Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller dumps ‘Instagram’ over expansion to Android

| Apr 19 2012 - 1:04 pm PT

Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey is not the only photo-loving business executive upset by Instagram in recent weeks. While Dorsey stopped posting photos on Instagram after Facebook reportedly beat his Twitter to an acquisition of the app, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller quit Instagram for another reason: Android.

A reader noticed Schiller deleted his Instagram account (@schiller), and then reached out to Apple’s most visible public speaker by Twitter for confirmation. Schiller told the reader that he quit the rising photo-based social network, because the app “jumped the shark” when it launched on the Android platform.

In terms of iOS marketing, which is something that Schiller runs at the highest level, Instagram could have been seen as a pull for smartphone buyers to the iOS platform. The fun, convenient, and growing network was featured several times in Apple’s App Store—even winning “App of the Year” recognition. As marketing chief at Apple, seeing one of the platform’s most popular third-party pieces of software running on millions of Android phones is a disappointing sight.

Update: 9to5mac reader Clayton got in touch (we verified headers) with SVP Schiller who clarified his position… a little:

In case you cannot read the above, this is what he says:

Instagram is a great app and community. That hasn’t changed.
But one of the things I really liked about Instagram was that it was a small community of early adopters sharing their photographs.
Now that it has grow(n) much larger the signal to noise ratio is different.
That isn’t necessarily good or bad, it’s just not what I originally had fun with.

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/pschiller/status/144941621803352064]

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/pschiller/status/12427677466099712]

Some reactions to the news:

[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/193246910235148288][

[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/193314076200419328]

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/AlexEHeath/status/193069947914694656]

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/AlexEHeath/status/191585679455690752]