Forstall seen as trumping Cook, Ive, Schiller

Financial publication Fast Company has published a new ranking of possible replacements for Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The magazine notes that even if Jobs does return from his current medical leave, the company will eventually have to find a replacement. The top potential candidate is argued to be Apple's senior VP of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. He is "young, possesses the right kind of technical knowledge and dynamism, and has become an increasingly important figure in key Apple product decisions," according to the magazine.

Forstall is ranked above several other people with ties to Apple, including lead designer Jonathan Ive, senior VP of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller, and a special adviser to Jobs, Tony Fadell. COO Tim Cook is in fact dismissed as a long shot, despite being the interim head of Apple while Jobs is away. "A good temporary replacement, but lacks dynamism and creative vision," FC comments.

Other people considered include Eric Schmidt, former CEO and present executive chairman of Google, and Peter Skillman, Nokia's VP of Meego Ux and services design. Mark Papermaster is cited as a "very unlikely" possibility. Now VP of engineering at Cisco, Papermaster left Apple in 2010 as a result of "cultural" differences and connections to the iPhone 4 antenna controversy.

by MacNN Staff