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Ron Johnson, who served as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations at Apple between 2000 and 2011, today unveiled his new online retail startup called Enjoy Technology that will begin selling high-end consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, speakers and drones. The Menlo Park, California company will sell about 60 products starting today.

Enjoy aims to differentiate itself from Amazon and other competitors by providing free personal in-home setup service for products, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. When you purchase a product, Enjoy will send a representative to your home to help set it up, with visits lasting approximately one hour. AT&T, GoPro, Microsoft, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard are among the early partners with the service.

Johnson was interviewed by CNBC today to discuss the Enjoy launch and a handful of other topics, including Apple and the company's current retail chief Angela Ahrendts, the future of physical retail and more. In particular, he offered praise for Ahrendts, who has led Apple's retail operations since May 2014, and noted that he owns an Apple Watch and thinks it's an "incredible product." He also said to "stay tuned" about the availability of Apple products through Enjoy in the future.

Kayla Tausche: It was bizarre to think about an Apple product launch without those lines around the corner. Stretching for miles and miles. I'm just wondering if you look at this new era for Apple products and Apple retail, and you think that there is a lot of change and that it's sort of doing away with the way you used to do product launches?

Johnson: I don't think that's true. I'm Angela's biggest fan. I knew her before she came to Apple. I had the chance to meet her in London. The teams love her at Apple. They love her leadership. She made it clear that the Apple launch was being launched in this way and future products might go back to something that Apple has done before. I wouldn't overread the launch as a change in direction. It's the right thing for this intensely personal products.

Courtney Reagan: You have 60 products on GoEnjoy.com right now from 11 companies. But Apple isn't one of them. Why not?

Johnson: I say stay tuned. We’re not talking about it but I didn't want, our customer would love Apple products. You know there's no doubt about it. And we serve the iPhone through AT&T. You can go to AT&T's website and buy an iPhone and use enjoy. We'll be embedded in on AT&T's website on May 19th. We do help with all the Apple products. Stay tuned when they might be on our personal commerce site.
Enjoy launched in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday.

Article Link: Former Apple Retail Chief Ron Johnson Discusses 'Enjoy' Launch, Apple, Angela Ahrendts and More
 
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ctdonath

macrumors 68000
Mar 11, 2009
1,592
629
She made it clear that the Apple launch was being launched in this way and future products might go back to something that Apple has done before. I wouldn't overread the launch as a change in direction.

Good.

I'd have been among the first in line, content to face a sold-out model I wanted and made a valiant attempt to get, and could return day after day if wanting it that bad.
Instead I'm looking at waiting over a month regardless.

It's OK to put some of the onus for early purchase on the customer. I'm much more satisfied with my own inability to beat a rush than leaving delivery entirely up to a supplier who in no way will deliver anywhere close to launch date.
 

kilcher

macrumors 65816
Jul 3, 2011
1,269
326
$99 for product set up? I'd rather just figure it out myself...

The $99 is for products you already own and didn't purchase through them. It's a little confusing.

https://www.goenjoy.com/pages/how-it-works

We also offer personalized help for products you own.

Design your Enjoy Visit for $99.

You pick the time and place, and an Enjoy Expert will meet you and spend one hour helping you get more out of your tech products.

Not really a fan of this service. You're most likely paying full retail and I don't know that most people want or need someone to come to their house. I could be overestimating the general population though.
 

darkslide29

macrumors 68000
Oct 5, 2011
1,860
886
San Francisco, California
Good luck with that Ron.

Clicked on the Surface 3: available in a 2 cities in America.

How could this model ever work?

Only New York and San Francisco to start, for all products.

I checked out an xbox one and interesting that it's sold at the same retail price as anywhere else. I expected some sort of markup.

EDIT: For nerds like us who come to macrumors and other tech sites, this probably won't appeal to us. We can also probably find sales to pay less than msrp. However, someone like my parents would be all over something like this, depending on the product.
 

Patriot24

macrumors 68030
Dec 29, 2010
2,813
805
California
I don't think that's true. I'm Angela's biggest fan. I knew her before she came to Apple. I had the chance to meet her in London. The teams love her at Apple. They love her leadership. She made it clear that the Apple launch was being launched in this way and future products might go back to something that Apple has done before. I wouldn't overread the launch as a change in direction. It's the right thing for this intensely personal products.

Common sense prevails.
 

