Ousted Apple exec Scott Forstall reportedly advising startups, focusing on philanthropy
Not much has been heard of former iOS head Scott Forstall since he was fired from Apple in 2012, but a report published on Monday claims to shed some light on the ousted executive's activities over the past year.
Context & Ripple Effects
Forstall's arc runs from heir apparent to exile: Business Week profiled him as Jobs's 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' in October 2011, and Fortune reported in May 2012 that the CEO-in-waiting had sold 95% of his Apple shares — months before the October 2012 regime change removed him from the company entirely.
Monday's report, carried by at least eight outlets including The Information and MacRumors, is the first substantive word on what he has done since — claiming, per relationships logged as unconfirmed, that he is advising startups and turning to philanthropy. It lands weeks after John Sculley gave Forbes his most detailed account yet of how Apple once fired Steve Jobs, keeping the company's history of ousted executives squarely in circulation.
First-order effects
- Startups taking Forstall on as an adviser gain an operator who ran iOS through its defining growth years — a recruiting and credibility signal few other advisers can match.
- The report closes a year of near-total public silence since his 2012 firing, giving Apple watchers their first read on whether he intends to stay outside big-company operations.
Second-order effects
- Other ex-Apple executives weighing post-Apple moves now have a template between Sculley-style retrospective commentary and a return to an operating role: paid advisory work plus philanthropy.
- Venture firms and accelerators courting Apple alumni as mentors face new competition for Forstall specifically, since his iOS tenure maps directly onto the mobile-app ecosystem those funds invest in.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — a once-anointed successor exiting into advisory and philanthropic work rather than another C-suite job — it reinforces the structural reality that Apple's leadership pipeline produces executives whose market value after departure lies in judgment and brand, not succession.
- Each such departure adds to the pool of former insiders shaping startups and commentary around Apple from the outside, gradually diffusing institutional knowledge the company no longer controls.
The trend: High-profile Apple executives who leave or are pushed out increasingly recycle into advisory, investing, and philanthropic roles that keep them influential in mobile without returning to corporate operations.