The post-Jobs Apple is here, like it or not

For those looking for signs of change in a post-Steve Jobs Apple, yesterday was your day.

No, it wasn't a miss on earnings, or a product that was perceived to be disappointingly iterative instead of groundbreaking. Nor was it an ad campaign that just felt a bit off.

The changes came as part of one of the most drastic adjustments to Apple's top management since Jobs stepped down, and at a time when Apple finds itself on the defensive. The company has missed Wall Street's earnings expectations for two straight quarters and it is still smarting after a rare technology flub surrounding its foray into mapping software. Meanwhile, Apple's retail stores, a veritable money machine for the company, have been tarnished with reports of cutbacks and mismanagement.

So it was that CEO Tim Cook lowered the boom on two of Apple's top executives -- one in charge of iOS, the other in charge of retail. Recent hire John Browett is out of his retail gig immediately, while iOS chief Scott Forstall is set to leave next year.

The departures are not the first for Apple since Cook took over, though the first one was a bit of a false start that's been temporarily reversed. Bob Mansfield, who announced plans to retire as the chief of hardware for the company in June, ended up staying on at the company as part of a management shuffle in August. Yesterday Apple said he'd once again be running a group that's now expanded to cover its semiconductor and wireless efforts, the foundational lifeblood of its mobile hardware business.

What's driving curiosity, though, is Forstall's departure, which is now being reported as an ouster. Whatever the reason, the change has once again brought up Apple's succession plan, something that has not been questioned since Jobs passed away last year. In the years leading up to that event, and throughout separate bouts of sick leave, the big question was just who was going to run the show after Jobs.