Tim Cook explains executive shakeup: 'It's all about collaboration'

Cook spoke about the shakeup during a lengthy interview with Bloomberg Business week that was published on Thursday. While Cook didn't specifically name Forstall in his explanation of the shakeup, his comments certainly didn't dismiss reports that suggest Forstall was fired for not being a team player at the company. Father of the iPod Tony Fadell even claims that people were cheering in Cupertino when they heard the news that Forstall would be leaving.

During the interview, reporter Josh Tyrangiel asked: "How did those moves make Apple better, which is a polite way of saying, what was wrong"

"The key in the change that you're referencing is my deep belief that collaboration in essential for innovation - and I didn't just start believing that. I've always believed that," said Cook. "It's always been a core belief at Apple. Steve very deeply believed in this." (See also: Tim Cook describes CEO transition with Steve Jobs: 'I was surprised, I thought Steve was getting better')

Cook said that he wanted to ensure that Apple takes its already "enormous" level of collaboration even higher. "There are many things. But the one thing we do, which I think no one else does, is integrate hardware, software, and services in such a way that most consumers begin to not differentiate anymore."

"You have to be an A-plus at collaboration," Cook continued. "And so the changes that we made get us to a whole new level of collaboration."