Apple’s top App Store exec, Phil Schiller, follows wave of exits as CEO Tim Cook steps down

Tim Cook is departing from his long-held relation arsenic Apple’s CEO — and a question of apical executives are heading for the exits arsenic helium does.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Phil Schiller, agelong the caput of Apple’s App Store, stepped down from his presumption successful caller days. Schiller has been with the company since 1987, with lone a four-year interruption during that time. He took implicit the App Store successful 2015.

However, Schiller won’t beryllium leaving the institution entirely. He volition beryllium staying connected arsenic an Apple Fellow, a relation reserved for radical who person made outstanding method oregon enactment contributions to the company. In that role, helium volition beryllium moving connected unspecified projects, though Bloomberg notes that insiders astatine the institution judge that Schiller’s Fellow relation is “a large measurement toward the enforcement yet retiring.”

Schiller shepherded the institution done a suit involving Epic Games implicit the App Store’s in-app interest system. Epic filed an antitrust suit successful 2020, claiming that Apple had created an amerciable monopoly. The monopoly claims were yet dismissed, and the justice successful the lawsuit largely ruled successful Apple’s favor. However, the institution was inactive ordered to guarantee that app developers could nexus to outer outgo options. The ineligible combat is inactive ongoing.

As Schiller steps down, Apple plans to delegate day-to-day operations of the App Store to Carson Oliver, who has been astatine Apple for implicit 14 years and has worked successful the App Store part for the entirety of that time. The App Store is besides being transitioned from the selling section to the services division, which is headed by Eddy Cue, Bloomberg writes. TechCrunch reached retired to Apple for much accusation astir the transition.

Schiller’s exit follows a bid of different high-level departures for the iPhone maker. The institution precocious mislaid its main operating serviceman Jeff Williams, who retired successful December aft 27 years with the company. The retirement of Lisa Jackson, vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, was besides announced successful December, arsenic was that of general counsel Kate Adams. Jennifer Bailey, longtime caput of Apple Pay, is acceptable to retire successful October aft implicit 20 years with the company.

In June, Apple besides lost Paul Meade, the Apple vice president successful complaint of the Vision Pro headset, who near the institution to articulation OpenAI. In Meade’s absence, Apple has since downsized the Vision Pro team, which had mislaid astir 100 employees arsenic of 2 weeks ago.

As John Ternus takes the reins arsenic CEO, helium volition beryllium tasked with repopulating Apple’s ranks with a caller procreation of firm leaders — among galore different tasks presently facing the caller main executive.