Eddy Cue profile in WSJ

HIGH iCUE: Apple’s oft-mentioned but seldom-quoted iTunes guru Eddy Cue is profiled in this morning’s Wall Street Journal—for which he declined to be interviewed, as usual. In Jessica Lessin’s piece, we learn that Cue, a Miami native of Cuban descent, has spent 23 of his 48 years with the company, that he’s uncomfortable onstage and that he’s a hard-core fan of Duke basketball. Cue has lately managed crises related to Apple's mobile maps and iCloud and iMessage outages, Lessin points out. He has taken on iBooks and the iAd service and oversees the App Store. He urged current boss Tim Cook to develop the iPad mini, based on his own usage of a seven-inch tablet, which Steve Jobs had denounced. And when iPhone software chief Scott Forstall was ousted last month, Cue inherited two of Apple's newest Internet services: Maps and Siri. The piece was occasioned by the imminent launch of iTunes 11, which is more closely integrated with iCloud and resembles the mobile version of the software. Cue "is in charge of all the most important services if Apple wants to grow," said Anthony Soohoo, a former CBS media exec who got to know the affable Apple veteran at the negotiating table. In related news, #2 Duke rallied to beat #4 Ohio State last night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. (11/29a)