Apple's Phil Schiller joins DNA sequencing company's board of directors

Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller is bringing the better part of three decades of marketing experience to the board of directors of Illumina, the industry-leading DNA sequencing equipment company.

"Phil's track record and global experience in bringing world-class products to market will help guide us as we continue to develop innovative new solutions for our customers," said Francis deSouza, Illumina president and chief executive. "His vision, integrity and passion are fully aligned with Illumina's core values."

Schiller rejoined Apple in 1997 during the return of Steve Jobs to the company, and has been instrumental in the development and marketing of the iMac, the iBook, the iPod, and OS X itself. Schiller has been credited for coming up with the original idea of the iPod click wheel interface for Apple.

While Steve Jobs was taking a medical leave of absence, Schiller presented keynote presentations on behalf of the company, notably announcing the iPhone 3GS. Schiller is currently running Apple's App Stores, and most recently debuted the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

Illumina was founded in 1998, solely for the purpose of developing genome sequencing technologies. When the company was founded, genome sequencing costs exceeded $1 million.

In 2009, the company launched a genome sequencing service for $48,000, and reduced the price in 2011 after process improvements to $4000. Illumina machines accounted for 90 percent of all DNA data processed in 2014, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.