After the departure of Jeff Williams: Apple restructures management

The retirement of long-time Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jeff Williams will lead to further changes in Apple’s boardroom. A US media report , his duties, which he held in addition to his function as operational manager of the group, will be distributed on different shoulders.

Cook “chief designer”, Federighi and Ternus with more power

It is already known that Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose right-hand man Williams was, will become the highest authority for the Apple design team in software and hardware. Williams had previously done this job. Two other additional tasks of the ex-COO, who will leave the group by the end of the year, will go to other people: his responsibility for Apple Watch operating systems, Apple Watch hardware and health and fitness.

In the future, watchOS will be the responsibility of software chief Craig Federighi, who – after various problems – had already taken Siri and the Vision Pro operating system visionOS under his wing. The Apple Watch hardware will be housed by hardware boss John Ternus, who is considered Cook’s successor. Although Ternus already had a large part of the control here, new models were always approved by Williams.

Health and Fitness

The tasks in the areas of Apple Health and Fitness+ (including fitness functions of the Apple Watch) end up with service manager Eddy Cue. However, there are changes in the reporting system here. For example, the previous Apple medical director Sumbul Desai not only controls the health area as usual. The recently controversial Fitness+ boss Jay Blahnik will report to Desai in the future, who in turn has Cue as her direct boss. Previously, Blahnik had reported directly to Williams.

Cue gets even more tasks. He has been taking care of iCloud, audio and video services, Apple Maps and various other digital services for years, which are constantly growing and bringing thick margins. Williams will be replaced by Sabih Khan, who previously worked under him. The position is of great importance, as the COO ensures that Apple’s complex supply and manufacturer chain runs like clockwork. In view of the many millions of products that the company has manufactured, this task alone is enormous.