The head of the App Store, Matt Fischer, who has been leading the store team since 2010, will leave Apple in October 2024. At the same time, the company is dividing the team into two departments - one will manage Apple's own store, and the other will be responsible for alternative distribution and payment methods. This was reported by Bloomberg.
“After 21 years at Apple, I’ve made the decision to step away from our incredible company. This has been on my mind for some time, and as we are also reorganizing the team to better manage new challenges and opportunities, now is the right moment to pass the baton to two outstanding leaders on my team,” Fischer wrote to his team in an email on Wednesday, August 21.
Phil Schiller, who is primarily responsible for the App Store, is making these changes because of regulators, including the European Commission, who are demanding that the company allow alternative stores and payment methods for iPhone and iPad apps.
Carson Oliver, a longtime senior director of the company, will lead the App Store group after Fisher. At the same time, the new team responsible for alternative distribution will be led by Anne Tai, who was previously an Apple store director and helped with functions such as search and discovery. Both executives will report directly to Schiller.
As a reminder, Apple has recently changed its mobile store policy once again to comply with the requirements of the Digital Market Act (DMA). Despite the new changes, developers remained dissatisfied, among other things, because of the new fees introduced by the company.
The App Store, as part of the company's service segment, generates about $20 billion in revenue annually. This area of Apple's business has become especially important for the company in recent years due to the slowdown in sales of hardware products, including the iPhone.