Greg Joswiak will replace Phil Schiller as SVP of Worldwide Marketing; Schiller becomes an Apple Fellow and will continue to lead the App Store and Apple Events
iPhone! — they couldn't have made it any more clear that he was next in line. Neil Cybart / @neilcybart : @jammasternate Many of those names worked at Apple for some time while also having the title. It wasn't necessarily an “ok, I have the title and now I'm out of here” thing. There's more nuance. @tinch : Well, that was unexpected. https://www.cnbc.com/... StineBauer Dahlberg / @stine : fun story: i was so nervous presenting app store stuff to @pschiller that i wore the exact same outfit every time 2x month for 5-6 months because somehow i didn't want to jinx it by changing *anything* of what worked. and i'm very not superstitious. https://twitter.com/... M.G. Siegler / @mgsiegler : I appreciate that the role of “Apple Fellow” sounds downright Tolkien-esque. As if Schiller will now be prancing through the woods with Tom Bombadil. 🍎 https://twitter.com/... Mike Elgan / @mikeelgan : Bullshit word of the moment: “advances” https://www.apple.com/... Neil Cybart / @neilcybart : By the way, “Apple Fellow” is actually a thing at Apple. https://twitter.com/... Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : Phil has been preparing to go for quite a while now; I dunno if anybody reported on it but the rumor has been percolating for the best part of a year, and seemingly backed up by changes made at Apple. Now it's official https://twitter.com/... John Gallaugher / @gallaugher : Biggest privilege as an educator & finest experiences I've shared w/students have been master-classes w/BC alum, Apple's @pschiller 2x a year. From iPhone launch event to inspiration for scores of BC technologists, we're grateful you've shared your journey https://www.apple.com/... https://twitter.com/... Lauren Masks Are Goode / @laurengoode : As @CNBC story notes, some big changes in Apple's top ranks over the past couple years. Ive (design), Ahrendts (retail), Dowling (PR), and now a new Schiller role https://www.cnbc.com/... @dhh : In the thirty years Schiller has been at Apple, the company has gone from being the perpetual underdogs tethering on the brink of disaster to a conglomerate owning or ruling everything. I bet you it was more fun to be the rebels than the empire. https://www.cnbc.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Also: Schiller is still in charge of the App Store, which is at the heart of all the antitrust scrutiny against the company. His job's not over. (Unless he decides to leave that role soon as well.) https://www.cnbc.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : Phil Schiller just became the third Apple fellow ever. The first two were Granny Smith and a woman known only as the Pink Lady Jesse Dorogusker / @jessedorogusker : In my years at Apple, Tony and Joz together set a very high standard for executive engagement and review, *intense* curiosity, relentless questions, unexpected ability to listen and re-incorporate, and making great, tough decisions. Bravo and congrats, Joz! https://twitter.com/... Matthew Panzarino / @panzer : Joz is overall a bit more informal and colloquial, but no less informed and on mission. He's generally frank and willing to mix it up about Apple products. You can see some of this publicly in his appearances at @gruber's Talk Show live https://daringfireball.net/... Matthew Panzarino / @panzer : Joz is incredibly well liked and respected inside Apple, so this transition is bound to be smooth. If Phil wanted chill then it makes sense to have an experienced hand who already did much leading here as he transitions into what appears to be headed for an advisory role. Steve Troughton-Smith / @stroughtonsmith : If I had to guess, I imagine Schiller might remain ‘in charge of App Store’ until antitrust stuff shakes out and somebody needs to be held accountable for its actions & policies. I can't imagine anybody wants to take it over and have that be the first thing they have to deal with Matthew Panzarino / @panzer : Though Joz' stage time has been less than Phil's over the years, he's also been out front more and more and he's more than capable of front end messaging work at Apple events (and in press briefings). Walt Mossberg / @waltmossberg : Ive been following tech for so long that I first met @pschiller when he was NOT working at @Apple, which might seem incredible to many now. At the time, he was between stints at Apple, working at Macromedia. John Paczkowski / @johnpaczkowski : big deal and also makes perfect sense. phil has been sprinting for years (reminder that he was the first apple exec to fill in for steve for an event keynote https://t.co/...). joz has launched many of the products in our pockets, backpacks and ears https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Schiller is the fourth Apple exec to leave the company's leadership team in the last couple years after Ive, Ahrendts, and Dowling. https://www.cnbc.com/... Dieter Bohn / @backlon : Greag Joswiak is taking over VP of worldwide marketing from Phil Schiller. Very big news! Don't assume “Marketing” means what it does at other companies, either. It's the central org for most of the stuff you care about from Apple. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/... Benedict Evans / @benedictevans : (Inside Apple news: Phil Schiller to become an ‘Apple Fellow’. He will continue to provide ‘thought partnership’ (and run the App Store). How has no-one come up with ‘thought partnership’ before? Trust Apple to innovate) Ben Thompson / @benthompson : I think it is a solid bet to assume that Schiller isn't in charge of the App Store in ~6 months or so. https://twitter.com/... Walt Mossberg / @waltmossberg : This is a big deal for @Apple. I know both of these men well. @pschiller has been at the core of the entire Apple renaissance. And Greg Joswiak is a really smart, capable executive who has launched many historic products. Congrats to both!
