Phil Schiller Moving on to Become 'Apple Fellow,' Greg Joswiak Taking Over as Marketing SVP

[0128672]

What the hell is an Apple Fellow? The guy whom brings coffee and slow juices (for Tim) to the Executive team?

Apple Fellow

An Apple Fellow is a person who has been recognized by Apple Inc. for their extraordinary technical or leadership contributions to personal computing while at the company. Each Apple Fellow acts as a leader and a visionary, guiding the company in their particular area of expertise. Fellows are...

apple.fandom.com

 

[EsTriFee]

WHOA. when I woke up today I didn't expect to be reading this.

Phil has been there for 23 years and is currently 60 years old. Honestly 23 years of vesting stock options and working at the pace a VP at Apple has work both with media exposure and managing hundreds of product maketing decisions and recently the App Store, I'm not surprised at all that he's transitioning out. He is a multi-millionaire many times over and has given an equivalent of lifetime hours to the company in the last 20 years good for him, go enjoy retirement (if that's even possible for someone who works at his level)

It's actually been 33 years but its amazing to think that he's been there from practically the very start of the company, heck I wasn't even born 33 years ago!

 

[Brien]

I like Phil and Joz... Probably nothing to worry about here. Both have been at Apple forever.

 

[pioneer9k]

Sounds like hes ready to take a step back. From 27 to 60 years old, quite a run

 

[mozumder]

People here are idiots. This is a well deserved break. I'd do the same after building such an incredible company. Congratulations to Phil on an amazing career.

 

[Neepman]

Why would anyone want to still work over 60 with more than a hundred million in bank?

 

[smulji]

Why would anyone want to still work with more than half a billon in bank?

That's what highly creative people who love their work do.

 

[Seanm87]

Meh. Jony Ive leaving was a bigger deal.

Whenever I think of Phil I think of all his stupid marketing phrases he'd come up with on stage.

 

[smulji]

Meh. Jony Ive leaving was a bigger deal.

Whenever I think of Phil I think of all his stupid marketing phrases he'd come up with on stage.

Phil was as instrumental, to the success of Apple, as Jony Ive was. Just as one example, it was Schiller who came up with the idea of the click wheel on the iPod.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Sounds like either Phil wanted to take a step back (for whatever reason) but still be involved in a support role (if needed) or Tim and others felt it best to get some new marketing leadership to help push Apple forward.

 

[Mainyehc]

Anybody can steer a ship in a straight line, in calm waters, on a clear day. Cook has done it for 9 years.

Are you for real? Have you seen the insanely popular products Apple came up with during Tim Cook’s tenure?

• The Apple Watch, much like the iPhone and iPod before it, went from a niche, pseudo-luxury item to a massive hit;
• AirPods have been flying off the shelves practically since they were introduced;
• The iPad Pro and its accessories and dedicated OS basically made it realize its full potential more than it ever did during the Jobs era;
• As for even the iPhone itself, while it was already huge during Jobs’ tenure, the real explosion came after 2011;
• And the absolute kicker has to be the transformation of PA Semi into the juggernaut it is today, a move which, in hindsight, not only made the iPhone what it is today, it will also save Apple from what would otherwise be very troubled waters for the Mac, i.e. Intel’s stagnation (if not imminent demise, and some signs point to that).

Also: Apple weathered the big crisis of 2011 and its aftermath, even after Jobs’ passing, and even managed to increase revenue now, during a global pandemic. Sure, there’s also more demand for videoconferencing-capable devices, but less disposable income overall, as all the world economies have tanked; if Apple products weren’t as great as they are, surely people would’ve gone with cheaper alternatives.

 

[newyorksole]

Not at all. Apple has some going way back, including Alan Kay, Guy Kawasaki, and Bill Atkinson.

Sounds strange to me still. Phil being one of the very top executives is now a fellow after having such a long important title before.

 

[ryuworks]

I think some of the people here expect Apple execs to either resign, or be fired, or literally pass away if they leave Apple. Instead of having a proper retirement.

