A significant reshuffle is underway at Apple just as the company prepares for one of its biggest leadership transitions in decades. Phil Schiller is reportedly stepping away from direct oversight of the App Store and Apple’s product events, shifting two of his most visible responsibilities to other executives while remaining with the company as an Apple Fellow.
According to Bloomberg, Schiller, 66, recently handed responsibility for the App Store back to Apple’s services organization under Eddy Cue. The move effectively reverses a change made in 2015, when oversight of the store shifted from services to Schiller and Apple’s marketing organization.
Carson Oliver, a longtime member of the App Store team, will reportedly handle its day-to-day operations while reporting directly to Cue. Ann Thai, who has worked on app distribution and Apple’s response to the emergence of third-party marketplaces, will report to Oliver. Apple Arcade is also expected to fall under the expanded services structure.
That makes the reshuffle more consequential than a routine management change. The App Store sits at the centre of Apple’s services business but has also become one of the company’s biggest regulatory headaches. Schiller has played a prominent role in decisions around App Store policies, developer commissions and controversial app approvals, while representing Apple’s position during its long-running legal battle with Epic Games.
Regulators have also forced Apple to rethink parts of its tightly controlled distribution model, particularly in markets where alternative app stores, payment systems and new competition rules are being introduced. Putting the App Store back under Cue gives Apple’s services chief greater influence over a platform that is simultaneously a major source of revenue and regulatory pressure.
Schiller is reportedly giving up another familiar responsibility: Apple’s product events. Nola Weinstein, who has worked as his deputy on events since 2023, is expected to take oversight of the function and report to communications and public relations vice president Kristin Huguet Quayle.
Schiller isn’t leaving Apple entirely. He will remain an Apple Fellow and work on unspecified projects, although the reduction in his responsibilities is being viewed internally as another step toward an eventual retirement. Schiller served as Apple’s head of worldwide marketing for decades and was one of the executives most closely associated with Steve Jobs-era product launches.
The timing is particularly notable. John Ternus is set to become Apple’s chief executive on September 1, succeeding Tim Cook, who will move into the executive chairman role. Apple’s next major product event follows on September 9, when new iPhones and Apple Watches are expected.
Schiller’s transition also arrives amid broader turnover across Apple’s senior ranks, giving Ternus an opportunity to reshape responsibilities around the company’s next generation of leadership.
For Apple, the bigger question isn’t simply who runs the App Store or manages its carefully choreographed launches. It’s how much the company’s decision-making structure changes as the executives who helped define the modern Apple era gradually hand control to a new group — and whether that generational shift changes how Apple approaches increasingly difficult battles around services, regulation and platform control.
