海角大神

Apple replaces heads of software, retail

Following the launch of their flawed mapping software, Apple's CEO announced the company will replace two top executives, the head of software, responsible for Apple Maps and Siri, as well as the head of retail.

听Inc CEO Tim听听on Monday replaced the heads of its software and retail units in the company's biggest executive shake-up in a decade following embarrassing problems with its new mapping program and unpopular store-related decisions.

Software chief Scott Forstall, who oversaw the launch of the flawed听听and much criticized听听voice-enabled assistant, will leave听听next year.

Forstall, seen as a polarizing figure inside听, had been billed as one of the future candidates to take the top job at听. He was the executive behind the panned听听Maps app that the company announced with much fanfare in summer.

听said in a statement that retail chief John Browett "is leaving," without elaborating; that a search for his replacement is underway; and the retail team would report directly to听. Browett had riled up the retail store staff when he reduced the number of employees in his unit.

The departures come a little more than a year into听's tenure as chief executive.听听replaced the late听founder Steve Jobs, considered one of the best executives of all times by many analysts and investors.

"These changes show that听听is stamping his authority on the business,"听, analyst with CCS Insight, said. "Perhaps disappointed with the Maps issues, Forstall became the scapegoat."

听upended the tech industry with the release of its听听听in 2007. But the company is facing increasing competition from search giant Google, whose听听has become the world's most popular mobile software, as well as from Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft and Samsung.

"Competition is moving much faster to be more听-like," said听, president of technology research and consulting firm听. "They're finding they need to streamline the management team in order to get things going faster."

's launch of its own mapping service in September, when it began selling the听听5 and rolled out its updated听听6 software, led to widespread user complaints, particularly since it replaced the popular Google Inc Maps.

's听听also came under a lot of criticism, including for not providing information on business location, when it was launched last year.

Both the services were introduced with much fanfare by Forstall, who had supervised their development as senior vice president of听听software.

The executive changes hand over substantially more responsibility to Eddy Cue, the head of Internet Software and Services who helped create the iTunes music store and听. The 23-year听听veteran already is in charge of Cloud services and will take on听听Maps and听. Craig Federighi will oversee听's mobile听software as well as its OS X Mac software,听听said.

Putting the mobile and personal computer software teams under the same manager could improve operations within the company, particularly as the capabilities and features of听听and PCs increasingly converge, said analysts.

"If you have two different heads, you have two different fiefdoms," said BGC Partners analyst听.

Another executive who will get extra responsibility under the shake-up is听,听's head of industrial design, who has played a key role in听's success by imbuing its gadgets with a distinct look and feel.

That magic touch could help reinvigorate the look of听's software, which has been criticized by some technology observers, Gillis said.

Shares of听, the world's largest publicly traded company by market value, have declined 14 percent in the past month since reaching a 52-week high of $705.07 in September.

Browett, former CEO of British electronics retailer Dixons, took over as senior vice president of听's retail stores earlier this year, replacing Ron Johnson, who went on to become the CEO of JCPenney.

"I think ultimately they probably discovered that his experience with Dixons didn't translate that well to the听stores and he just probably wasn't the right fit," Bajarin of听听said.

, which described Monday's moves as a way to increase "collaboration" across its hardware, software and services business, said Forstall will serve as an advisor to听听until his departure.

Last week听听delivered a second straight quarter of disappointing financial results, and听听sales fell short of Wall Street's targets, marring its record of consistently blowing past investors' expectations.