A few days ago the Chief People Officer at Apple — Carol Surface — left the company after less than two years of working there. This wasn’t some minor role either: it was created specifically for Surface and she reported directly to CEO Tim Cook. Surface helped Apple separate its retail division from its HR operations. According to reports, the company decided to eliminate her position and let her go.
Now, Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s top recruiter has also left the company. Sjoerd Gehring has worked at Apple for around six years and handled talent management, recruiting, administration and immigration. Gehring’s decision to leave for Miami-based firm Citadel may be in response to the elimination of Carol Surface’s position at Apple.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri is also leaving the company after over 10 years. It seems Tim Cook’s strategy to keep investors around after Steve Job’s passing may finally be coming to an end. Which raises the question, is he next in line?
The company has definitely lost its grip on quality assurance lately, and its ventures into other fields (Apple car and Vision Pro) haven’t panned out too successfully either. But it still remains one of the biggest corporations in the world with a very loyal customer base. Question is, for how long?
Apple’s newest gamble seems to be robotics. Gurman has revealed that the company is working on an iPad robot with plans for eventually developing humanoid robots as well. And let’s not forget that Apple is still interested in making something similar to Meta’s Orion AR glasses.
But I don’t think Apple can afford to continue stumbling around trying to see what sticks, even with its billions in budget.