Scott Forstall, former Senior Vice President of iOS and one of the main creators of the iPhone and iPad, has finally spoken about Apple for the first time since leaving the company in the fall of 2012. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal primarily centered around his work on Broadway, Forstall briefly commented on Apple:
Asked about the split, Mr. Forstall said he was “so proud of the thousands of people I worked with [at Apple] and with whom I remain friends. I am delighted that they continue to turn out great and beloved products.”
Forstall’s admiration for Apple remains following a very public breakup between the executive and the company following problems with iOS 6 Maps application and the iPhone 5 launch. Since Forstall’s departure, Apple has publicly poked fun at skeuomorphic design, which was a cornerstone of Forstall’s iOS and OS X releases.
Apple design chief Jony Ive has taken over user interfaces and former OS X Vice President Craig Federighi replaced Forstall as Apple’s head of iOS Software Engineering. Without Forstall at the helm, Apple has released two major updates to both OS X and iOS, including end-to-end redesigns and hundreds of new features.
As has been previously reported, Forstall confirmed that he has served as an advisor to various technology companies, but he did not comment on the leaked emails indicating his work for picture-messaging startup Snapchat. Aside from Apple, Forstall discusses his appreciation of the Fun Home Broadway Play during the interview and how his understanding of the script pushed him to both invest and assist with the show.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
A very kind, smart and constructive thing to say.
can’t wait to hear what he really thinks
Apple never should have fired him.
I miss Forstall.
Nice of him to take the high road.
Pretty simplistic explanation of Scott’s departure. If you honestly think Apple jettisoned one of the principal architects of OSX and XCode dev tools over a problematic Apple Maps launch, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how businesses operate. Cook essentially orchestrated a reorg to better align Apple’s strengths and talents. For many reasons far and beyond skeuomorphic design and a bumpy service launch, Scott no longer fit into their plans.
True. Moreover, its reported that when Apple approached Scott about their new plans, he basically did not want to relinquish any existing plans or positions. Its not that Apple was wrong or Scott was wrong- they just were no longer aligned.
They “publicly poke fun at skeuomorphic design,” then they release the Apple Watch with skeuomorphic faces.
When did they do that?
What about achievement badges in Apple Watch’s Fitness app then? It is 3D rendered, reacting to light source, and comes with embosses and glossy effects?
I don’t think they really poked fun at it, I think they are reading a bit too much into that Jony Ive interview…there is still quite a bit of skeuomorphism in apples current offerings.
“Forstall’s admiration for Apple remains following a very public breakup between the executive and the company following problems with iOS 6 Maps application and the iPhone 5 launch.”
Only from the rumour mill as a result of him being a high profile employee. From memory, both Apple and Scott were very quiet on the matter, as highlighted by the fact this is the first time he’s publically spoken about it since way back in 2012.
There are probably 3-4 people in the world who know the details of what really happened on Forstall’s departure. What we do know is that Forstall had a tremendous impact (so far) on our lives and that Apple has continued to be successful after his departure. Interpret that however you wish,