 

[routine_analyst]

Probably one of the most boring jobs of all time nowadays. CEO off pushing political agendas instead of fresh products. How many times can Phil apply adjectives to the same looking toys.

 

[Rogifan]

Sounds strange to me still. Phil being one of the very top executives is now a fellow after having such a long important title before.

It seems like the only Apple Fellows were Apple employees prior to Steve rejoining the company. It’s kind of a weird title to give Schiller. Why not just say he’s going to remain at the company as an advisor to Tim Cook?

 

[ksec]

The Bleed Six Colour, was a reference to Steve asking Engineers when he returned to Apple from Next, he asked all these great people at Apple. The Ship is sinking, they were weeks if not days from going bankruptcy ( or at least running out of cash ), why are you still here, why dont you go somewhere else?

I bleed Six Colours was the answer he most often hear. Since then it became as reference to people at Apple.

And Six colour, for those only got into Apple with iPhone or may be even iPod, was the colour of the original Apple logo. ( Well technically it is the second logo )

Also worth pointing out, Tim Cook is turning 60 this year as well. I feel a little uneasy with the next Apple transition. Everything now is basically left over from Steve Era, all the executive teams.... but they age, and they will retire soon.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Phil was one of the people at Apple that Steve kept in their positions of importance during the merger.

An Apple Fellow has always been reserved to someone who made a large impact on the history of the corporation. In his case, it was Marketing.

 

[bwillwall]

Everyone's talking about the "can't innovate anymore my ass" quote and I'm more bothered by the more recent thing he said about the App Store issues. Among very legitimate concerns about services like Netflix getting an unfair bias while things like Spotify do not, he gave a snippy response saying their guidelines were not going to change. That was imo a very poor political and marketing look for Apple.

 

[smulji]

Phil was one of the people at Apple that Steve kept in their positions of importance during the merger.

An Apple Fellow has always been reserved to someone who made a large impact on the history of the corporation. In his case, it was Marketing.

If that's the case, it's surprising that Jony Ive didn't get an Apple Fellow. And why did Guy Kawasaki get one? Seriously, what did he do for Apple?

 

[Black Belt]

Looks like Jon Prosser won. Schiller couldn't take all the leaks that sent him looney

 

[citysnaps]

Probably one of the most boring jobs of all time nowadays. CEO off pushing political agendas instead of fresh products. How many times can Phil apply adjectives to the same looking toys.

I hear you bro... Record earnings, a billion or so customers, and a transition to Apple Silicon making the company no longer being beholden to Intel's lethargy is mice nuts.

If Cook would have just disavowed that equal rights nonsense Apple could have had some success.

 

[Carnegie]

In the United States, per the ADEA, mandatory retirement is unlawful for an employer to require an employee to retire at any age except some occupations like the military or federal police agencies, pilots, air traffic controllers, and some judge levels. So, no, it’s not ”65 at most companies ...”

Mandatory retirement - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I’m not necessarily agreeing that most companies have a mandatory retirement age of 65 for directors. I think for many of those which do have a retirement age, it is higher.

That said, directors aren’t employees. A director can also be an employee, but in their capacity as directors they aren’t considered employees.

 

[0128672]

I’m not necessarily agreeing that most companies have a mandatory retirement age of 65 for directors. I think for many of those which do have a retirement age, it is higher.

That said, directors aren’t employees. A director can also be an employee, but in their capacity as directors they aren’t considered employees.

However, in a review of Apple’s corporate by-laws regarding directors, there is no age limit stated.

 

[Carnegie]

However, in a review of Apple’s corporate by-laws regarding directors, there is no age limit stated.

Last I was aware, that‘s correct.

 

[0128672]

Last I was aware, that‘s correct.

Actually, I take that back. I reviewed the by-laws earlier today, but I found this Apple Corporate Governance Guideline just now that does state: “A board member may not stand for reelection after age 70, but need not resign until the end of his or her term.”

I don’t know the date of this document though.

http://www.snl.com/interactive/ir/4004205/corp_gov_guid.pdf