Angela Ahrendts Climbs to Thirteenth Spot in Fortune's 'Most Powerful Women' List for 2017

[shadowmatt]

Curious to see / experience her influences within the retail space as more of her ideas and strategy become implemented. I like the idea of the store becoming a gathering spot, and less of a retail push.

That said, I have always felt comfortable going in to use some equipment, get a quick charge, or to simply check out new devices.

My experience with that lady's changes are the following...

You can never get a booking at a genius bar for warranty work. Even AppleCare couldn't manage it.

So how did I get my laptop repaired? Apple told me to find an Apple approved company and have them do the work, or just turn up in store and wait around for an hour or so, as someone might be able to see me?

They will even txt you when they decide they can be bothered, but you essentially have to spend your day in a shopping mall waiting for the txt.

Luckily we have a business account and we buy a lot of macs, so after asking to speak to management I was seen within minutes, unlike the rest of Apple's poor customers who were put in the twilight zone of maybe getting a txt and they should just kinda hand around waiting.

Absolute bull, I told the manager they were more like Dixons these days and their customer support insulting.

This lady took something that worked and broke it, and broke it badly.

Obviously changing all the shops into little more than coffee shops will only increase this nonsense.

 

[cardfan]

She has no input at all in terms of designing products. Her degree was in marketing and she has never worked at a technology company before. She was brought in partly to appease extreme feminists who are obsessed with the number of women on company boards and partly because she has a background in overpriced luxury clothes which is an area that has profit margins that make Cook start sweating and is everything that Apple was not supposed to be.

Your other comments about the costs also seem wide of the mark. Jobs was never about the money, never. Jobs was driven by other goals. He wasn't perfect but money clearly wasn't his aim. At any point in the last half of his second stint leading Apple he could have stuck 10% on the price of iPods and iPhones and still sold more than they could make. He could have made millions simply by allowing companies to put their software on macs and iPods as standard - he refused every single time. Now we can debate whether that's a good idea or not and Cook is testing that to destruction when you look at the new prices and the things done to Mac Minis and Mac Pros etc even sometimes increasing prices for products that were a year or two old. But Cook is making money faster than Jobs ever did. People used to joke that Apple could do that and well now we are seeing it was no joke.

We can argue about whether Angela is a bad influence or merely window dressing but to say that she is the "perfect hire" is strange, she is the very worst example of everything wrong with modern corporate culture. She hasn't come up with a single product or idea that means anything. Town squares? Please. Yet every time anyone points out the absurdity of her taking tens of millions of dollars in pay people pop up on here to defend her. To people on her pay everyone reading this board is just a peasant yet people defend her. Is it just feminist thinking? Or is there something else?

Couldn't agree more. Except about Jobs. If he could find a revenue flow to maximize, he did (and he should have..). Like good software. Apple ran like a machine. He knew to say no to products that wouldn't provide required margins. However, unlike Cook, he was more relentless with perfecting products and obviously wielded more control over everything in that regard. Cook never struck me as that much of a techie or someone who knows what people want. It was Jobs' way or the highway. Cook is about team approaches, inclusiveness, etc.

Would Apple have dumped the ecosystem of things under Jobs? Routers, monitors, etc? I'm not sure. I think that's a mistake. Macs are the heart of Apple and I don't think Jobs would have neglected them like Cook did. Jobs would know the importance. Even though sales have been ok compared to PC's, I think they missed an opportunity to gain some significant PC market and consider that a failure on Cook's part. And I'm not sure Jobs would've been ok with screens used in the iphone series for so long since the iphone 6. That 1080p screen used in the Plus was all about costs and compromise. At the very least, I think Jobs would have tried to ensure much more control over OLED screen production like they did their A chips.

I still worry about Apple not having essential things I need, relying on Bing for Siri, outsourcing half baked Map data, neglecting itunes, icloud, and other things and if that bodes well for the future.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

Couldn't agree more. Except about Jobs. If he could find a revenue flow to maximize, he did (and he should have..). Like good software. Apple ran like a machine. He knew to say no to products that wouldn't provide required margins. However, unlike Cook, he was more relentless with perfecting products and obviously wielded more control over everything in that regard. Cook never struck me as that much of a techie or someone who knows what people want. It was Jobs' way or the highway. Cook is about team approaches, inclusiveness, etc.

Would Apple have dumped the ecosystem of things under Jobs? Routers, monitors, etc? I'm not sure. I think that's a mistake. Macs are the heart of Apple and I don't think Jobs would have neglected them like Cook did. Jobs would know the importance. Even though sales have been ok compared to PC's, I think they missed an opportunity to gain some significant PC market and consider that a failure on Cook's part. And I'm not sure Jobs would've been ok with screens used in the iphone series for so long since the iphone 6. That 1080p screen used in the Plus was all about costs and compromise. At the very least, I think Jobs would have tried to ensure much more control over OLED screen production like they did their A chips.

I still worry about Apple not having essential things I need, relying on Bing for Siri, outsourcing half baked Map data, neglecting itunes, icloud, and other things and if that bodes well for the future.

What people are NOT paying attention to is what will happen if Cook leaves the CEO position. If Jeff Williams takes over, it will get worse because, as you've said, Jobs was relentless with perfection and took control of everything. He knew how to keep people in check. They think that Apple will stay #1 forever.

It won't because Apple is going to slip down and fall eventually. Complacency and greed is an insidious little thing that when it starts small, it begins to snowball bigger and bigger to the point where they lose control of the plot. So that being pointed out, I don't think Angela's attempts to turn the stores around will be enough to make a difference.

 

[firewood]

Stop justifying Apple.

Don’t have to. U.S. and California corporate law already do. Most shareholders agree. So do a few app developers.

 

[Rodomiro]

Damn... didn't knew men in tech were so misogynist

 

[840quadra]

My experience with that lady's changes are the following...

You can never get a booking at a genius bar for warranty work. Even AppleCare couldn't manage it.

So how did I get my laptop repaired? Apple told me to find an Apple approved company and have them do the work, or just turn up in store and wait around for an hour or so, as someone might be able to see me?

They will even txt you when they decide they can be bothered, but you essentially have to spend your day in a shopping mall waiting for the txt.

Luckily we have a business account and we buy a lot of macs, so after asking to speak to management I was seen within minutes, unlike the rest of Apple's poor customers who were put in the twilight zone of maybe getting a txt and they should just kinda hand around waiting.

Absolute bull, I told the manager they were more like Dixons these days and their customer support insulting.

This lady took something that worked and broke it, and broke it badly.

Obviously changing all the shops into little more than coffee shops will only increase this nonsense.

I am sorry to hear that.

I have had a polar opposite experience as compared to yours. I walked in without an appointment, and despite them being extremely busy that day, they were able to fit me in to assess my Apple Watch issue. I have a Series 0 that no longer has AppleCare support, however, they are still going to help me with my hardware issue.

I have found that working with Apple support can sometimes be a crapshoot, however, having the right attitue when you go into the store or , a support situation, can pay dividends as to how you are treated or supported.

Perhaps the people you were dealing with were having a bad day.