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Stephen123

macrumors regular
Sep 3, 2007
184
11
Browett is an ass, and maybe there's something to all this. But the article is completely un-sourced. Further it makes reference to a previous article as support, but that previous article turned out to be wildly exaggerated.
 

panerista

macrumors G5
Oct 20, 2011
12,679
10,516
Austin, TX
Ya know whats really sad? Companies like Microsoft, are 100% focused on created great products with great support, Windows XP/Xbox Line/Window 7 and 8 ( I hope ) seem to fuel my theroy.

Well that's a fair argument except for a few things.

You can't say Microsoft is 100% focused on great products because they still managed to release poor products. Among these are Windows Vista, the worst operating system in the past ten years, Microsoft Office, which for all the high points, is still bloated and cursed by its own monopoly, windows media player, which is awful, internet explorer, which is only a market leader because it is default.

I get that you're not happy with Apple's retail policy, but that does not mean that Microsoft is about to commandeer smart phone supremacy from Apple. You want to see bad retail, take a half hour and go into a Microsoft store. The store is uninteresting, the people are far less helpful, and the products have no innovation.
 

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
I knew that bringing Browett on as the VP of Retail was a bad idea after reading all the comments people were writing about him here shortly after the news broke. And now after reading this news about Cook and Oppenheimer confronting Johnson about making profit while sacrificing the customer experience makes this situation look worse. Don't these guys know that it's bad to alienate their source of profit?

I have always wanted to give Cook a chance and I think he's done a decent job since officially becoming CEO but everything about this stinks so bad. Didn't the execs learn anything while Jobs was out of the company the first time? Apple was at the top of their game then and fell hard not too long after. Apple is at the top of its game now and the last thing we need to see is a repeat of the last time.

I never wanted to join the "Steve would never allow this" bandwagon but it's looking like I might have to sooner than later.
 

Agent OrangeZ

macrumors 68040
Mar 17, 2010
3,014
3,014
Planet Earth
apple_retail_portrait-150x205.jpg


I just came to say that this chick is hot. :apple:
 

luqtotheman

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2012
198
3
What I like most about apple is their customer service and they never question if something needs to be replaced. They are pretty good when you call customer service about a problem as well. This is the main reason I don't mind paying a higher cost than competitors because I know I am getting top customer service and products that just work.


Putting profits first is never a good idea, look at companies like Wal Mart, Best Buy, AT&T all are profit first and give customers the finger (yes I know they make billions but that's not all business should be about). I'm all for profit but that will come when you focus on customers and making good products. They became the most valuable company using this model why change?

Greed is a bad thing, very bad for individual people and society as a whole.
 

panerista

macrumors G5
Oct 20, 2011
12,679
10,516
Austin, TX
Don't worry about making money. Worry about being the best at everything you do. If you do this, your customers will make your money for you.

I wish it were that simple. Fender makes some of the best guitars in the world, but they have been up and down and bought and sold so many times. It doesn't work everywhere, but Apple knows it needs to maximize profitability now while the getting is good.
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,874
Maybe that's why I experienced less-than-stellar service from Apple Store Hong Kong:

Me: Hi, I want to purchase an iPad, 4G, 64GB version, thanks.
Apple Guy: Please go to the express cashier to buy it.

At the express cashier
Me: Hi, I want to purchase an iPad, 4G, 64GB version, thanks.
Cashier Lady: $xxx please
I paid.
Cashier Lady: Thank you.

Of course, the buying process was quick, but the experience was like I was purchasing a chocolate bar from the local supermarket...

I only received better treatment when I was purchasing a rMBP. But every staff pretended that they had the 2.6GHz 512GB version, "we have a few units left!" "OK, I want one".... 15 minutes later "Sorry we're out of stock." I tried several days and the answer had been exactly the same. :mad: I bought the base 2.3GHz version at last.
 

rbryanh

macrumors newbie
Aug 21, 2010
6
0
Take Your Pick

What's most remarkable here is that Apple's management is making significant changes to its operations out of the perception that the company is insufficiently profitable, and no one is screaming "WTF?"

Greed is antithetical to excellence. It requires enormous will on the part of a very few individuals to keep a corporation from being anything beyond what they're all conceived to be: amoral profit machines. Sooner or later, every one of them becomes the social equivalent of a psychotic meth addict: insatiable, paranoid, and doomed.
 

G51989

macrumors 68030
Feb 25, 2012
2,530
10
NYC NY/Pittsburgh PA
Well that's a fair argument except for a few things. .

I'd agree, note how I left out Vista.

You can't say Microsoft is 100% focused on great products because they still managed to release poor products. Among these are Windows Vista, the worst operating system in the past ten years, Microsoft Office, which for all the high points, is still bloated and cursed by its own monopoly, windows media player, which is awful, internet explorer, which is only a market leader because it is default.

I think they are, Vista was bad. But it was more of the messed up " Vista Capable " marketing campaing, if you run Vista on a machine that is fully capable of running Aero, I found it to be a good OS>

Its not nearly as big as of a Disaster as 10.7 was, at least for me. My iMac collected Dust because of 10.7, luckily they fixed alot of things in 10.8.

