Bob Mansfield Stayed on at Apple (AAPL) Because of Scott Forstall’s Ouster – Report

AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski offers some interesting details on the behind-the-scenes situation with Apple (AAPL) executive Bob Mansfield, by revealing why Mansfield’s true retirement was short, though the Apple executive announced his intentions in June after a 13-year stint with the company.

Publicly, Apple announced in late June that Mansfield, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering was leaving the company and that his role would be transitioned to Dan Riccio. But just 2 months later, it was announced that Mansfield actually was not going to be retiring after all, but instead stay on an advisory capacity to CEO Tim Cook and help manage the hardware engineering team. Why just 2 months of retirement? $2 million per month and fat stock package, obviously. Still, Mansfield was just working as an advisor, a job that has no significant purpose.

According to Paczkowski’s unnamed sources, Bob Mansfield agreed to take on the new position of senior VP of “Technologies” division, and committed to remain at Apple for at least two more years only after Apple decided to force out its former iOS chief, Scott Forstall.

“As one source close to the company told AllThingsD, “The timing of Bob’s return is not coincidental.”

To begin, Mansfield was not a fan of Forstall’s confrontational management style, and sources said he generally tried to avoid the iOS exec. Indeed, Bloomberg last year reported that Mansfield would meet with Forstall only if Cook was present to mediate. I’ve heard many similar stories.

“It wasn’t a him-or-me situation,” one source said of Mansfield’s return and Forstall’s ouster. “But, put it this way, I think Bob was much more willing to commit to two more years once he knew Scott was on his way out.”

Mansfield, who for over a decade oversaw the extraordinary expansion of the Macintosh line before taking on the iPhone and iPad as well, is now the executive in charge of Apple’s new “Technologies” division, which will combine all of company’s wireless as well as semiconductor teams.

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