Scott James Forstall (born 1969) is an American software engineer, known for leading the original software development team for the
iPhone and
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
, and Broadway producer, known for co-producing the Tony award-winning ''
Fun Home
''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 Graphic novel, graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, Uni ...
'' and ''
Eclipsed
In chemistry an eclipsed conformation is a conformation in which two substituents X and Y on adjacent atoms A, B are in closest proximity, implying that the torsion angle X–A–B–Y is 0°. Such a conformation can exist in any open chain, ...
'' with Molly Forstall, his wife, among others. Having spent his career first at
NeXT
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
and then
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, he was the senior vice president (SVP) of
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
Software at
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
from 2007 until October 2012.
Early life and education
Forstall grew up in a middle-class family in
Kitsap County
Kitsap County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, and its largest city is Bremerton. The county was formed out of King County and Jefferson County on ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, the second-born of three boys to a registered-nurse mother Jeanne and an engineer father Tom Forstall. His older brother Bruce is also a senior software design engineer, at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
.
A gifted student for whom skills such as programming "came easily where they were difficult for others", Forstall qualified for
advanced-placement science and math class in junior high school, and gained experience programming on
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced'', referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in ...
computers.
He was skipped forward a year, entering Olympic High School in Bremerton, Washington early, where classmates recall his immersion in competitive chess, history, and
general knowledge
General knowledge is information that has been accumulated over time through various mediums and sources. It excludes specialized learning that can only be obtained with extensive training and information confined to a single medium. General kn ...
, on occasion competing at the state level. He achieved a 4.0
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
and earned the position of
valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution.
The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...
, a position he shared with a classmate, Molly Brown, who would later become his wife. He had established the goal of being a "designer of high-tech electronics equipment", as he proclaimed in an interview with a local newspaper.
Enrolling at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, he graduated in 1991 with a degree in
symbolic system
In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language consists of words whose letters are taken from an alphabet and are well-formed according to a specific set of rules.
The alphabet of a formal language consists of sym ...
s. The next year he received his
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
, also from Stanford. During his time at Stanford, Forstall was a member of the
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
fraternity.
Career
NeXT / Apple
Forstall joined
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
's
NeXT
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
in 1992 and stayed when it was purchased by Apple in 1997. Forstall was then placed in charge of designing user interfaces for a reinvigorated Macintosh line. In 2000, Forstall became a leading designer of the Mac's new Aqua user interface, known for its water-themed visual cues such as translucent icons and reflections, making him a rising star in the company. He was promoted to SVP in January 2003.
During this period, he supervised the creation of the
Safari
A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...
web browser. Don Melton, a senior developer on the Safari team, credited Forstall for being willing to trust the instincts of his team and respecting their ability to develop the browser in secret.
In 2005, when Jobs began planning the
iPhone, he had a choice to either "shrink the Mac, which would be an epic feat of engineering, or enlarge the iPod". Jobs favored the former approach but pitted the Macintosh and the iPod team, led by Forstall and
Tony Fadell
Anthony Michael Fadell (born March 22, 1969) is an American engineer, designer, entrepreneur, and investor. He was senior vice president of the iPod division at Apple Inc. and founder and former CEO of Nest Labs.
Fadell joined Apple Inc. in 20 ...
respectively, against each other in an internal competition. Forstall won that fierce competition to create
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
. The decision enabled the success of the iPhone as a platform for third-party developers: using a well-known desktop operating system as its basis allowed the many third-party Mac developers to write software for the iPhone with minimal retraining. Forstall was also responsible for creating a software developer's kit for programmers to build iPhone apps, as well as an App Store within iTunes.
In 2006, Forstall became responsible for
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
releases after
Avie Tevanian
Avadis "Avie" Tevanian (born 1961) is an American software engineer. At Carnegie Mellon University, he was a principal designer and engineer of the Mach operating system (also known as the Mach Kernel). He leveraged that work at NeXT Inc. as the ...
stepped down as the company's Chief Software Technology Officer and before being named SVP of iPhone Software.
Forstall received credit as he "ran the iOS mobile software team like clockwork and was widely respected for his ability to perform under pressure".
He has spoken publicly at
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in th ...
s, including talks about
Mac OS X Leopard
Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5) is the sixth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc., Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Leopard was released on October 26, 2007 as the successor of Mac OS X Tig ...
in 2006 and iPhone software development in 2008, later after the release of iPhone OS 2.0 and iPhone 3G, and on January 27, 2010, at Apple's 2010 iPad keynote. At WWDC 2011, Forstall introduced
iOS 5
iOS 5 is the fifth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 4. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6, 2011, and was released on October 12, 2011. ...
. Forstall also appears in the iOS 5 video, narrating about three-quarters of the clip, and in almost every major Apple iOS special event. At the "Let's talk iPhone" event launching the
iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S (originally styled as iPhone 4 S, retroactively stylized with a lowercase 's' as iPhone 4s as of September 2013) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iOS devices, fifth generation o ...
, he took the stage to demonstrate the phone's
Siri
Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...
voice recognition technology, which was originally developed at
SRI International
SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic d ...
.
Departure from Apple
The aftermath of the release of
iOS 6
iOS 6 is the sixth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc, being the successor to iOS 5. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11, 2012, and was released on September 19, 201 ...
, on September 19, 2012, proved a troubled period for Apple. The newly introduced
Maps
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.
Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...
application, completely designed in-house by Apple, was criticized for being underdeveloped, buggy and lacking in detail. In addition, the clock app used a design based on the trademarked
Swiss railway clock
The Swiss railway clock was designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, a Swiss engineer and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) employee, together with , a clock manufacturer, for use by the SBB as a station clock. In 1953, Hilfiker added a red second hand ...