Microsoft Office? I use it all the time, seen Office 365? I love it! Bloated? Most machines laugh at it, I love office. 100% opinion, and you can have yours.

Media Player: Have you used Media player in 7? Its great. Better than iTunes on Windows, which is a bloated pile of crap. ( Don't flip, i use iTunes on my iMac and its MUCH better )

Internet Explorer: Yeah, it was bad for a long time, though I do remember it being great early on, but there was a time period when it was just horrible, but as of late? They've cleaned up their act, big time.

I get that you're not happy with Apple's retail policy, but that does not mean that Microsoft is about to commandeer smart phone supremacy from Apple. You want to see bad retail, take a half hour and go into a Microsoft store. The store is uninteresting, the people are far less helpful, and the products have no innovation.

I don't think Microsoft will take smart phone marketshare away from Apple, at all. I do think they'll manage to steal some of the tablet market away, and I think they'll maintain their dominate in Enterprise and Home Desktop/Laptop OS markets.

Bad Retail? I don't care how " interesting " a store is personally, I want to be able to go in, buy what I need, and ask questions. But I've only been in a Microsoft store twice, and they were pretty helpful.

Right now, the Apple retail experience is terrible. Because the stores, are of course always busy, its impossible to find someone to talk to, and many many of them have no idea what they are talking about.

Imo. Thats 100% due to lack of enough staff, and these idiots want to cut staff more? That will make the experience even worse. Double the size of the stores, and add more employees. Thats what they need.

And nothing at a Microsoft store is innovative? Whats so innovative at an Apple store?

My iMac has gone into the APple store twice, one for a failed fan, another for a failed hard drive, once I actually got my appointment, and got through the sea of people, and actually got to the G Bar, I was fine.

The fact of the matter is, Apple needs to be expanding stores, and adding more workers. Not cutting hours to save a few bucks.
 

dontwalkhand

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2007
6,368
2,863
Phoenix, AZ
As I said in another post before, the Cook-occolypse begins. This is the beginning of the end for Apple...Thank you Mr. Cook, Cook is No Jobs.
 

flounder021

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2008
43
0
From my personal experience working in Apple retail, it was always numbers focused. Everything from the red zone where the specialists are, to the genius bar. Always numbers. BUT the customer and customer service were barely about that. Like others have said, with Browett in charge now, things will change and Apple retail will never be the same. If they really are removing workshops, that is a shame. That's what made Apple retail stand out.
 

rbryanh

macrumors newbie
Aug 21, 2010
6
0
…But the article is completely un-sourced. Further it makes reference to a previous article as support, but that previous article turned out to be wildly exaggerated.

In 25 years, there will be no one left in America capable of recognizing journalism, much less pining over its loss.
 

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,874
I don't know but I went into the Apple Store to get a MacBook Pro on Sunday past & the store staff were quite keen to get me to buy One to One & AppleCare. When I went a few years ago to get an iMac, there was none of that pushiness. They aren't even based on commission.

But I doubt that such ethics has been pushed out to a single store in N. Ireland.

Oh you reminded me of this!

When I purchased my rMBP, the staff pushed me so hard to buy AppleCare. :rolleyes:
 

Fattytail

macrumors 6502a
Apr 11, 2012
902
242
Maybe that's why I experienced less-than-stellar service from Apple Store Hong Kong:

Me: Hi, I want to purchase an iPad, 4G, 64GB version, thanks.
Apple Guy: Please go to the express cashier to buy it.

At the express cashier
Me: Hi, I want to purchase an iPad, 4G, 64GB version, thanks.
Cashier Lady: $xxx please
I paid.
Cashier Lady: Thank you.

Of course, the buying process was quick, but the experience was like I was purchasing a chocolate bar from the local supermarket...

What in the world did you expect her to do? Come out from behind the cash register and tap dance for you? For crying out loud ... have you seen the number of people in that store?

I've been to many, many Apple stores around the world and have never had a bad experience. Whether this will change in the future remains to be seem.
 

G51989

macrumors 68030
Feb 25, 2012
2,530
10
NYC NY/Pittsburgh PA
It's called running a business. Apple needs to protect itself. Maximizing profit is the goal of business. period.

Ah, so reducing its retail store staff is a good thing then?

One of the big reasons people buy Apple is because of its great customer service.

I will fully admit, I've had some stupid encounters with them getting my iMac repaired.

But, great customer service overall, when it took them 2 weeks to get the parts required to repair my iMac, they gave me store credit and apologized for the wait.

When my hard drive died, they took the time to recover as much info off of it as they could ( I had it backed up alreadyd, but the gesture was very nice ).

So, reducing the staff in an Apple store will make the Apple experience worse, and lead to less sales, and less customers.

Good thing companies like Apple and Microsoft were founded by people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (he is every bit as much a visionary when he was still in the tech world as Jobs was, he just had a different visionary ) , and not people like you! Or Bean Counters! We saw how well Balmer did, and Tim Cook is already shaping up to be Balmer 2.0
 
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charlituna

macrumors G3
Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
Curious about the validity of this report. I have a hard time believing that they were concerned about numbers if they're running one of the most profitable retail stores in the world.

Gary is known to embellish and misquote, epecially in articles about the internal workings of Apple. One should always question what he posts as it is often 90-95% FUD and BS
 
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