TXCherokee

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2012
338
180
The $99 is for products you already own and didn't purchase through them. It's a little confusing.

https://www.goenjoy.com/pages/how-it-works



Not really a fan of this service. You're most likely paying full retail and I don't know that most people want or need someone to come to their house. I could be overestimating the general population though.

Ahem....
 

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BSben

macrumors 65816
May 16, 2012
1,136
621
UK
I think it is very nice of him to talk about his former employer and Angela in that way. I tend to disagree with his comment about Angela, but he knows much more about the subject than I do.
 

2457282

Suspended
Dec 6, 2012
3,327
3,015
I like Ron, class guy. Never understood why he thought he could make JC Penny a classy store or organization. Enjoy seems like the perfect service for my parents. They are more than willing to pay full price, but boy they need some hand-holding. Actually I would pay full price so that I dont have to hand-hold my parents every time they get a new toy. :D
 

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,779
41,982
USA
Interesting concept - In short, it's competitive pricing on the products they have (they will match lower prices) but you also get a free in-home visit.

I can see this being quite popular as it expands out. I can also see Best Buy taking another hit if this company takes off and expands.

There doesn't seem to be a downside to ordering from them vs another retailer. So I'm not sure of the mocking tone/negativity that is in this thread over the concept. So it's only rolling out in two areas right now with limited products. You have to start somewhere.
 

rorschach

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2003
2,269
1,841
Isn't it free?
"Get FREE delivery and Expert help.
Your highly trained Enjoy Expert will spend an hour helping you get the most out of your new product."

The setup is free if you order the product through them.

If you already bought it somewhere else then you can pay a standalone $99 for the setup/help service.

My question is, how are they going to make money? Probably from selling the standalone setup/help sessions. But realistically, how many people are actually going to pay 100 bucks for that? I'm sure you can find a fair amount, but it doesn't seem like a viable long-term business.
 

kmj2318

macrumors 68000
Aug 22, 2007
1,669
712
Naples, FL
I see the potential for these types of businesses. If you can save a multimillionaire some time and hassle, you can definitely charge for it. It's very targeted. Most people are not in this target, and saying it's not worth it is assuming your time is worth as much as everyone else's. It's not. More and more businesses are targeting the super rich but the rich are getting richer.

A hundred dollars to set up a device sounds ridiculous to us, and the hour that it takes to get everything set up is no big deal. But if your hour is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, you will happily pay.

It's funny, a lot of business that are accused of ripping people off by people that are not even in the target market (like apple), have customers who love them. If you're not in the target market your opinion is worthless.
 

sportyguy209

macrumors newbie
Feb 13, 2014
2
9
Atlanta, GA
Fail!

Johnson did a great job at Apple with its store concept.

I was shocked when he announced that he was leaving Apple for a dinosaur like JC Penny. Never believed that he could turn it around, and he didn't.

Now, I can only imagine failure with this new project. Is there really a need big enough for this type of "product/service" to make any money? I don't see it.
 

kodos

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2010
427
1,051
Interesting idea. Especially if there's no markup over MSRP. Many of these products (like Surface) are often sold at MSRP, so this wouldn't be a bad idea at all.

Might be the sort of thing that I recommend to my mom, assuming of course that it ever rolls out in more cities...
 

RogerWilco

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2011
822
1,361
Another sign that Dotcom Mania 2.0 is nearing its peak of exuberant, profitless, foolishness. A hard rain is coming to the Valley, but it won't help with your drought.
 

ZMacintosh

macrumors 65816
Nov 13, 2008
1,445
684
Apple store on wheels. i like the concept. ive worked as an ACN and field "tech" for apple providers. most of them are older customers or clueless tech people, or simply they dont want to drag their old crap and leave it a store for days on end to get data transferred.

definitely a nice touch. they could do alot with this if they possibly open it to other contractors within reason

Go to hell, Ron...I'm still pissed at your free taco offer for busting our butts during the holidays! :mad:
huh?
 

stanhope

macrumors regular
Mar 25, 2015
161
53
I think it is very nice of him to talk about his former employer and Angela in that way. I tend to disagree with his comment about Angela, but he knows much more about the subject than I do.

More like he doesn't want to piss her or anybody else off at Apple given his new business venture. My dog deserves more praise in this launch than Angela Elitist Ahrendts. At least the dog can wake you up at midnight.
 
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