, which Apple had failed to license, forcing Apple to pay Swiss railways a reported $21 million in compensation. In October, Apple reported third-quarter results in which revenues and profits grew less than predicted, the second quarter in a row that the company missed analysts' expectations.
On October 29, 2012, Apple announced in a press release "that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple
n 2013
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim." Forstall's duties were divided among four other Apple executives: design SVP
Jonathan Ive
Sir Jonathan Paul Ive (born 27 February 1967) is a British industrial and product designer, as well as businessman. Ive was the chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 until 2019 (known as senior vice principal of industrial design ...
assumed leadership of Apple's Human Interface team,
Craig Federighi
Craig Federighi (born May 27, 1969) is an American engineer and business executive who is the senior vice president (SVP) of software engineering at Apple Inc. He oversees the development of iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Apple's common operating system ...
became the new head of iOS software engineering, services chief
Eddy Cue
Eddy Cue (born Eduardo H. Cue; October 23, 1964) is Apple's senior vice president of Services, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. Cue oversees Apple's numerous content stores including the iTunes Store, the Apple Books Store, and Apple Music, as well ...
took over responsibilities for Maps and Siri, and
Bob Mansfield
Bob Mansfield is an American hardware engineer working at Apple, Inc. He was formerly Senior Vice President of Technologies, before leaving that role to focus on unnamed future products. It has been claimed that he supervised the development of t ...
(previously SVP of hardware engineering) "unretired" to oversee a new technology group.
On the same day,
John Browett
John Browett (born 1963) is a British businessman. Between January 2016 and August 2017 he was chief executive of the Dunelm Group. From March 2013 to February 2015, he was chief executive of the British clothing retailer Monsoon Accessorize, a ...
, who was SVP of retail, was dismissed immediately after only six months on the job.
Neither Forstall nor any other Apple executive has commented publicly on his departure beyond the initial press statement, but it is generally presumed that Forstall left his position involuntarily. All information about the reasons for his departure therefore come from anonymous sources. Cook's aim since becoming CEO has been reported to be building a culture of harmony, which meant "weeding out people with disagreeable personalities—people Jobs tolerated and even held close, like Forstall," although former Apple senior engineer Michael Lopp "believes that Apple's ability to innovate came from tension and disagreement." Steve Jobs was referred to as the "decider" who had the final say on products and features while he was CEO, reportedly keeping the "strong personalities at Apple in check by always casting the winning vote or by having the last word", so after Jobs' death many of these executive conflicts became public. Forstall had such a poor relationship with Ive and Mansfield that he could not be in a meeting with them unless Cook mediated; reportedly, Forstall and Ive did not cooperate at any level.
Being forced to choose between the two, Cook reportedly chose to retain Ive since Forstall was not collaborative.
Forstall was very close to and referred to as a mini-
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
, so Jobs' death left Forstall without a protector.
Forstall was also referred to as the CEO-in-waiting by ''Fortune'' magazine and the book ''
Inside Apple'' (written by Adam Lashinsky), a profile that made him unpopular at Apple. Forstall was said to be responsible for the departure of
Jean-Marie Hullot
Jean-Marie Hullot (February 16, 1954 – June 17, 2019) was a French computer scientist and programmer who authored important programs for the original Macintosh, NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X platforms. These include the SOS Interface for the Mac, which ...
(CTO of applications) in 2005 and
Tony Fadell
Anthony Michael Fadell (born March 22, 1969) is an American engineer, designer, entrepreneur, and investor. He was senior vice president of the iPod division at Apple Inc. and founder and former CEO of Nest Labs.
Fadell joined Apple Inc. in 20 ...
(SVP of hardware engineering) in 2008; Fadell remarked in an interview with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
that Forstall's firing was justified and he "got what he deserved".
, Fadell's predecessor as SVP of hardware, also had a strained relationship with Forstall. After Jobs' death in 2011, it had been reported that Forstall was trying to gather power to challenge Cook.
intelligent personal voice assistant that Forstall introduced in September 2011 has received a mixed reception with some observers regarding it as a "flop".
, received criticism for inaccuracies that were not up to Apple standards. According to Adam Lashinsky of ''
'', when Apple issued a formal apology for the errors in Maps, Forstall refused to sign it. Under long-standing practice at Apple, Forstall was the "directly responsible individual" for Maps, and his refusal to sign the apology convinced Cook that Forstall had to go.
Forstall's
was reported to have also been controversial and divided the Apple design team.
In a 2012 interview, Ive, then head of hardware design only, refused to comment on the iOS user interface, "In terms of those elements you're talking about, I'm not really connected to that."
Forstall did not make public appearances after his departure from Apple for a number of years. A report in December 2013 said that he had been concentrating on travel, advising charities, and providing informal advice to some small companies.
On April 17, 2015, Forstall made his first tweet, which revealed that he is a co-producer of the
''. It was his first public appearance since departing from Apple in 2012. On June 7, 2015, the Forstall-produced musical won five awards at the
On June 20, 2017, Forstall gave his first public interview after leaving Apple. He was interviewed in the
about the creation of the iPhone on the 10th anniversary of its sales launch.
On April 18, 2020, Forstall announced that he was a producer for the Broadway musical
. The musical went on to win 8 Tony Awards.
On May 20, 2020, Forstall made an appearance in
's online Break event.
On December 17, 2020, Forstall was revealed to be one of the co-creators of
.