New Apple chief has team of key execs

SAN FRANCISCO: As Tim Cook takes over as Apple chief the spotlight turns also to a cadre of executives seen as key to filling the void left by legendary co-founder Steve Jobs.

Apple lieutenants reporting to Cook include Scott Forstall, Jonathan Ive, and Philip Schiller. Scott Forstall is senior vice president of Apple iOS mobile software powering the California company's iPhones that have set the standard for smartphones.

Forstall, 42, is one of the original architects of the Mac OS X operating system for Macintosh computers and has been responsible for several iterations of software for the increasingly popular machines.

Forstall worked for Jobs's computer company NeXT when it was bought by Apple in 1997 as part of a move to return Jobs to the Apple throne. Jobs founded NeXT in 1985 after being driven from Apple by internal politics.

Forstall earned a symbolic systems degree from Stanford University in Silicon Valley in 1991 and received a master's degree in computer science from the school the following year.

Jonathan Ive is senior vice president of industrial design and since 1996 has led the team responsible for infusing Apple gadgets including the iPhone, iPod and iPad with art and must-have style.

Products created by Ive's team are featured in collections at museums including the MOMA in New York and the Pompidou in Paris, according to Apple.

The British-born Ive was crowned designer of the year by the Design Museum in London in 2003. He has been awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts.

Ive has a bachelor of arts and honorary doctorate from Newcastle Polytechnic.

Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller is one of more public faces of Apple since he routinely served as a foil for Jobs during events at which the company's culture-changing products debuted.

Schiller is responsible for marketing Apple products and managing relationships with developers of software for iPods, iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011