Former iOS Chief Scott Forstall to Attend Virtual Coding Event This Week [Updated]

Former Apple executive and iOS chief Scott Forstall will make a rare public appearance this week at Code.org's Code Break event. He will appear alongside Grammy Award winning rapper and songwriter Macklemore.

scott forstall original iphone

Forstall was Apple's Vice President of iOS from 2007 until 2012

Described as the "world's largest live interactive classroom," Code Break aims to engage with computer science students during the ongoing stay-at-home measures, and features weekly computer science challenges for students of all abilities, even those without computers.

Forstall was reportedly ousted from Apple in October 2012, following the botched launch of Apple Maps. Forstall has maintained a quiet presence since then, although he did sit down with journalist John Markoff for an interview at the Computer History Museum in June 2017. Otherwise his main focus has been Broadway production.


Anyone interested can sign up at the Code.org website, which has more information about the event. The Code Break stream is live every Wednesday at 10.00 a.m. Pacific Time / 1.00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Update: The full video is now available to watch.

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
vision pro video recording

WSJ: Some Apple Vision Pro Buyers 'Feel Total Regret'

Friday May 16, 2025 7:43 am PDT by
Apple's Vision Pro headset has left many early adopters expressing dissatisfaction over its weight, limited use cases, and sparse software ecosystem, according to a new article from The Wall Street Journal. In the year following the device's launch, user feedback suggests that it has failed to meet expectations for comfort, software support, and social acceptance. In interviews conducted by T...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Could Debut Advanced Silicon Battery Tech

Friday May 16, 2025 8:00 am PDT by
The upcoming all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air could become the first Apple smartphone to adopt advanced battery technology, with Japanese supplier TDK preparing to ship its new generation of silicon-anode batteries by the end of June. According to DigiTimes, TDK CEO Noboru Saito revealed in a recent interview that the Apple supplier has accelerated its production timeline, moving shipments...

Top Rated Comments

Aluminum213 Avatar
65 months ago
The king returns...
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
insomniac86 Avatar
65 months ago

Forstall's fetish for skeuomorphism went too far...



At least it was creative. I still prefer it over the mess of UI inconsistency today. Each to their own though.


...Of what? Didn’t he singly almost destroy Apple Maps?
It was ****** TomTom data that was the issue, he was kicked for not publicly saying sorry. But like why should he? It wasn't his call to ditch Google Maps.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miniyou64 Avatar
65 months ago

Forstall's fetish for skeuomorphism went too far...
No. It was perfect.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kemal Avatar
65 months ago
I would take an overdose of skeuomorphism just to get iOS 6 look and feel back. F- this flat no contrast crap.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diego.caraballo Avatar
65 months ago
You can love skeuomorphism or you can hate it, that's perfectly fine with me. One thing is very clear, iOS on Scott leadership was ROCK SOLID...it was extremely rare the need to reset the iPhone/iPad...today, well, it's a weekly thing. Sometimes you don't need to, because a seven-days-apart "fixes" that you need to install do the restarting thing for you.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
57004 Avatar
65 months ago

At least it was creative. I still prefer it over the mess of UI inconsistency today. Each to their own though.

I agree... The flat design is boring and less interesting. The skeuomorphism should have been toned down a bit but I think it was essentially a good thing and it made iOS special. I've never really taken to it since.

I wonder what iOS would have been like now if they had kept Scott in charge of UX and left Jony to do only hardware design. I bet it would have been a lot more interesting.

The flat design worked really well for Android because before Material Design that was basically a cluster**** of different design paradigms. It was simply better because it had a design direction at all :) But iOS before version 7 was more human and more engaging IMO.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)