Apple
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second time Apple has reshaped Phil Schiller's portfolio rather than ending his tenure: back in 2015, when Jeff Williams was named COO, Schiller absorbed the App Store on top of marketing. The new move splits that stack in two — Greg Joswiak takes Worldwide Marketing outright, while Schiller stays on as an Apple Fellow holding the App Store and Apple Events.
The timing fits a company whose center of gravity shifted from hardware to services, a transition traced in coverage of the preparations for Jony Ive's departure as software and services overtook devices. Keeping Schiller on the App Store is the load-bearing part of this announcement, not a ceremonial exit.
First-order effects
Greg Joswiak now owns Apple's entire product-marketing function, ending the dual-hat arrangement under which Schiller ran both marketing and the App Store since 2015.
Phil Schiller remains directly accountable for the App Store and Apple Events as an Apple Fellow — the platforms where he now concentrates, rather than a retirement.
Second-order effects
Schiller's continued App Store control lands amid rising developer criticism that the store wins users because it is the only distribution channel, not because it markets well for them — the argument made in coverage of the App Store's lock on users. His defense of the store becomes more central to Apple's public posture as the role narrows.
With marketing handed off, Schiller's residual authority clusters around PR-adjacent and event functions — a gap later addressed by hiring Stella Low to run worldwide communications while he had been overseeing Apple's PR, per related coverage of that communications hire.
Third-order effects
The pattern — long-tenured executives converting line roles into fellowships while keeping strategic assets — points to Apple institutionalizing succession as continuity: the App Store, the service most exposed to regulatory attack, stays with its most experienced defender even as the marketing machine generationalizes.
The trend: Apple is managing its post-founder generation by splitting veteran executives' portfolios — new leaders take the operating roles while fellows retain the strategically contested properties like the App Store.
Transfer of power from my old boss @pschiller is the biggest management change at Apple since Steve Jobs stepped down. Arguably, this has even greater ramifications. His successor Joz (he has no Twitter presence) is amazing & will take Apple to even more amazing heights.
Congrats Joz, well deserved! Kudos @pschiller for decades of service to the Apple community. Happy for both of you Will you continue your calls at the start & the end of every day?!? 😁 Phil Shiller is now an ‘Apple Fellow,’ Greg Joswiak promoted to SVP https://appleinsider.com/..…
@reneritchie “Advancing to Apple fellow” sounds like something out of Scientology. Love the way they just throw that title out there like it's been around for decades
Apple's @pschiller becomes an “Apple Fellow,” and will still oversee App Store - a hugely important area for Apple these days - while longtime marketing exec Greg Joswiak will now fill Schiller's role https://www.cnbc.com/...
When I covered Apple for NYT, I was called in to see Joswiak for an off the record peek at some new iPhone. He said it had the best screen of any phone. To compare I pulled my LG/Android from my pocket. Was later told it was the biggest affront for an Apple exec. https://twitter.…
Congratulations, @pschiller, on being promoted to Apple Fellow, joining Steve Wozniak, Rod Holt, Al Alcorn, Bill Atkinson, Steve Capps, Rich Page, Gurshuran Sidhu, Gary Starkweather, Alan Kay, Don Norman, and Guy Kawasaki.
