Apple’s app store boss discovers Mastodon – and ignores Twitter

No one is too old to discover a new technology and venture into fearless territory: this is currently the Phil Schiller under Evidence.

The now 62-year-old Apple veteran opened a profile on the free, independent social media service Mastodon this month. This is after Apple’s App Store boss deactivated his Twitter profile last November.

In the meantime, Schiller has spoken to Mastodon with messages on various topics. And as usual with Fediverse, he also receives friendly advice on how to improve his social media activities.

While Schiller has never confirmed the reason, he left Twitter the same week Elon Musk publicly attacked Apple. (Musk hinted that the iPhone company had stopped advertising on “its” platform — which later turned out to be a false claim.)

Interestingly enough, one of Schiller’s first posts on Mastodon was a promotional message of sorts – for an app called Ivory. This is a mastodon app that comes from the developers of the popular Tweetbot app.

It’s worth remembering that Twitter under Elon Musk recently banned third-party apps from accessing Twitter programming interfaces (API). This move marked the end for popular apps like Tweetbot.

Apple’s former longtime head of marketing was promoted to the rank of “Apple Fellow” by management under Tim Cook in 2020.

The seasoned tech manager still has an important position at Apple, heise.de recalls. Despite the rather symbolic title of “Fellow”, he is still responsible for managing the app store and the group’s events (Apple events, i.e. keynotes).

According to the German IT news portal, Schiller’s use of Mastodon shows Apple’s growing appetite for its Twitter competitor. Developers of well-known Twitter applications are currently transitioning to the free alternative Mastodon, after Twitter itself introduced a de facto ban on third-party apps in January.

What is Apple waiting for?

The independent software developer’s story shows that at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, there were certain reservations about Mastodon and the Fediverse Thomas Ricoard. When the former Googler and Medium employee from Paris wanted to launch his open source project “Ice Cubes” on the App Store, he was met with widespread rejection.

His app was rejected seven times in a row by Apple’s app review team, which controls access to the app store. The reason given was that it only provides links, images and content curated from the internet – exactly what a Mastodon client should do…

Then the Apple blogger turned on John Gruber a. The well-known tech blogger, who regularly hosts high-profile Apple guests such as software boss Craig Federighi or Schiller’s successor, marketing boss Greg Joswiak, on his talk show, described the review team’s decision in his blog as “completely nonsensical.”

With unusual acuity, Gruber called the reviewers responsible for the app’s rejection ignorant and bureaucratic, heise.de reported. Just two hours later, Apple suddenly released the app to the App Store. It is now available there for free.

PS: There is no official Apple profile at Mastodon yet. The Mastodon inventor Eugen Rochko maintains the associated @apple account for the American company, writes heise.de.

Phil Schiller was and is the first person from Apple’s top executive to create a personal profile at Mastodon. Will Tim Cook, who has repeatedly spoken out against surveillance capitalism à la Facebook and co., lead by example?

What are you waiting for?

The question is whether many companies will leave Twitter permanently and instead be present at Mastodon.

One thing is certain: To gain your own practical experience and to have a say, it is recommended to create a personal Mastodon profile.

However, it is also clear that political actors, media organizations, universities, foundations, non-profit organizations and NGOs urgently need to reconsider their (business) relationship with Twitter.

The American tech journalist and author Dan Gillmor summed it up in a nutshell: Elon Musk showed his contempt for freedom of expression in general and journalism in particular with his behavior on Twitter. The multibillionaire also shows why it is foolish to rely on centralized platforms to create and distribute valuable information.

And addressing those still hesitant to turn their backs on the social media platform, he warned:

Sources