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Apple marketing chief Schiller unfollows Nest & Tony Fadell on Twitter following Google deal

Schiller and Fadell on the left (image via web)

Schiller and Fadell on the left

Only a few days after “father of the iPod” Tony Fadell agreed to sell thermostat and smoke detector maker Nest to Google for north of three billion dollars, Apple senior vice president (and former Fadell colleague) Phil Schiller has unfollowed the Nest CEO and the Nest company on Twitter.

Here’s Schiller’s following list from a recent cache:

Screen Shot 2014-01-17 at 9.01.37 PM

And here’s Schiller’s following list now:

Screen Shot 2014-01-17 at 8.49.54 PM

As the protector of Apple’s brand, Schiller’s unfollowing of Fadell and Nest is perhaps unsurprising. With the Nest deal, a source says that Google will gain approximately 200 former Apple employees. The majority of Nest employees worked at Apple over the course of their careers, with many being involved in high-profile projects like the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. The design of the Nest Thermostat and Nest Protect have also been compared to the designs of Apple products, so the fact that Nest’s products are now under the umbrella of Apple’s fiercest competitor may not be a pleasing sight for Apple’s marketing head.

This is not the first time that Schiller has publicly taken the stand against Google products. The Apple veteran has blasted Google and its partners on Twitter for issues ranging from hardware benchmark claims to mobile operating system security. Schiller’s practice of taking small jabs at competitors also goes beyond Google. For a couple of years, the then-exclusive-to-iOS Instagram app was heavily promoted both on the App Store and by Phil Schiller. After Instagram expanded its business to the Android platform, Schiller closed his Instagram account.

Of course, Schiller is not the only Apple fan upset about Google buying Nest… Oh, and the Nest is still being sold on Apple’s online store (for now?).

Thanks, Aaron and Gabe for the leads!

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Comments

  1. hmurchison - 10 years ago

    Hahahaha he’s now Tony Infidel

  2. sardonick - 10 years ago

    Did he follow it up by texting “Nanny nanny boo boo” ? #butthurt

  3. Mark James Luzzi - 10 years ago

    Another BIG Apple flub since the death of Steve Jobs.Apple should have purchased them not google.

    • hmurchison - 10 years ago

      Apple would be idiotic to spend even 200 million for Nest. It’s just not an Apple core competency or desire.

      • Howard Brittain - 10 years ago

        Apple have absolutely NO INTEREST in Nest or it’s products. Why would they ? Nest has nothing of any value to Apple. This is just another left field wild acquisition by Google in it’s ‘catch all’ development strategy to gather any anything it finds of interest. Imho this article is utterly boring as is the ‘unfollow’.

  4. rogifan - 10 years ago

    Wow some hard hitting reporting here. Checking someone’s twitter followings? Seriously?

  5. rettun1 - 10 years ago

    They jumped the shark

  6. Paul Snow - 10 years ago

    Wow, that report should win the “Most absurd and unnecessary piece of news ever made”

  7. robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

    why is this posted as some great news item?? Nothing else to write about?

    • Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

      This is just high school B.S…. Like OMG! Phil unfollowed Tony. I heard that Tony said that Phil sucks and that’s why Phil unfollowed him.

  8. ctxppc - 10 years ago

    It’s time now, Apple. It’s time to use all that cash you’ve been keeping for this secretly kept moment.

    1. Buy Google, its users, its people, and its assets: search, e-mail, cloud, YouTube, Android, Nest, etc.
    2. Incorporate everything into a superentity. Find great people to do this correctly.
    3. Rename yourself to MomCorp.

  9. Gregory Wright - 10 years ago

    Wow, you don’t say.

  10. Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

    I’m curious why this merits being reported. I unfollow people all the time. Schiller probably doesn’t even read most of the tweets that come in anyway. Nothing to see here. Move along…

  11. André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

    Schiller, so jealous and childish. You should CONTINUE to follow Nest and see what else they come up with, so you can adapt and offer competitive products at some time in the future. Instead the little fat boy, decides to ignore and gets nowhere. Only thing I’ve seen him do is yada-yada at Apple events. Nothing that has happened at Apple have I seen bear his signature, unlike others efforts.

    • nmpomes - 10 years ago

      You say he is childish then call him a little fat boy? Seems like you are the childish one! His unfollowing shows that Apple definitely doesn’t approve of this purchase.

      • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

        Whether I am childish or not is totally besides the point. The point is that HE is childish. Furthermore, Apple dosen’t have a say about Nest, its not their company to decide such things. Schiller used to be colleagues with Tony and now just to blow him off. Talk about someone being fanatical. Apple make good products, but poor in the HR department.

    • Stephen Minton - 10 years ago

      Not sure if you’re being deliberately ironic, calling him “childish” and then calling him a “little fat boy”.

  12. Mordechai Levi - 10 years ago

    But he follows a googled twitter, weird.

  13. Elias Schulkin - 10 years ago

    The Nest is cool, but the Webee is what I’ll be investing in. Not as invasive, and definitely better A.I. http://igg.me/at/webee-smart-home-automation/x/5944165

  14. dcj001 - 10 years ago

    “Schiller is not the only Apple fan upset”

    You’ve never seen Phil Schiller upset:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi9hHjmYq4#t=1m18s

  15. Gregg Mojica - 10 years ago

    I think Schiller’s response is a little ridiculous..just an opinion.

  16. Nicholas Vettese - 10 years ago

    I find it funny that Google has been with Nest from the beginning, and no one ever complained. Google has been there from their initial startup and throughout their development periods. So why is this so upsetting to Apple and their Fanboys?