Scott Forstall is Apple Next’s ‘CEO-In-Waiting’ According to Upcoming Book ‘Inside Apple’

Scott Forstall is the head of Apple’s iOS division and is an ambitious executive for the Cupertino-based company. Last October, he was profiled by Bloomberg Businessweek as a ‘mini’ version of Steve Jobs, down to the nitty gritty details. He even drives the same car as Jobs–a silver Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG.

Now, according to the new book Inside Apple from Fortune editor Adam Lashinsky, Scott Forstall is seen as the future CEO of Apple, should the time come when Tim Cook is no longer available:

According to Lashinsky’s new book Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired — and Secretive — Company Really Works, senior vice president Scott Forstall stands out among the rest of Apple’s executive team as the most likely to succeed Steve Jobs once the Tim Cook era is over.

“If there’s a knock on Forstall,” writes Lashinsky, “it’s that he wears his ambition in plainer view than the typical Apple executive. He blatantly accumulated influence in recent years, including, it is whispered, when Jobs was on medical leave.”

Forstall worked closely under Steve Jobs straight out of college and has his name on about 50 Apple patents. As for him being groomed to be the next Apple CEO? That’s surely possible, but in this very moment Tim Cook remains the man in charge, as put in place by Steve Jobs. Scott Forstall is an integral part of Apple and his time will come, but right now he is the mastermind in charge of iOS and that’s all we should be focusing on.

[via Apple 2.0]