Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:

When Apple announced the pending departure of Chief Design Officer Jony Ive last month, it threw the spotlight on an executive few outsiders know: Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who has now also taken over the company’s legendary design studio. This added fiefdom makes Williams unambiguously the second-most important person at Apple and Tim Cook’s heir apparent as CEO. And he’s very much in the mold of the current chief executive: a paragon of operational efficiency and even temper not prone to quite the same highs and lows of Cook’s more visionary predecessor, Steve Jobs.

This is a thoughtful read. Two points that spring to mind for me. First, Apple investors should take heart in the fact that Jeff Williams is there, in place and very involved in the day-to-day product path and operations, well versed in the mechanics that make the Apple machine run, ready to step in if needed.

Second, there’s this:

Williams took over leadership of the Apple Watch development team in 2013 after pitching the smartwatch’s use as a health tool, and spoke for the first time at a product launch in 2015, announcing the company’s health research efforts.

The marriage of Apple Watch and health is a huge win for Apple, a visionary move, not a bean-counter move. Put that one in Jeff Williams’ column.