Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Apple Retail Chief Was Highly Involved in Burberry's Watch Retailing Efforts, Was Hired Over The Summer

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,522
30,801


AA-250x248.jpg
Earlier today, Apple announced the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, the current CEO of Burberry, as its new head of the company's retail and online efforts. Now, more details are coming out about how she was hired and some of her activities at Burberry that could be useful at Apple going forward.

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin, who now blogs on her own site, writes that Ahrendts loves watches and rolled out a high-end watch brand under her tenure at Burberry. This retailing experience could have an impact if Apple, as is rumored, introduces some sort of smart watch product.
I also hear she took particular interest in the watch retailing space in Burberry stores. Let’s just say her passion for watches is a coincidence. Or maybe just a plus. Needless to say the merchandising around the iWatch, whenever it arrives, will be remarkable.
Click to expand...
Separately, The Wall Street Journal reports that Ahrendts agreed to join Apple several months ago, but the announcement of the hire was held back while Burberry determined her successor. It also reported that Apple was not the only company courting Ahrendts.
In pursuing Ms. Ahrendts, Apple won out over a more recent bid for Ms. Ahrendts by J.C. Penney. The department-store chain pursued the Burberry leader for its own top job, according to a person familiar with the situation.

J.C. Penney is looking to replace Mr. Johnson—who once held the Apple role that Ms. Ahrendts is stepping into. Mr. Johnson left J.C. Penney after his attempted makeover sent sales there crashing.
Click to expand...
Angela Ahrendts will join Apple next spring after managing the CEO transition at Burberry.

Article Link: New Apple Retail Chief Was Highly Involved in Burberry's Watch Retailing Efforts, Was Hired Over The Summer
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/15/new-apple-retail-chief-was-highly-involved-in-burberrys-watch-retailing-efforts-was-hired-over-the-summer/
Last edited:
lolkthxbai

lolkthxbai

macrumors 65816
May 7, 2011
1,426
489
J.C. Penney is looking to replace Mr. Johnson--who once held the Apple role that Ms. Ahrendts is stepping into.
Click to expand...

OUCH! Looks like Apple really came out winning.
 
I

iamkarlp

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2008
102
0
If JCP fired Mr. Johnson in large part because his desire to class the place up a bit scared away their "core" customers; I can't believe what they were on when they thought Angela Ahrendts would be a good fit for their "brand".

I was willing to give their board of directors the benefit of the doubt in letting Ron go when they did, but if this is for real, it just sends a message that they may be out of their depth.

Karl P
 
KylePowers

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
Anytime I see an article mention the iWatch, I feel like I'm in the minority, as I love my iPod Nano 'watch' and am stupidly excited for when the real iWatch arrives.

This is my setup (not the clock face, per se), which I find quite elegant:
iwatch-timepiece-collection-ipod-nano-wrist-band.jpg


I always get compliments on it, so from my perspective, a smartwatch isn't particularly a farfetched concept, and can also look pretty great.

And if you're any bit of a watch collector, you'll know any likely price the iWatch retails at ($100-$300 probably) isn't particularly comparable to other high-end watch prices out there (though would be immensely more useful). I only have a couple 'nice' watches myself (Belova, Coach), but I seldom even wear them as I prefer my Nano watch, which was fairly cheaper.

EDIT: Ha! Sorry folks, the band was originally made by a company called iWatchz and can be found at this particular Amazon link (I actually got mine from an Apple store). But I think the company changed their name to kubxlab and this band (plus many others) can be found here: http://www.kubxlab.com/collections/ipod/iPod-nano-6G (mine is from the Timepiece Collection)
 
Last edited:
rdlink

rdlink

macrumors 68040
Nov 10, 2007
3,226
2,435
Out of the Reach of the FBI
iamkarlp said:
If JCP fired Mr. Johnson in large part because his desire to class the place up a bit scared away their "core" customers; I can't believe what they were on when they thought Angela Ahrendts would be a good fit for their "brand".

