Apple Hires United Continental CFO as VP of Sales

Well this ought to be interesting, as hires go. Surely this person has sales experience in the airline business, but how could this benefit Apple? I don't see a direct benefit, since Apple does not offer air service. The closest thing they have is AirPort, but even that branding is going by the wayside.

Say what?

Clearly the next big thing is not the iTV, but some form of personal air travel. Perhaps the iAir or the iPlane.

Gentlemen, start your jet packs!

wrldwzrd89 said:

Well this ought to be interesting, as hires go. Surely this person has sales experience in the airline business, but how could this benefit Apple? I don't see a direct benefit, since Apple does not offer air service. The closest thing they have is AirPort, but even that branding is going by the wayside.

Click to expand...

An elegant way to say "first"

----------

noisycats said:

Clearly the next big thing is not the iTV, but some form of personal air travel. Perhaps the iAir or the iPlane.

Gentlemen, start your jet packs!

Click to expand...

Are they going to hire Starck on that transportation-related project as well?

Tim Cook isn't stupid. That's all you need to know for now.

Apple will be moving away from the traditional brick and mortar shops. The future will be a fleet of Apple stores that fly to where they are needed most.

This means that if you order your Apple early enough it will cost less.



If you wait till they only have two in stock you will pay double!

Yeah because obviously his work revitalizing United & Continental is done

That's what you need for sales. A good, experienced Chief FINANCIAL Officer.

Number nerds typically make great salespeople.

I get it.. Kind of like getting a guy who runs a soda company to take over a computer business. Makes perfect sense!

Here is a brief bio I found on the net:

Zane Rowe

Director, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of UAL, United and Continental
Continental Airlines, Inc.
Houston , TX
Sector: SERVICES / Major Airlines
Officer since September 2003

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of UAL, United and Continental , United Continental Holdings Inc
Chicago , IL
Sector: SERVICES / Major Airlines
Officer since October 2010

40 Years Old
Zane C. Rowe. Age 40. Mr. Rowe has been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of UAL, United and Continental since October 2010. From August 2008 to September 2010, Mr. Rowe served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Continental. From September 2006 to August 2008, Mr. Rowe served as Senior Vice President?Network Strategy of Continental. From August 2005 to September 2006, Mr. Rowe served as Vice President?Network Strategy of Continental. From September 2003 to August 2005, Mr. Rowe served as Vice President?Financial Planning and Analysis of Continental. Mr. Rowe joined Continental in 1993.

On the surface it seems like a strange hire vis-vis industry and sales experience ... or lack thereof.

wrldwzrd89 said:

Well this ought to be interesting, as hires go. Surely this person has sales experience in the airline business, but how could this benefit Apple? I don't see a direct benefit, since Apple does not offer air service. The closest thing they have is AirPort, but even that branding is going by the wayside.

Click to expand...

They now have someone running sales that knows how to charge extra for everything

*LTD* said:

Tim Cook isn't stupid. That's all you need to know for now.

Click to expand...

We shall see.

Oh boy. Keep the bean counters out of SALES!!!!

wrldwzrd89 said:

Well this ought to be interesting, as hires go. Surely this person has sales experience in the airline business, but how could this benefit Apple? I don't see a direct benefit, since Apple does not offer air service. The closest thing they have is AirPort, but even that branding is going by the wayside.

Click to expand...

Continental's advertising and sales strategy for the past decade has been exceptionally smart and effective...a walk down any avenue in New York these past few years would tell you that. The signs were everywhere and very witty & smart. I think this guy is a perfect fit if he was in charge of that.

United airlines sucks everything them sucks .

United airlines sucks everything about them sucks . This guy must suck big . I am selling my shares ASAP . @$@$ united airlines. this is a bad idea.

Continental was sooo amazing..

Sarcasm..

W t f ???

So, hiring a bean counter as a sales guy is, and has been forever, A DISASTER.

No wonder the stock is going straight down....

As someone who travels on the US airlines at least 50 times a year, I can say that it is one of the most horrific experiences one can imagine. From security to disgustingly obnoxious flight attendants, poor schedules and the nickel and diming you to death, the US airlines by far offers one of worst modes of travel available today.

I would take Virgin, Singapore, Malaysian, even Lufthansa over any of the US airlines when traveling internationally. The US airline industry of today is an embarrassment and they should all be ashamed of themselves. The fact that Apple would tap an executive from this industry is nothing short of curious to me.

i'm thinking he was probably hired for his expertise in finances, and logistics.

Very worrying

I completely agree with above comments. US airline companies provide very poor services compared to international airlines, and the aircrafts are falling apart (at least in the cabin), If you have the chance to fly with Emirates, Ethiad, Singapore or many Far East airlines, even with some of the European carriers you realize how bad is the airline industry is in the US (even Air Canada is far superior), So, getting the VP Finance with such poor image as Continental (except maybe their advertisements), one should really worry.

To take someone from another industry is strategically not wrong, but a finance guy to takeover Apple sales, and on top of that coming from Continental. Yes I'm concerned!

----------

TymWork said:

I completely agree with above comments. US airline companies provide very poor services compared to international airlines, and the aircrafts are falling apart (at least in the cabin), If you have the chance to fly with Emirates, Ethiad, Singapore or many Far East airlines, even with some of the European carriers you realize how bad is the airline industry is in the US (even Air Canada is far superior), So, getting the VP Finance with such poor image as Continental (except maybe their advertisements), one should really worry.

To take someone from another industry is strategically not wrong, but a finance guy to takeover Apple sales, and on top of that coming from Continental. Yes I'm concerned!

Click to expand...

In addition, VP sales are there to run the sales activities, not the logistic and or finance...it's the role of their other VP partners. A good sales executives requires specific competencies to run such activity and when we look at the background of this candidate, it seems that he has spent most of his time in finance. Hard to understand this recruitment!!!

Apple is continuing is transition from a mega growth corporation to a mega stable corporation. Nothing wrong with that, it's an inevitable outcome.

Because if anyone knows anything about selling good products to people at reasonable prices, it's an airline

He must be pretty talented though to be the CFO at only 40. Seems pretty young to me.