With the departure of John Browett and Scott Forstall, Eddy Cue, a longtime Apple executive who led its transformation into the world's largest music retailer, now has full control over Siri and Apple's homegrown mapping service.
As CNET'S Greg Sandoval writes, Cue has become "Mr. Fix-It," and he might be just the guy to revive Siri and Apple Maps. Here's why:
- Cue started out working in Apple's IT department. In the late '90s, he helped build Apple's online store. While we take it for granted now that we can buy computers directly from manufacturers online, it was a big move at the time—and gave Apple a foundation in e-commerce that Jobs later credited as crucial for creating iTunes.
- As Apple's e-commerce guru, it was natural for Cue to get the job of building the iTunes Music Store, a key factor in the success of Apple's iPod business. He struck deals with wary record labels, and eventually turned Apple into the largest music retailer in the world.
- When negotiations over music licenses stalled between Apple and Warner Music Group in 2006, Cue refused to give into Warner's demands for price flexibility. He also wouldn't budge on letting other non-Apple MP3 players use iTunes downloads. That lock on customers' music libraries helped set the stage for the iPhone's success, since it could play iTunes downloads that other phones couldn't.
- In 2009, Cue prevented a war between Apple and major record companies. When labels demanded month-to-month contracts instead of multiyear agreements, Cue agreed—but cooled down heated discussions by pointing out that conflict didn't help anyone. He also gave in to demands for variable pricing—knowing that increased competition from the likes of Amazon required a more flexible approach in negotiations. Apple kept its top position in music, and iTunes has sold more than 20 billion songs to date.
- By 2009, music had become less important to Apple. The thing that kept people loyal to Apple was apps for their iPhone—and Cue oversaw the App Store, too.
- Cue hasn't been successful at everything. Apple's iBookstore and movie and TV offerings haven't done as well as music on iTunes. And Apple just delayed the latest release of its iTunes software. But that hasn't dented Cue's reputation within Apple.
- When MobileMe, Apple's collection of Web services like email and calendar, flopped bigtime, Cue got responsibility for fixing it. iCloud has gotten better reviews, though it still lags behind Google's Web offerings.
Now Cue has to fix Siri and Maps, two heavily-criticized online offerings from Apple. Where Google does most of its voice and mapping technology in-house, Siri and Maps both depend heavily on partners like Yelp and TomTom. But integrating their content elegantly into a unified offering isn't as simple as selling 99-cent tracks. Cue's got a tough job. The good news for Apple is that he's done tough jobs before.
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