Schiller Steps Aside As The Ternus Era Begins
Phil Schiller, who had led Apple's App Store and its product events since long before the current iPhone lineup existed, stepped down from both roles on August 31, 2026, the same day Tim Cook handed the chief executive title to John Ternus. Schiller keeps his Apple Fellow title and moves to unspecified initiatives; Apple has described the step as one toward an eventual retirement, not an exit.
Day-to-day App Store operations now sit with Carson Oliver, a department veteran, who reports directly to services chief Eddy Cue. Leadership of Apple's product events passes to Nola Weinstein, who has been Schiller's deputy since 2023, reporting to communications VP Kristin Huguet Quayle.
The App Store's New Owner Has One Job: Revenue
Eddy Cue runs the division that turned App Store commissions, subscriptions, and search-ad placements into a services business worth tens of billions of dollars a year, and the App Store now sits fully inside it with no separately reporting advocate above Oliver. Schiller came out of Apple's marketing organization and spent years as the public face defending App Store rules in court and in press interviews, including through Apple's Epic Games litigation.
That marketing-side credibility does not automatically travel with the role now. Cue's team is built to grow services revenue, and the App Store's commission structure is the single largest lever it controls.
Two Weeks Earlier, Brussels Set The New Price
The leadership change lands 13 days after Apple published a new three-tier EU App Store commission structure on August 18, 2026, closing a Digital Markets Act dispute that had already cost the company a 500 million euro fine in 2025 for noncompliance. The new structure replaces the earlier patchwork of separate acquisition, store-service, and processing charges with one schedule.
| App Store payment route | Standard rate | Discounted rate |
|---|---|---|
| In-app purchase, App Store billing | 26 percent | 15 percent |
| Alternative in-app payment processor | 20 percent | 10 percent |
| Web distribution or alternative marketplace | 5 percent flat | no discount tier |
Developers who pick a payment route must stay locked into it for 12 months before switching, which turns the choice between these three rows into an annual decision rather than a per-transaction one.
What An EU App Publisher Should Watch
Every future argument over how these tiers apply, what counts as a qualifying discount program, or where the line sits between an in-app purchase and a web redirect now runs through a division whose incentive is to defend the commission, since the executive who used to sit between developers and Apple's revenue targets is gone. The 12-month lock-in means a wrong reading of the rules is not a one-transaction mistake; it is a year-long one.
Apple's notarization and review requirements stay in place under the new structure regardless of which payment route a developer picks, so the commission change does not reduce the operational side of App Store compliance, only the fee attached to it.
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