Why Phil Schiller Actually Quit Instagram

Earlier today, I read 9to5Mac’s article about Phil Schiller dumping Instagram due to the company’s decision to expand its app to Android. The article rubbed me the wrong way; I felt Phil’s answer wasn’t complete and as a result, the headline was completely incorrect. So, what did I do to find an answer? I emailed Phil and asked him why he quit Instagram. Here’s what he had to say:

Here’s a direct quote for those who may not be able to read the small text:

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.

So, two things.

  1. Schiller deleted his account because he doesn’t like the path Instagram chose (as indicated above), and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t think it’s fair to say the Android app is the sole reason why he quit.
  2. He made a typo in the email (he wrote “grow” instead of “grown”). It’s good to see that Apple executives are still human and haven’t become robot overlords with built-in autocorrect.

Who knew deleting an application could result in a front page news story.