While many Android users were ecstatic when Instagram announced its new app on April 3, many iPhone users weren't. And now, ticked-off Apple fanboy photographers have an official mouthpiece: Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller has spoken out on Instagram's expansion to the Android platform.
According to 9to5Mac, one of its readers contacted Schiller after noticing the exec had deleted his Instagram account, @schiller. Schiller messaged the reader on Twitter, responding: "It [Instagram] 'jumped the shark' when it went to Android."
Later, 9to5Mac reported that another reader, Clayton Braasch, had reached out to Schiller via email asking what he felt was wrong with Instagram's expansion to Android. in a blog post, Braasch posted what he says is Schiller's response , which reads thus:
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 [sic] 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.
ZDNet's Zack Whittaker points out that Schiller may just as likely have dropped Instagram because of his position as one of Apple's top executives (though whether he was asked to do so by Apple or decided to do so on his own, we may never know).
Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey's love for Instagram has also cooled, apparently. Before the announcement that Facebook would acquire Instagram for $1 billion, Dorsey, one of Instagram's first investors, had been a daily Instagram user. However, the New York Times notes that after Facebook announced its plan to buy the app, Dorsey ceased using the service. A visit to his Twitter account confirms that his last Instagram photo was posted to Twitter on April 9. He's apparently switched to Photobucket to share his pictures with Twitter followers.
What do you think of Schiller's reasons for quitting Instagram? Let us know in the comments!
Are you thinking about ditching Instagram yourself? Then check out these awesome alternative apps:
