Apple's Rising Star: Craig Federighi

 

At Apple’s developer conference one of the company's lesser-known executives got the most airtime and strong reviews. Jessica Lessin explains why Craig Federighi is emerging as the new frontmen after the death of Steve Jobs.

A new frontman for Apple Inc. AAPL -0.29%is emerging.

At the company's annual developers conference Monday, little-known executive Craig Federighi got the most airtime during the keynote—and strong reviews.

With the spotlight came an important task for the senior vice president of software engineering: maintaining the loyalty of developers and impressing technology insiders with Apple's latest software and designs.

The lanky, 44-year-old engineer has a long Apple pedigree. He worked at Next, the other computer company founded by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and joined Apple when it acquired the company in 1997.

But despite earning the respect of colleagues for his focus and affability, he has remained behind the scenes for years. Mr. Federighi spent much of his career working on enterprise software, which has never been Apple's focus.

Now, impressing developers, consumers and investors—many of whom have never heard of him—remains a tall task under an intense spotlight.

Mr. Federighi assumed the new role in October, when he stepped into the shoes of controversial mobile software chief Scott Forstall, who was widely admired by developers but pushed out of the company amid management clashes. Since then, Mr. Federighi has been running Apple's mobile and Mac software groups, responsible for the features that power the iPhone, iPad and Mac.

On Monday, he took center stage to show off Apple's forthcoming Mac and mobile operating systems. The hallmark of the latter was a new interface overseen by Apple's design guru Jonathan Ive. But Mr. Ive—who has long refrained from taking the stage—sat in the audience in a white T-shirt, appearing only through pre-shot video demonstrations, as is his custom.

It was Mr. Federighi who did the grand half-hour demo.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to make Mr. Federighi available for comment.

Mr. Federighi's rise caps a long climb that began alongside Mr. Forstall—but quickly diverged.

In the early 1990s, both were bright, rising stars at Next, where Mr. Forstall worked on technologies behind consumer software and Mr. Federighi worked on databases. While Mr. Federighi developed a reputation as an enterprise guru, Mr. Forstall closely aligned himself with the consumer side and Mr. Jobs.

When they joined Apple, Mr. Forstall assumed more responsibilities for Apple's software designs, including the Mac interface. Mr. Federighi started looking for new options.

He left for enterprise software company Ariba, which sold software to help companies manage their spending, and eventually became its chief technology officer.

He was recruited back to Apple in 2009 to lead Mac software engineering and took on more responsibilities over time. His relationship with Mr. Forstall was more amicable than other Apple executives, a person who has worked with both men said.

Several people who know both men said Mr. Federighi is similar to CEO Tim Cook, with both men preferring to get consensus on decisions. Mr. Fortsall, on the other hand, took his cues from Mr. Jobs, who was more confrontational.

"Scott and Craig are incredibly bright but Craig is more compatible with Tim," the person who knows both men said.

Mr. Forstall didn't return a request for comment.

In recent months, Mr. Federighi's leadership was key to getting the developer version of the software out of the door, say Apple employees.

Parts of iOS 7 were already in the works, these people say. But they say that he was instrumental in the release and pulling it all together.

After taking over last October, people close to the company said he immediately addressed with his new and old team to say he would take his time in considering how to combine them, according to people briefed on the meeting. He opted to keep a number of functions separate, they say, despite some overlap in the groups.

These people say some decisions have taken longer than under Mr. Forstall, as Mr. Federighi spends more time building consensus.

Mr. Federighi is also known as one of the most responsive Apple executives, frequently replying to emails promptly. He often declines social invitations, other people say, citing the need to work.

On stage Monday, he was far from a geeky engineer.

Dressed in jeans and a blue button down, he strolled across the Moscone Center stage in San Francisco showing off everything from new ways to use multiple screens with a Mac to upgrades to the Safari Web browser.

Mr. Federighi appeared at ease responding to the audience and paused to say he, too, liked certain features when they cheered.

He also took aim at the old iOS designs Apple is ditching, including an oft-maligned "Game Center' app with a backdrop that resembles a felt-covered poker table. "We completely ran out of green felt and wood," he said, in describing the updated look, which is sparser and has a white backdrop.

Earlier, in explaining the rationale for switching the nomenclature of Apple's new Mac OS X software to California themes from cats, he said: "We do not want to be the first software release in history to be delayed by a lack of cats."

Developers said they were impressed with the performance.

Nik Fletcher, product manager for app maker Realmac Software Ltd., said Mr. Federighi was "personable, effusive and passionate about all the stuff he was announcing," at Monday's keynote, which he watched from the audience. "You could say he set the tone and personality for the new Apple that appeared yesterday."