Apple Ropes In Former Robinhood Executive For App Discovery Role

Apple Inc AAPL has hired Josh Elman, former vice president of product at Robinhood Markets Inc, to work in a position related to its App Store, Bloomberg reported Monday.

What Happened: Elman said his role relates to app discovery for the Tim Cook-led company’s customers.

2/ I’m joining Apple to work on @AppStore and help customers discover the best apps for them.

— Josh Elman  (@joshelman) November 30, 2020

The former venture capitalist at Greylock Partners was involved in investments in group-chatting platform Discord and blogging portal Medium. He will be stepping away from corporate boards and investing, according to Bloomberg.

Why It Matters: Elman’s experience in identifying apps that become popular could help the Cupertino-based tech giant in promoting its software on the App Store, noted Bloomberg.

The App Store generated $54 billion in revenue for Apple in the 2020 financial year.

The new executive could also help Apple calm disaffected developers as two of his major successful investments — HouseParty and SmartThings — belong to rabble-rousing opponents Epic Games and Samsung Electronics Co, respectively.

Epic is suing Apple after its game "Fortnite" was taken down by the latter as the game maker tried to circumvent the tech giant’s 30% commission on in-app purchases.

Price Action: Apple shares closed nearly 2.1% higher at $119.05 on Monday and rose 1.48% in the after-hours session to $120.81.

Related Links:

Apple Slashes App Store Fee To 15% For Small Businesses

Apple Exempts Virtual Events From Paying 30% App Store Cut Through June