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Apple's Cook Wields The Ax on Two Troublemakers

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Apple (CEO) Tim Cook fired two troublemakers in the company's executive ranks. But will their replacements do a better job?

One of the troublemakers was a Steve Jobs hire, the other one is Cook's responsibility. Monday, Apple dismissed Scott Forstall, an Apple veteran who ran software development for Apple’s iPad and iPhone products, and John Browett, who Cook hired in April 2012 to run Apple's retail operations, according to the New York Times.

Of the two, Forstall is the biggest troublemaker by far. As I wrote October 1, the long knives were out for Forstall after the AppleMaps fiasco.

As former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gasse pointed out, Forstall was behind the flawless Apple Maps demo and flowery adjectives that praised it. And Forstall’s demo of the buggy Siri “seemed not only to understand every question he put to it, but to have a snappy answer. It has not worked so well in the wild, at least not for me,” as Fortune’s Phillip Elmer-Dewitt wrote.

And an October 2011 BusinessWeek profile of Forstall painted him as a mercurial, polarizing figure who had all the traits of a successful corporate politician. That is he stabbed his rivals in the back and did a wonderful job of making his bosses feel like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

To wit, the article pointed out that other executives would not attend Tim Cook-led meetings with Forstall and “Some former associates of Forstall, none of whom would comment on the record for fear of alienating Apple, say he routinely takes credit for collaborative successes [and] deflects blame for mistakes.”

But now that Cook has fired him, that won't be a problem anymore. However, it remains to be seen whether the executives who will take over Forstall's responsibilities will be able to do a better job.

According to the Times, Cook is parsing out those responsibilities among two executives:

  • Apple maps and Siri. Eddy Cue, who runs Apple’s Internet services, will be in charge  of Apple maps and Siri -- both of which have borne the brunt of criticism.
  • Human interface development. Jonathan Ive, Apple's head of industrial design,  will provide more “leadership and direction for Human Interface.”

Whether this works in the future remains to be seen but the people who used to skip executive meetings when Forstall attended are probably ecstatic.

Meanwhile, in his six months at Apple, Browett managed to cause Cook plenty of heartache. In August, Apple publicly apologizing for Browett's plan to cut staff at its stores. Browett's previous job running down-market British retailer, Dixons, was seen as a poor fit for Apple, according to the Times.

For now, Cook is running Apple's retail operations. And the Times reports that a search for a new head of retail is under way.

But Cook -- or Apple's board -- still has some firing to do. That's because someone is responsible for botching Apple's supply chain. Otherwise, there's no reason to believe that Apple will get relief from problems that make it unable to supply enough iPhone 5s and iPad Mini's to satisfy demand. And basic errors like having only one supplier of displays for the Mini will not get resolved.

If the people Cook hires to plug all these leaks on the good ship Apple can't do the job, then Apple's board will need to wield its own ax.

The question then will be who Apple's board can hire to do a better job than Cook of keeping the legacy of Steve Jobs alive.