Josh Elman's move to Apple closes a loop that started with his 2018 jump from Greylock to Robinhood as VP of product, after earlier product stints at Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. He now lands on the highest-stakes distribution surface in consumer software: an App Store that Apple says draws over 800 million weekly visitors.
The hire extends a decade-long build-out of App Store discovery machinery. In 2016, a team under former iAd head Todd Teresi explored a Google-like paid search model for the App Store, and Apple separately hired editors for editorial curation in the News app — the same human-curation-versus-algorithm tension Elman inherits.
First-order effects
App Store app discovery gets a dedicated product owner with marketplace and growth-product credentials, directly shaping which of the store's hundreds of thousands of listings surface for those 800 million-plus weekly visitors.
Second-order effects
Discovery design determines developer customer-acquisition economics: if Elman's work leans toward search-and-ads placement — the direction Teresi's team explored — paid visibility becomes a bigger line item in developers' budgets, and Apple's services revenue mix shifts further toward advertising.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, app stores consolidate around algorithmic plus paid discovery rather than editorial charts, making ranking placement a purchasable commodity and raising the structural stakes in antitrust scrutiny of how Apple prices access to its own storefront.
The trend: App Store discovery is evolving from curated charts into a search-and-ads marketplace, and Apple is staffing it with marketplace-product veterans to run that transition.
First met Josh when I was 18 in SF. I was trying to get Josh to hire me @GreylockVC. I remember getting 20+ people to say nice things about me to him. He respected the hustle & has been a friend & advisor ever since. A great day for Apple and iOS devs. Josh is special. https://tw…
Good luck @joshelman ! App Discovery has been my life for 6 years and there is much to do (in particular search) One egoistic request: Do something about crypto apps. They are under-considered by Apple. Never featured and do not earn the editorial labels other categories have htt…
Apple's app store is going to be re-organized by a big new hire: @joshelman, who among many, many other things was one of the first great minds behind Twitter's people search. Twitter search is world-changing awesomeness. Excited to see what this means! https://www.techmeme.com/.…
This will have big ramifications. Josh Elman heading app discovery for iOS App Store. 🚀 My request: remember to think about parents (choosing apps for kids < 13yo). https://twitter.com/...
@bencasnocha potential narrative violation: @JoshElman disappears from all social media; does top secret work for Apple for 3 years; resurfaces after complete overhaul of App Store. (unlikely, but again this is Apple... 👀😱🙈🙉 🙊)
I am extremely pumped about this Congrats to Josh! This, combined with Apple's recent fee cut, show they may have had a wake-up call in 2020 regarding developer relations https://twitter.com/...
Very cool! The @AppStore was one of the most important advances of the modern software industry. Excited to see how @joshelman can help make it even more impactful. https://twitter.com/...
Josh is awesome and is an awesome example of someone who crushes it in tech as a “joiner” rather than a “starter”. Less talked about, but amazing to see it pulled off! https://twitter.com/...
Apple exists in its own orbit in Silicon Valley. I know people ultra well connected in startups and to all the big tech companies...except Apple. Apple is kind of its own, self-contained network. Josh, a consummate connector, will bridge this gap for many. Congrats! https://twitt…
6/ Thank you @ev for the chance to partner on @medium as you work to build the platform for ideas to spread and deepen everyone's understanding of the world.