Apple on Monday announced executive management changes that will happen next year, when several key executive leave the company. As the company’s heads of iOS development and retail stores step down from Apple, other executives get new responsibilities and the company gets slightly restructured, the first major change made by chief executive officer Tim Cook.

Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to chief executive officer Tim Cook in the interim. Mr. Forstall was one of the most influential executives at Apple in the last five years, who was responsible for development of software for the iPhone and the iPad, the two products that radically transformed Apple and made it one of the leading consumer electronics makers on the planet. At some point, Mr. Forstall was even considered as a possible successor for Tim Cook on the position of the chief executive officer of the company.

John Browett, senior vice president of retail who joined Apple early this year, is also leaving Apple. A search for a new head of retail is underway and in the interim, the retail team will report directly to Tim Cook.

As a result of the two departures and some other changes within the company, Jonathan “Jony” Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will add more responsibilities to their roles.

Jony Ive will provide leadership and direction for human interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of industrial design. Mr. Ive’s incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.

Eddy Cue will take on the additional responsibility of Siri and Maps, placing all of our online services in one group. This organization has overseen major successes such as the iTunes Store, the App Store, the iBookstore and iCloud. This group has a successful track record of building and strengthening Apple’s online services to meet and exceed the high expectations of the company’s customers.

Craig Federighi will lead both iOS and OS X. This move brings together the OS teams to make it easier to deliver the best technology and user experience innovations to both platforms.

Bob Mansfield will lead a new group – called Technologies – which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organization, fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level. This organization will also include the semiconductor teams, who have ambitious plans for the future.

Tags: Apple, iOS, Mac OS, OS X, Macintosh, Mac, iMac, macbook, iPhone, iPad