Steve Dowling's Role as Apple PR Chief Now Permanent - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Steve Dowling's Role as Apple PR Chief Now Permanent

by

Longtime Apple public relations veteran Steve Dowling was today added to Apple's executive page, marking his official promotion to Vice President of Communications.

The role has been open since Katie Cotton retired in 2014, but Steve Dowling has been serving as the interim head of public relations for several months now. His position was initially temporary as Apple searched for other high-profile external candidates, but it appears Apple could not find a suitable external candidate to fill the role.

stevedowlingprchief
Following Katie Cotton's departure from Apple, Tim Cook was reportedly searching for a "friendlier" PR chief with a "more approachable face" to take over, to continue on with Apple's trend of being more open under Tim Cook's leadership.

Dowling has worked for Apple for twelve years and before taking over Cotton's former role, he served as the senior director of corporate public relations at the company. Before that he worked at CNBC's Washington Bureau for eight years.

Top Rated Comments

145 months ago
Blah, blah. Where's my watch?!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
illegalprelude Avatar
145 months ago
but it appears Apple could not find a suitable person to fill the role.

uuuhhh. They did. It's Steve Dowling. Just because he's not an outside hire doesn't mean they didn't find a "suitable person"
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jclo Avatar
145 months ago
uuuhhh. They did. It's Steve Dowling. Just because he's not an outside hire doesn't mean they didn't find a "suitable person"

Was referring to the previous sentence that specified external candidates, but since it's not clear I updated the post.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Apple Card Promo to Offer Free AirPods Pro 3

Friday May 15, 2026 8:59 am PDT by
Starting as early as next week, customers who sign up for an Apple Card at Apple's retail stores in the U.S. will receive $249 cash back when they purchase AirPods Pro 3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The promotion has yet to be officially announced by Apple, so exact terms and conditions are not available at this time. AirPods Pro 3 are priced at $249 in the U.S., so customers who...
Apple WWDC25 iOS 26 CarPlay Light mode 250609

Six Popular iPhone Apps Now Available on CarPlay

Thursday May 14, 2026 9:10 am PDT by
Apple's CarPlay system for accessing iPhone apps on a vehicle's dashboard screen has received six popular apps in recent weeks: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Google Meet, WhatsApp, and the indie artist streaming platform Audiomack. Make sure you have the latest version of each app and they will automatically appear on CarPlay. ChatGPT Starting with iOS 26.4, CarPlay supports voice-based...
ipad mini 7 blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Thursday May 14, 2026 5:08 am PDT by
According to the latest rumors, Apple is close to launching its next-generation iPad mini. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code...