The reason Apple's top hardware engineer Bob Mansfield decided to stay at the company is pretty simple.
John Paczkowski of All Things D reports Mansfield stuck around because Scott Forstall, formerly head of iOS, was forced out.
There are, of course, other reasons. But, the big reason he stuck around was that Forstall, who he didn't like, is gone.
Mansfield announced plans to retire from Apple in June. Then in August, Mansfield unexpectedly announced he wasn't ready to leave Apple just yet. He was going to stick around as an advisor to Tim Cook. On Monday, he stopped being an advisor, and got an entirely new division to run, called Technologies.
So what happened between June and October?
First, Apple's hardware engineers told Cook that Mansfield's replacement Dan Riccio wasn't up to the task of leading hardware engineering. He "nearly witnessed an insurrection" when Mansfield announced retirement plans.
Cook offered Mansfield a massive pay package to stick around and lead the transition in power. Even then, he was still only an advisor to Cook.
He decided to take on a more full-time role at Apple when Forstall was pushed out. Paczkowski's source says, "It wasn’t a him-or-me situation, ... But, put it this way, I think Bob was much more willing to commit to two more years once he knew Scott was on his way out."
Mansfield and Forstall did not get along. They wouldn't go to meetings together if Cook wasn't on hand to mediate. (The same is said of Forstall and lead designer Jony Ive.)
The fact that Forstall is out at Apple is somewhat surprising since he led iOS. But if forcing him out means Apple gets to keep its most important executives, then the decision makes more sense.
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