Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

[macduke]

The closest I've gotten to that was working about 65 hours per week, and it was hell. Never again.

He doesn't have to. He could walk away with his millions and be fine. He could work less and still be fine. Delegate and elevate your employees. He's a workaholic. Don't feel bad.

I have a four day work week that allows me to work from home and see my family often. The pay is pretty average for my profession, and my superiors have me on a track for higher management that may pay off in a few years, but it's not worth it to work crazy hours somewhere else. My family lives comfortably and most importantly we are happy, and we budget and have been paying off our debt early. Around 2030 our house should be paid off and then we're gonna ball outta control.

One thing I know for sure is that my life is better than Phil Schiller's and that's kinda wild to think about. Sucks to be him.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Can't help but wonder who in Apple Investor Relations sponsored an advertorial in The Wall Street Journal to assuage investors that Apple leadership will never kneel to governments or developers and the stocks will just go upwards forever. 🤔

IDK, this seemed to me like they’re setting up Schiller to be the fall guy.

Apple CEO Tim Cook defers to Schiller when it comes to App Store matters.

That sounds to me like Tim Cook is an inept CEO. He needs to be fired immediately (along with Schiller), but maybe Tim Cook isn’t criminally liable the way Schiller is. Make it sound like this is all Schiller’s doing and not a company wide issue.

 

[w3llw0nky]

So


What.

 

[Shearwater]

If the Boss has to work 80 hours per week,the systems broke!😎

 

[jonnysods]

Is he using this is a shield from criticism or something? As people have already said on here, working long hours isn't a brag-worthy thing if you're ineffective at your job.

 

[citysnaps]

Is he using this is a shield from criticism or something? As people have already said on here, working long hours isn't a brag-worthy thing if you're ineffective at your job.

Schiller has never publicly talked about, or bragged about, the long hours he works.

 

[I7guy]

Is he using this is a shield from criticism or something? As people have already said on here, working long hours isn't a brag-worthy thing if you're ineffective at your job.

Agree. Seems though as if Schiller is quite effective at his job and gets compensated accordingly.

 

[dukebound85]

He wasn't asking for one. Nor did he say he worked 80 hours a week. That was an observation by others.

Apparently taking a swing at Apple is getting passé. Now it's going after employees who work hard.

then what exactly is the point of this article?

Many people work long hrs. It is not something to brag about.

 

[citysnaps]

then what exactly is the point of this article?

Many people work long hrs. It is not something to brag about.

The point? I have no idea.

I guess it provides a convenient opening for people here to complain about and criticize Schiller for his work ethic - which is not that unusual in Silicon Valley. Projecting one's personal beliefs onto others is never a good idea.

"It is not something to brag about."

He never brought it up, let alone bragged about it. His 80 hour work weeks were anecdotal observations by others, likely from co-workers.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Agree. Seems though as if Schiller is quite effective at his job and gets compensated accordingly.

His app store policies have got Apple sued six ways to Sunday

 

[I7guy]

His app store policies have got Apple sued six ways to Sunday

And they also made apple billions and apple won the most very recent lawsuits filed.

 

[uacd]

This is a good example of how one should not build the personal brand and “media face”. I guess he followed Elon Musk suit? I remember that he bragged somewhere on Twitter (sorry, EX-Twitter) that he grinded for 17 hours a day to get to where he is.

Gonna be honest, when I worked as SMM manager I tried to honestly work 8 hours a day. It was a remote job and I thought I got to *actually work* for all this time and “do something”. Well in the end I have f___ed up my eyesight, got depression and lots of other problems. And then I totally burned out and quit.

Moral of the story: NEVER work full time. ALWAYS procrastinate and find a way to work less, not more. Or else you will end up hating your job and quitting it.

 

[Papanate]

Of course, there are exceptions, especially when making a push to complete an important project or deadline. I would imagine that Eisenhower was putting in some long hours during the run-up to D-day, but no one would accuse him of being disorganized or unable to delegate.

They are implying that he works like this the whole time - he’s an idiot if he does.

 

[Mainsail]

They are implying that he works like this the whole time - he’s an idiot if he does.

While I generally agree that 80hour work weeks are not for me and can be a sign of poor organization, delegation, or priorities. There have been times when my job called for it in short project related bursts. As for people that do it regularly, it can lead to burn out but I don't think it means these folks are idiots. I mean, if Phil Schiller is an idiot then......well, he strikes me as a pretty bright guy. Probably much smarter than I am.

Finally, I would add that there are jobs that do demand regular 80 hour weeks, so there are exceptions. Certainly, some government officials and heads of state are basically never off duty. Some small business owners put in these types of hours when they are running a 24/7 service or operation. My nephew is an officer in the submarine service, and while they have duty shifts, I would not be surprised if the hours get pretty long during those deployments. Anyway, none of these people are idiots.

Edit: BTW - I listen to podcasts about Star Trek, and many of the actors talk about the long hours shooting episodes, especially when there were 26 shows in a season. Often they had to be at make-up at 4am to prepare for the day's shooting. The set crews and make-up artist often had to stay longer. The point is that even artists and actors can find themselves working some pretty horrific hours for long stretches. These people aren't idiots. They often do it because they love the job.

