Former App Store director blames Phil Schiller for failing to fix app review processes

Phillip Shoemaker, a former App Store director responsible for leading app approvals until he left the company in 2016 and is now CEO of Identity.com, said in a recent interview with MobileGamer.biz that the App Store guidelines are misleading. Additionally, he claimed that as long as Phil Schiller is in charge of the App Store, app approval procedures won’t be automated or fixed. 

Shoemaker asserts that the App Store policies were created “in a very grey way” to give Apple more leeway in selecting the apps the iPhone maker wishes to publish on its marketplace. “We wanted to have wiggle room to be able to shift our approvals or rejections…the idea was to start that way and then refine them over time.”

“They were rewritten in 2017 and they did none of that. In fact, they opened up more grey areas – it should be pretty solid right now, the guidelines should be very black and white.”

Also Read: iOS 17 beta didn’t bring sideloading, but Apple still plans to comply with EU

Regarding the way to fix the inconsistency in Apple’s app review processes, Shoemaker said: “The way to solve that inconsistency – and I hate to say it – is: let’s take a page from Google”. “Especially now with the AI tools that are out there. You can do probably 80% of the work the review team does.” However, Shoemaker says Schiller is opposed to the idea.

“Any sort of automation was out, there was management push back on that.”

“Phil [Schiller] wants a set of eyes on every single app. I believe he is still basing that on one of the last things Steve [Jobs] told him, which is that you’ve always got to have a set of human eyes on every app that goes in the store. And Phil maybe carries that with him all the time.”

According to Shoemaker, Schiller continues to uphold Steve Jobs’ principles. “I think the way to radically improve the App Store is have Phil be an Apple fellow and get his hands off the App Store,” says Shoemaker. “That’s what they really need to do. Eddy’s more progressive, Joz is more progressive, and we know Matt is as well. Phil just needs to get his meaty paws off the App Store.”

He claims that Schiller meets with his staff every week to decide which apps and games should be approved for the App Store. These discussions, according to Shoemaker, consisted of “four hours in a room arguing about apps.” In light of the criticism Apple is receiving over the App Store, Shoemaker asserts that “if Phil doesn’t step back, it’ll absolutely be the courts making changes.”

Shoemaker also thinks Apple isn’t working hard enough to justify keeping 30% of the majority of in-app sales.

“Apple deserved the 30% in 2009 but look, it’s 2023, things have changed a lot,” he told MobileGamer.biz. “Tim [Cook] doesn’t want to give up this 30%, this is just a cash cow, especially as people aren’t upgrading their devices as they once were.”

“I agree with that developer you spoke to – this is a utility and they need to be charging utility prices, not innovation prices. I think they would do amazingly well if they dropped it down to 5%, something closer to credit card prices.”

“Apple could do that and would still make a good amount of money. The whole App Store operation, the review team, the marketing expenses from that team, they should all be able to be covered by that easily.”