Veteran Apple executive Bob Mansfield is no longer a member of the company’s executive team. But that doesn’t mean he has left altogether. Mansfield is still working in an unknown capacity on “special projects” for Tim Cook. He was previously responsible for leading the new Technologies group that was formed during the big executive shakeup last year.
Apple told AllThingsD the following:
“Bob is no longer going to be on Apple’s executive team, but will remain at Apple working on special projects reporting to Tim,” company spokesman Steve Dowling told AllThingsD. He declined any further explanation, refusing to comment on the reasons behind Mansfield’s abrupt demotion or whether Apple plans to appoint a new SVP of technologies.
Earlier today, MacRumors noticed that Mansfield’s bio had mysteriously disappeared from Apple’s leadership page.
Mansfield joined Apple in 1999 and has since contributed to many of the company’s hardware breakthroughs, like the all-in-one iMac, unibody MacBook, Retina display, and the ‘A’ series mobile processor. Although he had announced his retirement last summer, Mansfield ended up staying at Apple post-Forstall to head up a top secret Technologies group within the company.
Mansfield has been considered an instrumental part of Apple’s success for the past decade, and he is extremely respected within and outside Apple. Considering that he wanted to retire last year, perhaps leaving the executive team (again) is another step towards having his foot out of the door.
Source: AllThingsD
