Rene Ritchie of iMore on Apple’s executive mixup:

What this means for developers in general and indie developers in specific remains to be seen. Historically there have been issues in both orgs. App review has generated complaints about capriciousness and lack of responsiveness pretty much since launch, and that has always been under Schiller. iTunes infrastructure, resources, and tools—or the lack thereof—has been under Cue but now move at least partially under Schiller. In the past, long-requested features like upgrades, trials, and Mac App Store parity have been nebulous in terms of who and how they could be lobbied. Now Schiller’s name is officially on the top and it’s absolutely clear—the buck stops with Schiller.

John Gruber on Daring Fireball:

Treating the App Stores as part of developer relations instead of “media content” is clearly the right way to go. The stores are built on the iTunes Server platform (WebObjects, still!), but running an App Store is nothing like distributing movies, TV shows, books, and music. There are far more improvements that need to be made on the developer relations side of things than the technical side of things (although better search would be welcome).

And Dave Mark on The Loop:

Bottom line, Phil Schiller has a tremendous opportunity for foundational change. He has the chance to make things better for developers in all the App Stores (Mac, iOS, tvOS). Key to this is understanding exactly what the problems are. What is driving some developers to release their apps outside the safety of the official Mac App Store? Why is it so hard to make a living building apps? Are these things fixable? Can Apple make app discovery on the various App Stores easier for users and better for developers?

Apple’s present success is almost entirely (or roughly 56%) due to the iPhone, and its success is almost entirely (perhaps more than 56%) because of wealth of apps found on the App Store. Because there are so many consumers on Apple’s iPhone and because the platform is such a pleasure to develop for, developers have flocked to the iPhone. Arguably, in the early days of the first few iPhones with App Stores, it was for the love of the platform: Mac developers who saw a chance to develop something new and cool. It such a surprise to me that considering this, and considering the resources that must have gone into the latest iTunes Connect update, that something as fundamental as the App Store on iOS and on the Mac has gone from bad to worse.

Worse how? I offer only anecdotes. Sketch has left the MAS after becoming one of its biggest hits. I can reliably freeze the iOS app by spam-hitting the elements in the bottom bar. I have app updates that don’t complete and require a restart or a delete and re-install. I hope that putting Schiller’s alone as responsible for the App Store along with placing his good reputation with developers on the line will solve the App Store’s problems.