As with unifying its hardware and software experience, developing closer ties between its two major platforms is doubtlessly an important part of Apple's strategy in the years ahead, and putting both under the aegis of a single executive can help insure that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing.

Services have never been Apple's strong point. From the company's eWorld online service of the 1990s to the last decade's revolving door of Internet offerings--iTools, .Mac, MobileMe, iCloud--Cupertino has taken a lot of flack, much of it earned, for unreliability and missing features.

There are, however, bright spots in the mix, particularly the iTunes Store and its affiliated App Store and iBookstore. (It doesn't hurt that they generate revenue at a healthy clip.) As such, it's no surprise that Monday's reshuffle saw two of Apple's lately problematic service-based features, Siri and Maps, assigned to senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue. Cue's no stranger to taking on damaged goods: He previously assumed control of and after those services' somewhat lackluster launches.

Like MobileMe and iAd, Siri and Maps have both suffered severe criticism after their respective launches. Apple's virtual assistant was dinged for its unreliability in understanding people and its ; while the company has improved that somewhat in subsequent updates, , many still see the feature as more of a novelty than anything else. (My colleague Lex Friedman .) The has been even more vociferous.