Monday, October 17, 2011

Scott Forstall, the Sorcerer's Apprentice at Apple

article: Scott Forstall, the Sorcerer's Apprentice at Apple @ Businessweek + podcast

...iOS operating system, which runs the iPhone and iPad, devices that account for 70 percent of Apple’s revenues... The iPhone alone, since its 2007 debut, has generated more than $70 billion in sales...

Scott Forstall, the person in charge of iOS behaves much like Steve Jobs did,
obsessing about details and perfection...
At the age of 42 he already has 50 patents... (Steve Jobs has 342)

And he is also apparently driving same same model of car
as the company’s charismatic co-founder did: Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG



But the story has even more interesting details...
Apparently iOS, that is based on same "core" as Mac OS, "squeezed" to run on the phone, "won" over alternative idea for iPhone OS based on iPod mp3 player mini-OS.

About the same time new iPhone OS is introduced,
person in charge of iPod at the time, Jon Rubinstein has left Apple,
and soon after joined Palm to create WebOS there...
We have all observed how that went... The OS is good, but limited...

Microsoft's Windows Mobile, is also "bottom-up" design for small devices.
Attempts to "scale it up" basically failed.
So Windows Phone 7 has "squeezed" desktop technology, Silverlight, to a small device... And now Windows 8 is finally attempting to "squeeze" desktop OS to tablets...

So, thanks to Forstall's 15-person team achievement,
huge number of people now carry a "real computer" in their pocket...

...In addition to building the iOS group from a tiny skunkworks into an operation with hundreds of employees, Forstall has pushed deal-shy Apple toward acquisitions that further enhance his team and influence. Last year he lobbied to buy Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company, and Siri, the startup that provided the technological underpinnings of the iPhone’s new feature. “He knows what he wants, and he’s driven to get it,” says AT&T (T) Chief Technology Officer John Donovan. “He can be relentless about getting it...”


Here is how one more great software entrepreneur, describes his car (the same):
...my new mercedes SL55 is close to sex on wheels...the diamond silver is a special color scheme that looks awesome on the car...SL55 gives a throaty roar when you floor the accelerator. that, combined with the retractable roof, the panoramic sunroof, and all the other mod cons, makes an unbeatable combination...

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