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Angela Ahrendts Departing Apple in April, Deirdre O'Brien to Oversee Retail and People

MacRumors said:
Ahrendts is set to leave Apple in April after spending five years at the company, Apple announced today. ...
...She first joined Apple in 2014 and has headed up Apple's retail initiatives since then, overseeing the launch of redesigned Apple Stores and customer experiences that have been rolling out across the world over the course of the last few years.​
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5 years.... $68 Million

"... Ahrendts will receive shares spread over several different vesting periods between June 1, 2014 and June 14, 2018, ..."
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/05/angela-ahrendts-signing-bonus/


$13.6M per year. (just initial bonus money) ....... didn't even make it a year after the last vesting date.

I won't be surprised if in 2020-2021 Apple is out making it rain on yet another retail chief they just gotta have.




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I hope they have better training for retail employees under the new VP. I went to the Apple Store three times in the past two months for iPhone issues. While I was killing time waiting for my repair, I heard retail employees repeatedly telling customers incorrect information about products — sometimes, with complete confidence in what they were saying. I was dumbfounded.
 
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yaxomoxay said:
I appreciate your half full glass view, but can anyone explain what she did in five years? I mean tangible things for us customers.
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I'm not entirely certain myself, since my local Apple Store is about 5x too small for its location, but some of those flagships and redesigns that opened under her watch are nice. The renewed focus on customer education programs and workshops was also promising.
 
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yaxomoxay said:
Really, last time (couple of weeks ago) I was shocked by how many employees were just greeting and doing nothing else, while customers were waiting for help.
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Actually - quoting myself :) - you know what was the most disturbing thing? I noticed that as I approached the iPhone and Mac tables nobody asked me if I needed help. As soon as I approached the accessories shelves at least two employees asked me if I needed help. On both sides of the store.
Does this happen everywhere? was it just a single case?
 
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Did not see this coming at all. Sounds like they are letting her stay until she hits 5 years to vest, but usually the new person effectively starts immediately.
 
lunarworks said:
I guess she felt she did as much as she could. People like this bounce from company to company, excited for new challenges, rather than managing the boring day-to-day.

That wasn't going to happen. It was just scare-mongering for people unhappy with Apple's upper management. She was like a bogeyman for them.
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Either that, or she realized she wasn't going to get the CEO job.
 
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I hate the Apple Store experience so i am all for it. First you got to find someone who isn’t busy just to pay something quickly and if you got a Genius appointment they ask you to sit down and you wait and wonder if they forgot about you until someone eventually takes care of your issue
 
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...wonder if it was because of disagreement or another reason yet to be seen. Opportunity offered to her to become another CEO of a company? Or was it that she really never fit a technology company and that the entire pursuit of becoming a fashionable brand failed with those little popup Apple Watch boutique stores?

I really don't enjoy walking into Apple stores anymore. In fact when family members or friends are with me at malls and say they want to pop into Apple I come up with reasons for why I don't want to or ideas of things to keep my time while they visit on their own. As far as the experience of walking into these temples, the only feeling I ever get is negative. It's like walking into a giant cell phone store with pretty glass ceilings and wooden tables. The staff always feels artistic but underpaid, caged and worked to death. I see the staff roaming around the store but I'm never helped even when I'm holding a product that I very obviously want to buy. My last service for my watch took hours - spending much of that time waiting at a table for a "genius" to walk up (even with an appointment).
 
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What amazing thing could one do in that role I wonder? Maybe make it so you’d rather go to the store than order online? She didn’t manage that for me. Not sure anyone else could either. Seems like a daft role.
 
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GubbyMan said:
I never liked Angela Ahrendts, it’s finally time for her to go. I know she was just responsibe for the stores and not actual product design but I feel like she brought this feeling that Apple devices had to be luxury items with high prices.
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I agree tbh. The leather sleeves and $30 pencil cases are very "high end fashion" like the Burberry that she came from and other brands like LV. They always have a smattering of accessories like wallets and handkerchiefs and scarfs that they are more than happy to sell along side a pair of pants or a sweater. I feel like the $200 Leather MacBook Pro sleeve is a product in the same vein, just something that's pure luxury.
 
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now i see it said:
When Angela came in, the horizon was wide open for Apple Store possibilities (which was why she was hired). But at this point, years later, the existing and new stores now follow a formula. Really boring stuff actually. Nothing creative to accomplish. At some point in all of our lives we've got to reflect on what the heck we're doing with the rest of our life... and stamping out cookie cutter Apple stores seems like a dismal way to plod through it.

I often wonder why a lot of other multi millionaire Apple executives continue working at that place. I guess it gives them a sense of identity or keeps their mind from wandering, cuz they're certainly no longer doing it for the paycheck.
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I bet Eddie Cue does it for: 1. Ego. 2. More money to fund his car collection.
 
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