Apple Taps Steve Dowling as Interim Head of PR

AppleApple reportedly turned to Steve Dowling, a veteran in the company's public relations department, to be the interim head. Mr. Dowling will be replacing Katie Cotton, Apple's legendary PR boss, who left the company earlier this year.

Re/code's John Paczkowski reported the move on Thursday, but Mr. Dowling was promoted as early as last week. Apple confirmed the move, but Mr. Paczkowski's original sources said that the promotion was billed as an "interim" move. That means it might or might not be permanent, and it stems from Apple's search for someone outside the company coming up empty.

Why does this matter to you, the Apple fan and/or customer? Not much on a day to day basis, but whoever heads Apple's PR department will set the tone for what and how much information gets released to the press, and therefore to you.

Mr. Dowling is well-respected, he knows Apple, he worked for Katie Cotton, the late Steve Jobs, and for Tim Cook. What direction he takes PR remains to be seen, but I am personally guessing it will be more open than in the past. Time will tell.