Comment by lapcat | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lapcat | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

From the submitted article:

> Apple Fellow and former marketing SVP Phil Schiller will continue to oversee both of the new divisions.

From Apple:

> Phil Schiller is an Apple Fellow, responsible for leading the App Store and Apple Events." https://www.apple.com/leadership/phil-schiller/

https://9to5mac.com/2024/08/21/app-store-vp-departing-apple-...

> According to his LinkedIn, Fischer currently holds the title of “Vice President, Head of Worldwide App Store and Apple Arcade.” He joined Apple in 2003 and led marketing and partnerships for iTunes before shifting to the App Store in 2010.

> Longtime Apple veteran Carson Oliver will lead the App Store team, while App Store product director Ann Thai will lead the alternative app distribution team. Oliver joined Apple in 2012 and currently serves as Senior Director of Business Management for the App Store. Thai joined Apple in 2010 and worked on Apple’s education apps marketing, eventually becoming “Worldwide Product Director, App Store and Apple Arcade” in January 2020.

Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing.

None of this supports your claim that these roles are "within the marketing department". Phil Schiller is a _former_ marketing VP, a position he left 4 years ago. Carson Oliver has been business management roles his entire tenure at Apple. Ann Thai worked in apps marketing, but moved to product 4 years ago. These execs have marketing experience, but none of them came directly from marketing roles and one has no marketing background. Fischer, the guy who's leaving, hasn't worked in marketing since 2010.

> Phil Schiller is a _former_ marketing VP, a position he left 4 years ago.

"Apple today announced that Phil Schiller will become an Apple Fellow, continuing a storied career that began at Apple in 1987. In this role, which reports to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Schiller will continue to lead the App Store and Apple Events." https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/08/phil-schiller-advance...

Schiller will continue [emphasis mine] to lead the App Store. In other words, he was already leading the App Store before he stepped back from SVP of marketing to be an "Apple Fellow".

Schiller's entire career has been marketing and nothing but marketing.

Admittedly, the App Store isn't under "Joz", who is the currently SVP of marketing, but let's not pretend that Schiller is anything other than marketing. Schiller has a special place at Apple because of his long tenure and relationship with Steve Jobs. Essentially, he has his own mini marketing team now (and continues to report directly to the CEO).

The main difference is that Schiller used to be the public face of Apple. Now Joz is the public face, and Schiller is more behind the scenes. But he certainly didn't magically transform from marketing to product security at age 60.

> These execs have marketing experience, but none of them came directly from marketing roles

App Store at Apple is a marketing role.

Now you're not only moving the goalposts, you're fabricating your own! App Store is not organized under marketing at Apple. Simple as that. You think there are too many "marketing types" running the App Store. Fine. That's not what you said and now you're trying to rationalize it.

You're being pedantic. It's a distinction without a difference. The OP said, "AppStore came out of iTunes and has always been part of services under Eddy Cue", but it's actually been a very long time since Cue was in charge of the App Store. Schiller became the head of the App Store while he was still SVP of marketing and continues to be the head of the App Store today.

App Store is absolutely organized under marketing at Apple. Not under Joz, as I've already said, but under Schiller. Both are marketing. "Apple Fellow" is a euphemism, a term of marketing!

If I would have said on August 3, 2020 that the App Store is within the marketing department, there would have been no dispute. The only change on August 4, 2020 was that Schiller gave up some of his responsibilities to Joz, but Schiller still retained some, such as the App Store.

App Store is not under Eddie Cue and services. It's not under Craig Federighi and software engineering. It's not under Apple Product Security. It's not under Jeff Williams and operations. What would you call it, if not marketing?

For reference, Schiller became head of the App Store in 2015: https://techcrunch.com/2015/12/17/apple-promotes-jeff-willia...

Schiller reports to Cook. You are literally making things up to suit a definition of "organized under marketing" that no one uses.

> Schiller reports to Cook.

Yes, and? I already mentioned that fact twice, two comments ago. Schiller has been reporting to Cook ever since Cook became CEO in 2011. Before that, Schiller reported to Steve Jobs.

> You are literally making things up to suit a definition of "organized under marketing" that no one uses.

I ask again: What would you call it, if not marketing?

I think you made a fair point AppStore is now under Schiller who reports directly to Cook, no longer under Eddy Cue. AppStore is big enough to be its own group not having to answers to service, software, or marketing. It's a digital goods store more parallel to retail.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com