Development Manager and a member of IOS management team of Apple, Scott Forstall is the subject of a portrait of contrasts in Businessweek. The "senior vice president of iPhone Software" arrived at Apple in the footsteps of Steve Jobs from NeXT (where he was hired right out of Stanford).
His taste for something computer goes back to his childhood and is shared in the family, one of his three brothers are software design engineer at Microsoft for 20 years.
He participated in setting rails Mac OS X, the creation of the Aqua interface (as director of the project) and then he directly supervised the development of Leopard before moving on to iOS (read Apple: the frameset).
He has been seen as a "real talent and quickly considered a rising star," said Fred Anderson now of him, the former CFO of Apple. 42 years old, he is the youngest of the current management team. And the system of which it is responsible driver devices which now account for 70% of sales from Apple.
Businessweek has recorded at least 50 patents containing its name, inventions ranging from the presentation of the icons on the display device to iOS how to turn off the phone with a swipe of the finger. It's a strong man of the company and who was close to Jobs, even on certain patents which immediately followed the name of the owner disappeared "When he says something, people listen," recalls the former head of the iAd advertising management.
The article describes him as a kind of "mini-Steve.
" Leading his team to the stick and obsessed with details. Able to translate technical jargon intelligible language. Mercedes of the dress - jeans and black top - are the points of resemblance with multiple Jobs. His team is not unlike that of the first Mac that loudly claimed its autonomy vis-à-vis the Apple II division. "They spoof me and told me IOS drives Mac sales," says Will Shipley, head of the Delicious Monster editor, about his friends in the division iPhone / iOS.
At its qualities that have earned respect and loyalty of many members of his team, just answer the critics on his way to work and its relation to others. According to testimonies of employees, several executives have left the ranks of Apple, tired of working with Forstall and hear saying "Steve would not like that." The same flight to other lands have also occurred among engineers.
Former colleagues describe him as quick to assume the merits of collective successes, not to take criticism or errors and make love in the political games. Stories collected provide a vision of a less cohesive direction of Apple it seems. Relations are strained between some vice-presidents.
Businessweek writes that Jonathan Ive and Bob Mansfield (the cons, head of Mac hardware engineering and worked on the iPhone 4) avoid being alone in a meeting with Forstall, unless Tim Cook is present.
According to Businessweek contacts, the departure of Jean-Marie Hullot close to Jobs and NeXT veteran would have been partly motivated by the prospect of working with Forstall. Hullot for his part says he wanted to go into something else (he is the application Fotopedia).
There is also the story of Jon Rubinstein, former head of the Mac and iPod division, which saw Forstall arrive at a party, immediately left the (Jobs has not forgiven Rubinstein joining Palm one can assume that this resentment was shared by Forstall, ed).
Mike Lee, a software engineer at Apple until 2010 tempers their critique of the personality of "I once referred to as a bastard Forstall of Apple first.
But it was not a criticism on my part. I said as a compliment. You could say the same about Steve Jobs. "
Against Linux Mac OS XInternal struggles took place at the time of the decision to create the iPhone, around 2005. Jobs had two options, says the article. The team led by iPod creator Tony Fadell, campaigned for an OS based on Linux (project Purple).
The other team (project 2 Purple, read A Short History of the iPad), led by Forstall preferred adapting Mac OS X. Jobs on the other hand had a preference for the former, in that it seemed more flexible and promised more room for development. But he decided to put the two teams competing.
Forstall began to degrease Mac OS X to try to make it work in an environment where autonomy is crucial. Ensued between the two teams and the two young men compete "explosive" according to a former employee. Fadell was 35 years old at the time and was the youngest vice-presidents.
Forstall Fadell annoyed by getting the best engineers and playing the card of secrecy, refusing to show the progress of what would become iOS. The challenge of reducing the size of Mac OS X and Jobs was held opted for this solution.
Which put the latest teams Fadell (the cons) in an uncomfortable position since iOS arriving on the iPod, they had to get cooperation from those Forstall to add a layer of software to their hardware developments.
And when the idea did not please Forstall, the request was not acted upon. Businessweek says Forstall also insisted on recovering the development of iTunes. Fadell left Apple in 2008. At the time he had justified his departure for personal reasons, it seems, however, that tensions with Scott Forstall have weighed significantly in its decision.
