Phil Schiller puts App Store users before developers & profits

That does bring in to question how Apple's own ad business may be profiting from the same privacy features that are costing others money.

Such questions are likely to feature heavily in the many antitrust cases being brought, or considered, against Apple. Schiller has already been a key witness in those, and his App Store role looks to guarantee that he'll continue to be so.

Apple is profiting from ads that don't track users across other apps and web sites. Nothing is preventing other companies from using the same advertising approach as Apple. Companies that do track users across other apps and web sites need to get the users permission first. There is no antitrust issue per ads since there is no competitive double-standard at work. If Apple wanted to track users across other apps and web sites they would also need to ask for permission from the user. 

You Go Phil!

Phil is brilliant.  He is a bedrock "let's do the right thing" guy.  A lot of the newer folks at Apple don't have a bead on what makes Apple different, how it had to fight be be different and not just survive,  but thrive doing so. 

Too much of Apple is doing what everyone else is doing today. Phil knows better. Him being in charge of the app store is what keeps Apple, Apple. I did not know he was the guy who forced. developers to be up front on what they track. That is awesome. The "today" section is amazing for discoverability and really helps the App Store feel like a properly curated, well-run platform.  Opening up to a Googlesque search page is pathetic. 

Phil carries the heart of Apple in everything he does. Wish he was more visible these days.  

AppleInsider said:

A profile of Phil Schiller claims that his insistence on the best user experience in the App Store is putting him at odds with Apple's business people.

Apple's Phil Schiller stepped down as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing in 2020, to take on the much broader role of Apple Fellow. One aspect of his work that he retained, though, was control over the App Store.

Schiller took over the App Store from Eddy Cue in 2016, and right from then began making decisions that even angered Apple's business departments.

Even before his Apple Fellow role freed him up to concentrate on the Store, Schiller would reportedly review every piece of artwork before it went live. And he backed his team's proposal to add editorials to the Store.

The addition of the Today, Games, and Apps sections of the App Store was an expensive one because of the staffing it required. It was also not popular with Apple people who wanted users to automatically get the Search page when they opened the App Store.

Reportedly, Schiller insisted on the editorial curation because he believed the App Store had lost its old spontaneity and the fun of discovering new apps.

Then Apple's Carson Oliver and the rest of his App Store business management team, reportedly wanted the editorial team to at least spotlight apps by certain developers. Again, Schiller refused, and instead he gave the editorial team control over what they picked to highlight.

No app pays to be featured, but there are reportedly rules over what can be covered -- and the rules will change depending upon world events. First-person shooter games, which Schiller was initially entirely against, will cease to be promoted, or may even be delayed, following shooting incidents in the US.

Schiller also won't allow what are called social casino games, because of the risk of creating addiction. This also frustrated business management staff as it was claimed that such games could generate hundreds of millions of dollars income for Apple.

The editorial content on the store does feel a bit more fresh than the older lists but they don't get updated often enough vs the size of the store. It still feels like they push the same apps over and over.

The main purpose of the store is to sell apps, mainly games, to people based on their interests. If a user isn't interested in an app, they shouldn't be shown it again and there's no mechanism in place for this. This needs something more like a news feed where you can remove items you don't want to see and build your own profile with similar features to the Apple News feed where the users choose the publications to follow.

When a user's app gets an update like a new chapter, level, challenge, this can show up in the personal feed and it can include editorials from the developers.

It's good to see people like Phil Schiller trying to keep the money-driven people under control. Hopefully they keep people in place for that to continue long into the future.

It should be about the users.

This is what idiots like Sweeney the Weenie and related ilk don’t get. They ONLY look at things from the developer/business viewpoint. Which means how can they make more money. They only have their own interests at heart. They don’t care about users except when it’s time to collect money from them.