Apple Executive Phil Schiller Profiled, Known Within Apple as ‘Mini-Me’

L to R: Scott Forstall, Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller

Bloomberg Businessweek has a profile on Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller. It’s based on more than a dozen interviews with former managers and paints the picture of a strict and disciplined ‘trusted lieutenant’ of Steve Jobs:

Fairly or not, Schiller and other Apple executives are being measured against their former boss. Superficially, the two men had little in common. Jobs had no interest in sports; Schiller is a rabid hockey fan. Jobs eschewed public displays of wealth; Schiller collects high-priced sports cars and has kept miniature replicas of some in his office. Yet in business, Schiller channeled Jobs’s perspective so consistently that he was known within Apple as Mini-Me. He found the nickname flattering and kept a cutout of the Austin Powers character in his office. Like Jobs, he is ruthlessly disciplined when it comes to choosing new products or features, which has yielded another nickname: Dr. No, for his penchant to shoot down ideas, according to one former manager.

It is Schiller’s responsibility to lead Apple in the next generation of new products, as he oversees Apple’s marketing. The company’s advertising budget was $933 million last year. With rumours flying high about what to expect at WWDC next week, expect Schiller to be the man leading the charge at the keynote. You can check out the full article via the link below.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]