Tim Cook Seeking 'Friendlier, More Approachable Face' for Apple with New PR Chief Hire

With the retirement of Apple's longtime public relations chief Katie Cotton having become official as of May 30, the company is now looking for her successor. according to Re/code, Tim Cook is personally overseeing the search and is seeking some external candidates who could put a "friendlier, more approachable face" on the company even as Apple has several in-house candidates who could step into the role.

[T]hough there are at least two well-qualified internal candidates for the job — comms veterans Steve Dowling and Nat Kerris — Apple is also looking outside the company for Cotton’s replacement. Sources in position to know tell Code/red that CEO Tim Cook is overseeing the search, aiming to find some high-profile external candidates for consideration. And he’s paying particular attention to those he believes could put a friendlier, more approachable face on Apple’s public relations efforts.

craig_federighi_photo_op

Apple software chief Craig Federighi posed for numerous photos with WWDC attendees (Photo: @alexford)

While there have been signs that Apple has been opening up a bit under Tim Cook's watch, that evolution took a significant step forward at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference with the company making a number changes such as loosening non-disclosure restrictions on developers and making session materials available to the public.

Developers in general reported a much greater feeling of openness from Apple at the event, from the confident and friendly attitudes of Apple's executives and engineers to the developer "love letter" that was WWDC with the host of new tools for helping developers build better apps for iOS and OS X.

Popular Stories

iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
watchOS 11 Thumb 2 1

Apple Releases watchOS 11.4 With Sleep Alarm Update

Tuesday April 1, 2025 10:34 am PDT by
Apple today released watchOS 11.4, the fourth major update to the operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 11.4 is compatible with the Apple Watch Series 6 and later, all Apple Watch Ultra models, and the Apple Watch SE 2. watchOS 11.4 can be downloaded on a connected iPhone by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update. To install the new software,...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday March 31, 2025 11:27 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware updates for all AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 models. The new firmware is version 7E93, up from the 7B21 firmware that was installed on the AirPods Pro 2 and the 7B20 firmware available on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in the new firmware, but we'll update this article should we find ...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight

Tuesday April 1, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Visa wants to pay Apple approximately $100 million to be the new payment network for the Apple Card, reports The Wall Street Journal. As of right now, the Apple Card is on the Mastercard payment network, but that is set to change because Apple is ending its partnership with Goldman Sachs. Both American Express and Visa are vying to replace Mastercard as Apple's card services provider, while...
iOS 18

Apple Seeds First Beta of iOS 18.5 to Developers

Wednesday April 2, 2025 10:11 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming just two days after Apple released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. iOS 18.5 and iPadOS 18.5 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. We don't yet know what Apple is introducing in the iOS 18.5...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
141 months ago
Honestly, you couldn't get much friendlier or more approachable then Mr. Federighi, there.



</mancrush>
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tankmaze Avatar
141 months ago
Tim, you should find more people like Craig Federighi :D
Love the guy!
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr Fusion Avatar
141 months ago
Steve jobs was a tyrant that turned apple around

Why be friendly when that was successful?
Ugh... "Hey, Steve Jobs was a complete d**k and was wildly successful, so I can be too!"

Steve's success had to do with his attention to detail, his ability to surround himself with talent, his showmanship and his rejection of anything that didn't meet his high standard of quality.

Being an ***hole was Steve's way of motivating others to succeed. It's one way, but not the ONLY way and certainly not the best way.

And until someone with people skills becomes as successful as Steve, I'll have to continue hearing how being an a** is the only thing that works.

:rolleyes:

... Someone nice & successful step up? Pretty please!! :D
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
appleguy123 Avatar
141 months ago
Craig is awesome. I laughed out loud when he did the metal sign during the presentation. He might be a better presenter even than Steve Jobs.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJ Reilly Avatar
141 months ago
This would have never happened if Steve was alive.

And that's the truth.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
141 months ago
Honestly, you couldn't get much friendlier or more approachable then Mr. Federighi, there. </mancrush>

Yep. And if you search Instagram, both Federighi and Ive were quite generous taking photos with lots of WWDC attendees.





Reminds me of a tweet from a developer that John Gruber re-tweeted a couple days ago:

My 2¢: for the past few years it's felt like Apple's only goal was to put us in our place. Now it feels like they might want to be friends.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)