Adam Lashinsky’s look ‘Inside Apple’ profiles iOS head Scott Forstall as Apple’s ‘CEO-in-waiting’

9to5 Staff | Jan 17 2012 - 5:09 am PT

Fortune Senior Editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky’s upcoming book about Apple’s inner workings titled “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired and Secretive Company Really Works” is bound to become controversial. Unlike Steve Jobs’ authorized biographer Walter Isaacson, Lashinsky did not have direct access to Apple’s leadership team, employees nor did he have Jobs’ cooperation. Nevertheless, the author has deep connections so his book draws from this expertise, focusing on Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs, current CEO Tim Cook, design chief Jonathan Ive and head of iOS software Scott Forstall (pictured on the right). The young executive (43) has managed to accumulate power, and he now wields tremendous influence at Apple due to his iOS division contributing to as much as 70 percent of Apple’s total revenues. As such, Forstall is seen as Apple’s next CEO once Tim Cook steps down, which probably will not happen until 2021 if he is to vest his 1 million stock shares awarded last August. Here is how one source described Forstall in Lashinsky’s upcoming book, according to Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt:

He’s a sharp, down-to-earth, and talented engineer, and a more-than-decent presenter. He’s the total package.

Lashinsky conceded and explained:

If there’s a knock on Forstall, it’s that he wears his ambition in plainer view than the typical Apple executive. He blatantly accumulated influence in recent years, including, it is whispered, when Jobs was on medical leave.

Such a description fits Business Week’s recent profile of Forstall that painted him as a ruthless executive driven by tremendous ambition. It is said that iPod godfather Tony Fadell and Jean-Marie Hullot (CTO of Apple’s application division until 2005) were forced to leave Apple after clashing repeatedly with Forstall, but Fadell later denied that rumor. Jon Rubinstein reportedly is not a fan of Forstall’s either. Forstall drives a silver Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG, the same car Jobs drove, and wears a similar on-stage costume consisting of black shoes, jeans and a black zippered sweater. Young Forstall graduated high school as CO-valedictorian with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and received both a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University. According to Apple’s Leadership page, “Forstall leads the team responsible for delivering the software at the heart of Apple’s revolutionary iPhone including the user interface, applications, frameworks and the operating system.”

Lashinsky’s book is tabulated at 240-to-272 pages and is scheduled to hit bookstores Jan. 25. You can pre-order it at $16.92 for the hardcover or $12.99 for the Kindle version, and the audio version is available for $17.92. The official blurb described the book:

In INSIDE APPLE, Adam Lashinsky provides readers with an insight on leadership and innovation. He introduces Apple business concepts like the ‘DRI’ (Apple’s practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual event where that year’s top 100 up-and-coming executives are surreptitiously transported to a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs).

Based on numerous interviews, the book reveals exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers, and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era. While INSIDE APPLE provides a detailed investigation into the unique company, its lessons about leadership, product design and marketing are universal. INSIDE APPLE will appeal to anyone hoping to bring some of the Apple magic to their own company, career, or creative endeavour.