 

[Papanate]

While I generally agree that 80hour work weeks are not for me and can be a sign of poor organization, delegation, or priorities. There have been times when my job called for it in short project related bursts. As for people that do it regularly, it can lead to burn out but I don't think it means these folks are idiots. I mean, if Phil Schiller is an idiot then......well, he strikes me as a pretty bright guy. Probably much smarter than I am.

Finally, I would add that there are jobs that do demand regular 80 hour weeks, so there are exceptions. Certainly, some government officials and heads of state are basically never off duty. Some small business owners put in these types of hours when they are running a 24/7 service or operation. My nephew is an officer in the submarine service, and while they have duty shifts, I would not be surprised if the hours get pretty long during those deployments. Anyway, none of these people are idiots.

Edit: BTW - I listen to podcasts about Star Trek, and many of the actors talk about the long hours shooting episodes, especially when there were 26 shows in a season. Often they had to be at make-up at 4am to prepare for the day's shooting. The set crews and make-up artist often had to stay longer. The point is that even artists and actors can find themselves working some pretty horrific hours for long stretches. These people aren't idiots. They often do it because they love the job.

If you are working 80 hours weeks consistently - you are an Idiot - And the actors in Star Trek who start at 4am - really? - so they start shooting at 7am after Makeup? and they can’t get their Scenes done by 6pm? I believe they might have done that type of schedule once in a while - but consistently - and more for more 2 months? I don’t think so - unless you have some extensive Makeup/Prosthetics like Worf (who is not in every scene BTW) crews are shooting at 7am and continue to 6 or 7pm - it just doesn’t happen.

 

[Mainsail]

If you are working 80 hours weeks consistently - you are an Idiot - And the actors in Star Trek who start at 4am - really? - so they start shooting at 7am after Makeup? and they can’t get their Scenes done by 6pm? I believe they might have done that type of schedule once in a while - but consistently - and more for more 2 months? I don’t think so - unless you have some extensive Makeup/Prosthetics like Worf (who is not in every scene BTW) crews are shooting at 7am and continue to 6 or 7pm - it just doesn’t happen.

Again, I don't think you can make the blanket statement that if you work 80 hours per week you are an idiot. There are jobs that call for that type of time commitment, and I gave numerous example. It is not my cup of tea. And, as I said in an earlier post, I agree that some people that work those hours are doing so because they are disorganized or maybe even looking for reasons to hide from their family. It varies on the person and the job.

As for Star Trek, all I can say is that my info is purely anecdotal from cast and crew members on various pod casts. BTW - if you are into Star Trek, I recommend The Shuttled Show (available on Youtube and as a podcast) with Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer.

 

[X86_]

80 hours per week?
That is about 11 hours each day of the week.
I hope he lives close by the office considering the traffic of the area.

I have no proof but I’m sure there’s a bank of sick apartments on the upper level of the mothership

 

[Ethosik]

We define how people contact us. It is our issue when we didn’t let your vendor to not call you at 11 PM. Why are you letting people treat you like that? And I am speaking from real world experience.

Servers down at 11 PM is totally than a 9-5 job here. May as well compare to people who work night shifts too then and say how it is so unfair a nurse has to work at 3 AM.

Your arguments only make sense when you already assumes it is “normal” or “required” to have someone call you at 11 PM cause of work.

Uh maybe because it will cause significant loss of revenue if I just "wait for 9 AM to address this MASSIVE issue with this vendor".

You work 9-5 PLUS address the server issue at 11 PM. Stop comparing it to night shifts.

 

[AZhappyjack]

With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store.

Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working close to 80 hours a week.

Schiller is known for responding to emails almost immediately, and answering phone calls at all hours. He testified during the Epic v. Apple lawsuit to ardently defend the App Store, and he is involved in Apple's EU messaging as well. Schiller joined in on Apple PR calls with members of the media when the iOS 17.4 changes were announced, and he spent time explaining how the DMA will impact user privacy and security in Europe.

When Apple terminated the Epic Games developer account in March to prevent it from creating an alternate app marketplace, it was Schiller who sent an email to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney to suggest that the account had been shut down because of Epic's criticism of Apple's DMA compliance. Schiller's email did not go over well with the European Commission, and Apple ultimately reversed its decision.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook defers to Schiller when it comes to App Store matters. Schiller joined Apple back in 1987, left in 1993, and returned in 1997 when Steve Jobs came back to Apple. He has been at the forefront of some of Apple's biggest product launches, developing marketing strategies for everything from the iPod to the Mac.

He was one of the main supporters of adding third-party apps to the iPhone, working to convince Jobs to launch the App Store in 2008. Known as a Jobs "mini-me," Schiller has reportedly kept Jobs' philosophy alive at Apple. Under his watch, human review has remained a key part of the App Store, and the App Store has grown into a major revenue stream for Apple.

More on Schiller can be read in The Wall Street Journal's full profile.

Article Link: Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

No sympathy. These guys should be working to earn their obscene paychecks.