@panzer It's hard to imagine a smoother transition. When Joz took over product marketing for iPhone — iPhone! — they couldn't have made it any more clear that he was next in line.
@jammasternate Many of those names worked at Apple for some time while also having the title. It wasn't necessarily an “ok, I have the title and now I'm out of here” thing. There's more nuance.
fun story: i was so nervous presenting app store stuff to @pschiller that i wore the exact same outfit every time 2x month for 5-6 months because somehow i didn't want to jinx it by changing *anything* of what worked. and i'm very not superstitious. https://twitter.com/...
I appreciate that the role of “Apple Fellow” sounds downright Tolkien-esque. As if Schiller will now be prancing through the woods with Tom Bombadil. 🍎 https://twitter.com/...
Phil has been preparing to go for quite a while now; I dunno if anybody reported on it but the rumor has been percolating for the best part of a year, and seemingly backed up by changes made at Apple. Now it's official https://twitter.com/...
Biggest privilege as an educator & finest experiences I've shared w/students have been master-classes w/BC alum, Apple's @pschiller 2x a year. From iPhone launch event to inspiration for scores of BC technologists, we're grateful you've shared your journey https://www.apple.com/.…
As @CNBC story notes, some big changes in Apple's top ranks over the past couple years. Ive (design), Ahrendts (retail), Dowling (PR), and now a new Schiller role https://www.cnbc.com/...
In the thirty years Schiller has been at Apple, the company has gone from being the perpetual underdogs tethering on the brink of disaster to a conglomerate owning or ruling everything. I bet you it was more fun to be the rebels than the empire. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Also: Schiller is still in charge of the App Store, which is at the heart of all the antitrust scrutiny against the company. His job's not over. (Unless he decides to leave that role soon as well.) https://www.cnbc.com/...
In my years at Apple, Tony and Joz together set a very high standard for executive engagement and review, *intense* curiosity, relentless questions, unexpected ability to listen and re-incorporate, and making great, tough decisions. Bravo and congrats, Joz! https://twitter.com/..…
Joz is overall a bit more informal and colloquial, but no less informed and on mission. He's generally frank and willing to mix it up about Apple products. You can see some of this publicly in his appearances at @gruber's Talk Show live https://daringfireball.net/...
Joz is incredibly well liked and respected inside Apple, so this transition is bound to be smooth. If Phil wanted chill then it makes sense to have an experienced hand who already did much leading here as he transitions into what appears to be headed for an advisory role.
If I had to guess, I imagine Schiller might remain ‘in charge of App Store’ until antitrust stuff shakes out and somebody needs to be held accountable for its actions & policies. I can't imagine anybody wants to take it over and have that be the first thing they have to deal with
Though Joz' stage time has been less than Phil's over the years, he's also been out front more and more and he's more than capable of front end messaging work at Apple events (and in press briefings).
Ive been following tech for so long that I first met @pschiller when he was NOT working at @Apple, which might seem incredible to many now. At the time, he was between stints at Apple, working at Macromedia.
big deal and also makes perfect sense. phil has been sprinting for years (reminder that he was the first apple exec to fill in for steve for an event keynote https://t.co/...). joz has launched many of the products in our pockets, backpacks and ears https://twitter.com/...
Schiller is the fourth Apple exec to leave the company's leadership team in the last couple years after Ive, Ahrendts, and Dowling. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Greag Joswiak is taking over VP of worldwide marketing from Phil Schiller. Very big news! Don't assume “Marketing” means what it does at other companies, either. It's the central org for most of the stuff you care about from Apple. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com…
(Inside Apple news: Phil Schiller to become an ‘Apple Fellow’. He will continue to provide ‘thought partnership’ (and run the App Store). How has no-one come up with ‘thought partnership’ before? Trust Apple to innovate)
This is a big deal for @Apple. I know both of these men well. @pschiller has been at the core of the entire Apple renaissance. And Greg Joswiak is a really smart, capable executive who has launched many historic products. Congrats to both!