Dive Brief:
- Apple's long-time marketing leader Phil Schiller is moving into another role with the company and Greg (Joz) Joswiak will assume Schiller's marketing-related responsibilities as senior vice president of worldwide marketing, the tech company said in a press release.
- Joswiak brings decades of experience in product marketing at Apple to his new role, which will see him overseeing Apple's product management and marketing, developer relations, market research and business management, as well as education, enterprise and international marketing, per the release.
- Schiller, who joined Apple in 1987 and has been involved with the company's marketing and products for 30 years, will move into a less central role, becoming an Apple Fellow. He will continue running the App Store and events. Most recently, he spearheaded Apple's first-ever virtual Worldwide Developers Conference.
Dive Insight:
Apple was built, to some degree, on its internal culture, and seeing a key player like Schiller step back is a loss for the cult brand that could be tough to fill. Schiller has been with Apple since the 1980s and was a key player on the team conceptualizing and designing Apple's products over the years, a team that has, at different times, included Steve Jobs, Jony Ive and Scott Forstall, per the New York Times. During his tenure, Apple has had a reputation as a strong marketer that produces attention-grabbing ads.
Schiller will stay on to guide the App Store and events, solid consumer-facing aspects of the company that could ensure his voice is maintained with Apple, even if not on such a deep level. "I'll keep working here as long as they will have me," Schiller said in a statement. Schiller attributed the decision to step back to turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with family and friends and working on personal projects.
Joswiak is also an Apple veteran, joining the company in 1986, a year before Schiller. Joswiak came up as a product manager in the company's PowerBook line of laptops and then spearheaded the launch of the iPod and later the iPhone and iPad product lines. His experience with these iconic Apple products gives him the experience needed to lead marketing for a brand whose marketing efforts tend to be focused on high-quality game-changing products.
The transformation in executive leadership comes as Apple recently reported double-digit growth in both products and services for its fiscal 2020 third quarter ended June 27, 2020, with quarterly revenues reaching $59.7 billion, up 11% over the same time frame in 2019.
