Scott Forstall, Apple’s “mini-Steve”

Bloomberg has published a lengthy profile on Scott Forstall, Apple’s SVP of iOS.

Forstall has been one of Apple’s fastest rising stars since the iPhone launched in 2007, and has done an incredible job advancing the iOS platform, which now generates the majority of Apple’s revenue. And he’s one of the execs that Tim Cook will need to count on the most now that Steve Jobs is gone.

In many ways, Forstall is a mini-Steve. He’s a hard-driving manager who obsesses over every detail. He has Jobs’s knack for translating technical, feature-set jargon into plain English. He’s known to have a taste for the Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG, in silver, the same car Jobs drove, and even has a signature on-stage costume: black shoes, jeans, and a black zippered sweater. (He favors Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirts for normal days at the office.)

Forstall is like Steve in one other important way: He can be, in what some of his co-workers might call an understatement, a polarizing figure.

It’s been interesting to watch Forstall grow as a public speaker over the years, as he’s become a more important figure both within Apple and as a public representative of the company.

When he first started participating in Apple’s product keynotes a few years ago, he seemed a little robotic. But this past summer, on stage at WWDC, he really seemed to come alive — especially during a live demo onstage with Apple marketing VP Greg Joswiak. It seems Forstall has grown into the idea that he’s one of the people really running Apple today.

Also: Refreshing Apple’s org chart