A week ago, it was revealed that Apple executive Phil Schiller was using Twitter. Actually, he had been on the service for about two years, but he wasn’t active, nor was he verified, so no one was sure it was him. Well, now we know it is him and all of a sudden, for whatever reason, he has decided to become an active user.
And since stories like ours pushed Schiller from 800 or so followers to about 16,800, he has stepped up his game another notch: he’s actually started answering @replies with questions pointed towards him. Perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising, since this is the same Schiller that took matters into his own hands in August 2009 when there was growing discontent among iPhone app developers. But he is still an executive at Apple, the notoriously secretive company.
So what has Schiller revealed via Twitter? Well, a lot of more personal stuff, such as his love of the NHL, Aston Martins, watches, and Boston. But he also gave a few Apple-related tidbits. Among them:
But much more interesting was when Schiller decided to try and help a few iPhone users with their issues. When someone suggested that iOS 4.2 was buggy and crashing their apps, Schiller wondered if their device was jailbroken? “That is the #1 cause of iOS crashes,” he tweeted.
When the person said they hadn’t, Schiller suggested they try AppleCare. But then he went another step and actually gave out his email address and told the person to email him if they were still have problems. That’s awesome — but potentially dangerous on Twitter.
And while he gave out his email address on the public service, he was declined to give out his GameCenter ID. “Isn’t it enough that people know my Twitter account? LOL,” he tweeted.
Finally, earlier today when someone asked why the App Store on the iPhone makes you enter your password to download new apps, Schiller responded with, “It is for security. You wouldn’t want any software to get installed without your explicit approval.” Fair enough.
So, yes, Schiller is on quite the Twitter tear as of late. It’s great to see him answering questions directed at him this way. Hopefully he keeps it up. And maybe he’ll tempt his fellow Apple execs to get on board. Scott Forstall still has yet to say a word to his over 35,000 followers. And he still only follows Conan. Meanwhile, given Steve Jobs’ penchant for quick, blunt email responses, it seems like he would love Twitter.
Yeah, I wouldn’t count on that happening.
@butterflyylost have you tried AppleCare to see if they can help you diagnose it? That's usually the best.—
Philip Schiller (@pschiller) November 28, 2010
[thanks Jason]
Philip Schiller is Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing and reports to Apple’s CEO. Schiller is a member of Apple’s Executive Team and is responsible for the company’s Product Marketing, Developer Relations, and Business Marketing programs. Since rejoining Apple in April 1997, Schiller has helped the company return to its role as a technology innovator, delivering breakthrough products such as the iMac, MacBook, Airport, Xserve, Mac OS X, Safari, AppleTV, iPod and iPhone. Schiller has over twenty four...
Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...
Created in 2006, Twitter is a global real-time communications platform with 400 million monthly visitors to twitter.com, more than 200 million monthly active users around the world. We see a billion tweets every 2.5 days on every conceivable topic. World leaders, major athletes, star performers, news organizations and entertainment outlets are among the millions of active Twitter accounts through which users can truly get the pulse of the planet.
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