This totally makes sense as Apple is struggling to make a profit. Give me a break. Glass cubes, giant stores in Grand Central Station, and architectural innovating buildings is not the way you go to maximize profits, and thats not the point of these highly successful retail outlets. Its shock and awe, its getting the products into the hands of consumers so they can "play" with them. To do this is to understand why Apple products are so successful. Nickeling and dimeing consumers is the surest way Apple can shoot themselves in the foot.
Tim, your consumers made Apple the biggest company in the world, and we fight the good fight for you all over the internet (there are no fans like Apple fans) but if you even give off the appearance that you are trying to increase your already sky high profits, then you risk it all sir. You should fire this douche Browett and quit worrying about retail stores profits. Their job is to showcase... obviously the profits will come.
For what its worth, weve been hearing on and off for years, under Jobs watch, about Apple Store pressure to sell extras like AppleCare. No commissionbut still pressure. Experiences vary from visit to visit, but that doesnt sound new to me.
I agree.
Although anything is possible, I doubt Tim's goal is to turn the stores into an average mall retailer. He would have to be a complete idiot to do so and I don't think he is. We'll see how things progress.
We're not in it to make tons of money. We're in it to make a quality product.
---Tim Cook
But Tim Cook perhaps does not realize the 'quality product' is not the final goal...it is the medium of exchange to customers making the purchase.
Happy customers purchase quality products. It's win-win and the key to Apple's success. The customer wins. The company wins.
Unhappy customers ill treated and badgered by an 'upsale' profit-centric sales force equals...................REMEMBER GATEWAY COMPUTER STORES? REMEMBER CIRCUIT CITY? REMEMBER COMPUSA? REMEMBER EGGHEAD?
Need I continue?
Alright.
Steve Jobs = Bill Gates.
Steve Balmer = Tim Cook.
Trust me, Balmer ran MS into the ground in a couple of ways, and Tim cook will do the same to do Apple.
Unlike Gates or Jobs, Tim Cook and Balmer are nothing more than bean counters, they care about maximizing every single dollar of profit, the customer be dammned.
This just in: Apple is a corporation.
More as this story develops...
Pro users have been complaining for years. Its been quite obvious for a long time that Apple doesnt care about users who rely on their macs for their income but would rather cater to the technologically inept with the iToy line.
It's called running a business. Apple needs to protect itself. Maximizing profit is the goal of business. period.
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.
It's the most frustrating thing in the world to watch the company you've served for four years, put your heart into doing well, dissolve into this. I hope they come to their senses and stop these mistakes.
Because that's exactly what they are.
I may know nothing about business, but I do know,
you don't put the dollar before the person.
I may not know much, but I know that.
In order to achieve what? More profit? What for? What good is it?
What do you believe life is for?
"We're going to double-down on products leaks" -- Tim Cook
[look how serious he was about that second quote, too]
Oh you reminded me of this!
When I purchased my rMBP, the staff pushed me so hard to buy AppleCare.
Don't these stores make a ton of money already? They're the most profitable chain retail store per square foot in the U.S.:
http://m.gizmodo.com/5903437/foot-for-foot-apple-stores-rake-in-17x-more-cash-than-other-retail-outlets
This is a big mistake that they're making, but it looks like maybe they'll back off a bit after "screwing up".