Tim Cook: Apple Retail is 'The Face of The Company'

[MacRumors]

At this morning's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about a number of topics including Apple's Retail division. Cook said that the company's stores are "the face of Apple" and that Apple will continue to invest in them, including the first Apple Retail location in Turkey.

There's no better place to discover, explore, and learn about our products than in retail. Our team members there are the most amazing, awesome, incredible people on earth. It's the best retail experience. It's a retail experience where you walk in and you instantly realize the store is not here for the purpose of selling, it's here for the purpose of serving.

And so the Genius Bar helps you not only with an issue, but it helps you get more out of your Apple products over the life of them. The store acts as a gathering place. It's a place that has an important role in the community. And so if you look at an agenda on an Apple Store for any given day, you might find that there's a youth program going on where the kids from a local elementary school are coming in the store as a part of their field trip. You might find that there's a local musician that's entertaining people in that store on that night. It's incredibly exciting what these stores do.

I'm not even sure "store" is the right word anymore. They've taken on a role much broader than that. They are the face of Apple for almost all of our customers.

Retail accounted for $6.4 billion of Apple's revenue in the holiday quarter, despite the fact that retail has been without a leader since October when John Browett departed the company.

Cook had strong praise for Apple's executive staff today, saying that the executive boardroom is filled with superstars, specifically mentioning Bob Mansfield, Jeff Williams, Phil Schiller, Dan Riccio and Craig Federighi.

Cook's feelings about the quality of his lieutenants may be part of the reason retail has been without an executive for nearly four months. He said Apple may need to spend a significant amount of time to find a new retail head that matches up to the current executive suite -- particularly after the issues Apple had with Browett's management decisions.

Apple spent some 7 months looking for a replacement for Ron Johnson and Tim Cook had high praise for Browett after he was hired, calling him "the best by far". Some seven months after his hiring, Browett was out. The new retail head will need to oversee Apple's continued aggressive international expansion, including stores in a number of new countries including Turkey, Brazil, and Indonesia.

Article Link: Tim Cook: Apple Retail is 'The Face of The Company'

[Votekinky06]

"The new retail head will need to oversea Apple's continued aggressive international expansion..."

Pun intended?

[Squilly]

"Retail accounted for $6.4 billion of Apple's revenue in the holiday quarter, despite the fact that retail has been without a leader since October when John Browett departed the company."
Didn't they gross $24.4 billion or something last quarter?

[Aidan5806]

Originally Posted by Squilly

"Retail accounted for $6.4 billion of Apple's revenue in the holiday quarter, despite the fact that retail has been without a leader since October when John Browett departed the company."
Didn't they gross $24.4 billion or something last quarter?

uhhhhhhhh No. That would be almost half of their revenue.

[Mike Valmike]

Future headline: Apple Stores Have Huge Impact in Turkey; Feathers Everywhere

[iSayuSay]

Retail? Old school.

I want Wholesale Store with steep discount!

[Hustler1337]

Originally Posted by iSayuSay

Retail? Old school.

I want Wholesale Store with steep discount!

Apple and discount don't really go in the same sentence

Their 'discounts' shouldn't even be called that.

[kingtj]

If Apple would *really* embrace that one simple concept, they'd really be onto something with their retail outlets.

Unfortunately, the current reality is in some kind of murky space between the two, if you ask me?

For example, I was just recently pleased with the assistance I got as a walk-in customer at the Bethesda Row Apple store. I had my corporate issued iPad with me, which unfortunately was a hand-me down from some previous employee who didn't take the best care of it. (I can live with the scratches on the back of it, but the sync cable was frayed and literally coming apart by the dock connector.)

I really didn't want to pay out $20 for a new sync cable, since this wasn't even my personal iPad (and it's the old style connector anyway). The Apple retail person I spoke with told me she'd "see what she could do" and managed to come up with a brand new cable from the back room which she gave me for free. (Didn't even ask for the original cable back or anything.)

That's a great example of serving, not selling -- and is the kind of thing which keeps me a happy Apple customer. But just as often, I hear stories of Apple store employees and managers doing unscrupulous things to boost corporate sales figures, etc. etc. Good people are forced to transfer to lower-tier stores because they won't play the games to keep the numbers looking good. That's NOT prioritizing service by any means.

[ChrisTX]

Apple has the best retail stores around. The hands on with the products, and exceptional customer service is a win win for us all!

[Fresh Pie]

Originally Posted by Timmy Cook

Our team members there are the most amazing, awesome, incredible people on earth.

He actually sounds like he's parodying himself.

[nikicampos]

Why do you use caps for every word in the article title??

[BigJayhawk]

Originally Posted by nikicampos

Why do you use caps for every word in the article title??