I was willing to give their board of directors the benefit of the doubt in letting Ron go when they did, but if this is for real, it just sends a message that they may be out of their depth.

Karl P
Click to expand...

This. Not sure what they thought Johnson was planning to do when he took over. Did they not pay attention to Target? Apple?
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,026
7,868
superleccy said:
http://us.burberry.com/the-britain-bby1503-38mm-quartz-p38858861

$2395 for a quartz watch isn't "high end". It's just tacky.

Bring back John Browett, all is forgiven...

SL
Click to expand...


"Luxury" non-quartz watches tend to start around $10,000. The $2395 quartz category isn't that far out of range of what's sold by mainstream jewelers. Remember, Apple is known for jewelry-store margins as well. Only Apple and Samsung can reliably get $650-$850 for a phone.

Anyway, what Ahrendts potentially brings is a sense of what women will buy, which will be critical to the success of a smartwatch, if Apple intends to bring one out. I can't see many women buying the Galaxy Gear. It looks too big and bulky. Remember, people under 30 don't wear watches as everyday items much anymore. But people do wear bracelets and watches as jewelry. Maybe Apple isn't going to release a "smartwatch" with a 64-bit A7 processor running iOS at all, but will instead release a series of low-powered, elegantly designed, limited purpose devices that interact with the M7 processor in an iPhone.
 
philips

philips

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2004
148
0
Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Watches industry IMO is highly stagnant. Apple could have broken the stagnation, but since now they have hired an "expert" from the industry, I highly doubt it.

Literally all man's watches suffer from:
- Too thick;
- Too large;
- Either overloaded with functions or bare minimum;
- And in general, look and style over utility.

The potential iWatch is even less interesting because on top of all the problems it would also require constant charging. :(
 
B

BigHonkingDeal

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2009
832
1,027
Fort Pierce
Ok, got it they hired a good looking women..... took three front page stories to sink in.

How about more pictures like this?
 

Attachments

  • apple_octevent13_products.jpg
    apple_octevent13_products.jpg
    70 KB · Views: 163
G

gyang333

macrumors member
May 22, 2011
76
38
KPOM said:
"Luxury" non-quartz watches tend to start around $10,000. The $2395 quartz category isn't that far out of range of what's sold by mainstream jewelers. Remember, Apple is known for jewelry-store margins as well. Only Apple and Samsung can reliably get $650-$850 for a phone.
Click to expand...

That is not true. Luxury brands like Omega sell Quartz (or did) at about ~1,500 USD. I'm not sure where you pulled that 10k number from, but entry luxury starts at a couple thousand (think Tag) capping at around 8k (think Rolex) with varying price points throughout depending on complications and whether precious metals are used.

I don't see any of Burberry's offerings as luxury.
 
L

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
And according to this article she has "an excellent fashion and design sense" and may become the next Apple CEO. :confused: I still remember how well hiring Carly Fiorina (Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and medieval history from Stanford University) as CEO of HP worked for them :D
 
gugy

gugy

macrumors 68040
Jan 31, 2005
3,891
5,308
La Jolla, CA
KylePowers said:
Anytime I see an article mention the iWatch, I feel like I'm in the minority, as I love my iPod Nano 'watch' and am stupidly excited for when the real iWatch arrives.

This is my setup (not the clock face, per se), which I find quite elegant:
Image

I always get compliments on it, so from my perspective, a smartwatch isn't particularly a farfetched concept, and can also look pretty great.

And if you're any bit of a watch collector, you'll know any likely price the iWatch retails at ($100-$300 probably) isn't particularly comparable to other high-end watch prices out there (though would be immensely more useful). I only have a couple 'nice' watches myself (Belova, Coach), but I seldom even wear them as I prefer my Nano watch, which was fairly cheaper.
Click to expand...

I like the watch band. What's the name of it? Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom