A few months ago Bob Mansfield has announced that he is resigning from the division that develops the hardware for future Apple products, but Tim Cook managed to convince him to stay with the company for at least two more years. Although his division was taken over by another SVP, Mansfield returned as an advisory SVP, and after Forstall's departure took over a new division dealing with the development of future Apple product technologies. Of course, many people have asked what exactly convinced Mansfield to return, and Forstall's departure seems to have been why.
Sources said that Mansfield was actually very serious about retiring, which makes his quick return to Apple all the more curious... As one source close to the company told AllThingsD, "The timing of Bob's return is not coincidental." To begin with, Mansfield was not a fan of Forstall's confrontational management style, and sources said he generally tried to avoid the iOS exec. "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."
Forstall was not loved by the management of Apple, he had the habit of arguing with many of his colleagues in the management, Mansfield could not stand him, avoided him and finally decided to leave without asking anyone to fire Scott, only that he to stay. For Apple, Mansfield seems to be more important than Forstall, and Cook has long had the intention of reorganizing Apple, and that's how he convinced Mansfield to return. Several months have passed since Mansfield's return and until the reorganization, but it took place, Forstall left and many believe that it is better that way.
This information confirms the fact that Forstall was on the verge of leaving for a long time, even if he may not have known this, but we won't know the truth very soon.