Since you asked (rather than Googling it yourself):

Title case, or up style, is another method. Whether or not you capitalize a word in a title depends on its part of speech. According to most style guides that use title case, the basic rules are as follows:

Capitalize the first and last word in a title, regardless of part of speech

Capitalize all nouns (baby, country, picture), pronouns (you, she, it), verbs (walk, think, dream), adjectives (sweet, large, perfect), adverbs (immediately, quietly), and subordinating conjunctions (as, because, although)

Lowercase “to” as part of an infinitive

Lowercase all articles (a, the), prepositions (to, at, in, with), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or)

For example:

Why It’s Never Too Late to Learn Grammar (all words capitalized except “to,” a preposition)

ANOTHER GOOD (and correct) EXAMPLE WOULD BE:

Apple Retail is the Face of the Company, Though Lacking a Leader

[nikicampos]

Originally Posted by BigJayhawk

Since you asked (rather than Googling it yourself):

Title case, or up style, is another method. Whether or not you capitalize a word in a title depends on its part of speech. According to most style guides that use title case, the basic rules are as follows:

Capitalize the first and last word in a title, regardless of part of speech

Capitalize all nouns (baby, country, picture), pronouns (you, she, it), verbs (walk, think, dream), adjectives (sweet, large, perfect), adverbs (immediately, quietly), and subordinating conjunctions (as, because, although)

Lowercase “to” as part of an infinitive

Lowercase all articles (a, the), prepositions (to, at, in, with), and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or)

For example:

Why It’s Never Too Late to Learn Grammar (all words capitalized except “to,” a preposition)

ANOTHER GOOD (and correct) EXAMPLE WOULD BE:

Apple Retail is the Face of the Company, Though Lacking a Leader

I didn't had to google it because I don't care why, It was more of a complaint, all I was saying is that it looks annoying on my Twitter timeline, I guess I had to use CAPS so you could see I was screaming..

No big deal, MacRumors is one of my favorite links for Apple news.

[Mac Fly (film)]

Their new retail head should be an internal hire. There was a few names thrown round a while back. They should pick the best one of those guys and make him the interim leader, so they can replace him if he's bad for the job without any bad PR. and if he's good they can make him permanent.

[Rogifan]

Cook had strong praise for Apple's executive staff today, saying that the executive boardroom is filled with superstars, specifically mentioning Bob Mansfield, Jeff Williams, Phil Schiller, Dan Riccio and Craig Federighi.

MR, you forgot Jony Ive who was the first person Cook mentioned. Cook said he was ecstatic about Ive getting involved with software. The one not mentioned (I guess Cook forgot lol) was Eddy Cue.

[ryanflucas]

Apple needs a guy to intro for Cook. Someone who walks on the stage and rallies the troops, cracks a sarcastic joke, and then hands the mic over to Cook. Someone to get on TV and be a face in commercials.

Just hire Noah Wyle already.

[WardC]

-comment withdrawn-

I'm starting to think Tim Cook might be a smart man after all, he has handled things quite well up to this point, and Apple has continued to deliver some great, innovative, high quality products. The company is still making good money, expanding rapidly, and making smart business decisions. I don't Apple has lost its touch quite yet.

[tshrimp]

"There's no better place to discover, explore, and learn about our products than in retail....."

What????

All I got from retail was incorrect information. However, the people here at Macrumors were great at responding to posts and educating me on Macs, etc. Thanks Macrumor posters for filling the gap that Apple could not fill for me.

This is also why I do not have AppleCare. 4 calls to Apple 0 resolutions, but again thanks to you guys here at Macrumors for filling in for Apple.

[toughboy]

Apple Stores in Turkey!! Bring them on Tim!!

[swingerofbirch]

Those stores are like walking into a Mardi Gras parade packed into a shoebox. I avoid them.

[constantsnags!]

As an ex Apple Retail creative trainer of 3 years, and having spoken to a few friends still working there, I'm reliably informed that morale is in the toilet, that the JB hiring caused unbelievable misery and uncertainty, and that people behind the Genius Bar especially are now being worked to within an inch of their lives. Promotion from within in Apple Retail was actually a possibility when I started; these days you're more likely to find unicorn in your lasagne (that'll give a hint as to which country I'm in). Innovation has pretty much dried up, and there's no founder waiting in the wings (unless....Woz!?!?) to bring it back from the brink this time around.

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by constantsnags!

As an ex Apple Retail creative trainer of 3 years, and having spoken to a few friends still working there, I'm reliably informed that morale is in the toilet, that the JB hiring caused unbelievable misery and uncertainty, and that people behind the Genius Bar especially are now being worked to within an inch of their lives. Promotion from within in Apple Retail was actually a possibility when I started; these days you're more likely to find unicorn in your lasagne (that'll give a hint as to which country I'm in). Innovation has pretty much dried up, and there's no founder waiting in the wings (unless....Woz!?!?) to bring it back from the brink this time around.

I love how people say these things as if they're matter of fact. I'd love to see you say that to Cook or one of his SVP's faces.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by toughboy

Apple Stores in Turkey!! Bring them on Tim!!

I was kinda surprised when my field allowed for exporting to Turkey. It appears to be a relatively civilized place.

[toughboy]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

I was kinda surprised when my field allowed for exporting to Turkey. It appears to be a relatively civilized place.

Turkey is a wonderful country with astounding history and magnificent nature.. I've been/lived in many places, including NY, Providence RI, Paris, Barcelona, Cairo etc. and honestly Istanbul is far better and civilized in all aspects than many of those cities..

[macs4nw]

Originally Posted by WardC

I'm starting to think Tim Cook might be a smart man after all, he has handled things quite well up to this point, and Apple has continued to deliver some great, innovative, high quality products. The company is still making good money, expanding rapidly, and making smart business decisions. I don't Apple has lost its touch quite yet.

Did you have any doubts before? It was with good reason that Steve hand-picked and groomed him as successor.