a team that is responsible for around 70 per cent of Apple’s income.

His iOS division develops and maintains the software that is at the heart of the most popular Apple products, including the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch.

Forstall joined Apple in 1997, around the time Steve Jobs came back to stop the money hemorrhaging, instating innovation as a core value of the company.

Forstall didn’t come to Apple by accident. He is one of the original architects of Mac OS X and its Aqua user interface, and he used to work at NeXT, a company founded by Jobs after his forced resignation from Apple in 1985.