Apple turns to longtime Steve Jobs disciple Phil Schiller to defend its ‘walled garden’

Phil Schiller becomes an Apple Fellow after a storied career that began in 1987.
In 2020, Phil Schiller became an Apple Fellow after a long career at Apple that began in 1987.

Apple Fellow Phil Schiller, Apple’s former chief marketing officer and longtime Steve Jobs acolyte has emerged as one of the most ardent public defender of the company’s “Walled Garden” ecosystem.

Aaron Tilley for The Wall Street Journal:

[Apple’s ecosystem is] a vision of electronic devices that work seamlessly together and protect user security and privacy.

Once seen as a virtue, Apple’s vision has increasingly come under attack, from regulators in the Justice Department, the European Union and other jurisdictions as well as from rivals…

In legal filings, public announcements and courtrooms, Apple has made it clear that it isn’t going to go down without a fight, and more often than not, Schiller has been the one to deliver the message.

“I have no qualms in saying that our goal is going to always be to make the App Store the safest, best place for users to get apps,” Schiller recently told Fast Company. “I think users — and the whole developer ecosystem — have benefited from that work that we’ve done together with them. And we’re going to keep doing that.”

Although Schiller retired from his role as chief of marketing in 2020, he continues as an “Apple Fellow,” a transition that led some Apple watchers to wonder whether he was close to retirement. Instead, he has become the public face of Apple’s efforts to defend itself…

People close to Schiller describe his three main hobbies as cars, Boston sports teams and Apple, where he is still known to work nearly 80 hours a week, respond to emails almost immediately and answer phone calls at any time.

“Of the people still at Apple, he is one of the few that still carry the torch of Steve Jobs’s vision,” said Tim Bajarin, a longtime Apple analyst who has known Schiller since his return to the company.

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MacDailyNews Take: Kudos to those left at Apple who carry the torch of Steve Jobs’ vision!

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7 Comments

    1. Tim Cook has been too long at apple. Past time for him to move on. It was not too long ago apple was fighting for its very survival. There is plenty of competition in these areas. The public is free to choose. This feels like attack vectors trying to be opened by foreign governments into what maybe one of the more secure public privacy consumer items. Let me sell my stock first then apple should tell china, the European Union, and commerce to take a flying leap.

      Apple lower those freakin prices and they will get off your back. Damn near 2000 dollars for a phone. What the hell? sell more by charging less. Head set, too high, too heavy, too bulky. A simple pair of eye glasses that’s the target and that needs to happen by tomorrow morning, with all those features of the current device and then some.

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  1. The “walled garden” of Apple’s ecosystem is one of its best features. From safety/security to seamless productivity across various platforms, Apple can’t be rivaled. The work/cost/productivity alone makes Apple the smartest choice for both corporate and personal use.

    Sadly, Apple under sales this aspect of their products. Apple almost completely ignores this in advertising. Between Apple’s neglect and the paranoia of IT guys, there is almost complete ignorance of how there is almost complete.

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