Yesterday, of course, Apple announced the planned departure of long-time exec Scott Forstall, along with the head of retail operations, John Browett. The company also gave additional responsibilities to a number of other execs, including Jonathan Ive, Eddy Cue and Bob Mansfield. Forstall was reportedly pushed out for refusing to sign on to a public apology for the company's poorly received new maps app included in iOS6.
Meanwhile, there are signs that demand for the Mini are robust: the company now lists a two-week ship date for both black and whie WiFi only models; LTE versions are listed as shipping in mid-November.
Here's some of this morning's commentary on these developments from the Street:
- William Power, Baird: While noting that the management shake-up was a "surprise," Power does not find the news worrisome. "Though Scott Forstall's departure is a surprise, this appears to be part of Tim Cook putting his own stamp on the company, and importantly, he is still surrounded by several key long-time Apple executives and innovators.," he writes. Power keeps his Outperform rating and $750 price target on the stock.
- Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: He takes comfort in the implication from yesterday's news that design guru Jony Ive is not going anywhere anytime soon. "While things can always change, we believe that yesterday's announcement all but confirmed that Ive will be with the company for the foreseeable future, putting to rest a recurring investor concern of an Apple without Ive," he writes. "This, combined with Tim Cook's nine years remaining on his contract with Apple, suggests the two most critica management figures will be in place for the longer term. We think that despite the departure of Forstall who ran iOS development, iOS's future is in good hands. Separately, we see the John Browett departure as related to Ive/Forstall news in the sense that Apple wanted to make all of the significant upper level management changes together." Munster notes that the news could play into concerns that in a post-Steve Jobs world, Apple could have trouble holding on to key talent. But he adds: "We don't believe anything is awry with Apple management."
- Brian White, Topeka Capital: "We view this as a natural evolution at Apple as the Company increasingly pushes for a more seamless integration across devices and even better, more integrated experience for customers," he writes. White actually seems to be more interested in the fact that Apple appears to be stocked out on the iPad Mini. He thinks the company will sell 7 million Minis in the December quarter, with 30 million in FY 2013 and 48 million in FY 2014.
- Keith Bachman, BMO Capital: He finds the news of Forstall's departure a "disappointment," asserting that he was "very successful even under the demanding and watchful eye of Steve Jobs." Bachman conceded that the new mapping service is "poor," but adds that over his 15 years at the company, Forstall "added value." He sees signs of the difference in CEO Tim Cook's leadership style compared with that of his predecessor Steve Jobs. "The departures signify an organizational evolution," he writes. "With Mr. Jobs, it was always clear who was in charge of almost every decision. With Tim Cook, our take is that he is a 'leader of leaders,' which likely allows for more give and take, or even descent, on key issues amongst executives. The sustained value of the implied new organizational structure will depend on the abilities and personalities of Apple's leaders. With a large base of approximately 60,400 full-time employees, it would be easy to conclude that the departures are not important. However, we do believe the departures are a negative, since we think Mr. Forstall in particular added value to Apple. However, we are not surprised that he would leave in a post Steve Jobs organizational structure, given his very strong personality."
- Brian Marshall, ISI Group: "While we view Forstall as key to AAPL's success having been head of the all-important iOS platform and are very disappointed to see him go, there is no change to our current positive view on AAPL," he writes. "We believe if the company can be successful without Steve Jobs, it can be successful without Scott Forstall."
