App Store VP Departs as Apple Prepares for Organizational Changes

App Store vice president Matt Fischer is set to leave the company as Apple prepares for an ‌App Store‌ reorganization to deal with regulatory changes, reports Bloomberg.

iOS App Store General Feature JoeBlue
Apple plans to split its ‌App Store‌ group into two teams, one that handles the ‌App Store‌ and a second team that oversees alternative app distribution. As of earlier this year, Apple has supported iOS app downloads from alternative app stores and from websites in the European Union, a change that the company had to make to comply with the Digital Markets Act.

To handle ongoing compliance with EU regulations for app distribution and alternative payment methods, ‌App Store‌ chief Phil Schiller is changing the ‌App Store‌'s hierarchy.

Fischer joined Apple in 2003 to oversee iTunes marketing, but he has served as the vice president of the ‌App Store‌ since 2010. In an email to Apple employees today, Fischer said that he had been thinking about leaving Apple for some time, and the reorganization provided the right opportunity.

With Fischer leaving, ‌App Store‌ senior director Carson Oliver will oversee the ‌App Store‌, and Ann Thai, a director who oversees ‌App Store‌ features, will head up the team that handles alternative app distribution.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

Abazigal Avatar
11 months ago

Instead of the App Store, Schiller should be in charge of retail stores.

Move Apple Store employees to hourly + commission pay, headed by a former VP of marketing and sales.

$50 per MacBook Pro. $25 per MacBook Air. 5% payout of gross accessory profit. $15 per iPhone. Suddenly you'll have workers that are paid well.

I don't understand why Apple doesn't do it. It would increase profits even more.
Apple stores work precisely because retail staff aren’t driven by commissions and are not constantly trying to push customers to buy more stuff.

You really don’t understand, or you are deliberately being sarcastic / obtuse here?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
11 months ago
people come, people go. Wish him luck in his new endeavor, whatever they might be
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppliedMicro Avatar
11 months ago

Ann Thai, a director that oversees App Store features, will head up the team that handles alternative app distribution
Elsewhere: "Ann Thai, a director in charge of App Store features like search and discovery, will run the new team responsible for alternative distribution"

? Given how well those features work on Apple's App Store today, what could go wrong on alternative app distribution?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
11 months ago
As long as Phil Schiller is still ultimately in charge, nothing will change.

They will still bend over backwards to minimally comply with regulation, and continue to purposely miss the point of why so many people are criticizing the App Store in the first place.

I don't understand how it was easier or better in any way to split the App Store like this. They need a fundamental re-analysis of what they're doing with software distribution, and it's not going to happen with Schiller in charge.

I thought they promoted him out of the App Store by making him a technical fellow and semi-retiring him. But since then he's still been writing whiskey-fueled public letters and making executive decisions.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty Avatar
11 months ago
Phil announcing the layoffs on the same day as his raise

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
uacd Avatar
11 months ago
Maybe turning it into this huge pile of ? wasn’t a really good idea?



Press-releases, ads, so-cal “now trendy” etc. I miss AppStore from iOS 6 which was as simple as turning on the TV

Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)