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Angela Ahrendts May Delay Apple Start Until Mid-Year

I've worked for several 'big name' companies over the years and if you think the best float to the top you'd be very much mistaken. I'm sure you could pluck any exec ten levels down, put them in the hotseat, and they'd be no less capable half the time.

I'm really not sure what a Burberry exec brings.

Make the Stores more exclusive? What would be the point of that? Apple are mass market now?

Rescue Apple's brand from the chavs like she did at Burberry? The chavs are already using Phablets now. So job done.

Build the Apple brand? It's one of the most potent brands on the planet already.
 
Macist said:
I've worked for several 'big name' companies over the years and if you think the best float to the top you'd be very much mistaken. I'm sure you could pluck any exec ten levels down, put them in the hotseat, and they'd be no less capable half the time.

I'm really not sure what a Burberry exec brings.

Make the Stores more exclusive? What would be the point of that? Apple are mass market now?

Rescue Apple's brand from the chavs like she did at Burberry? The chavs are already using Phablets now. So job done.

Build the Apple brand? It's one of the most potent brands on the planet already.
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So just leave the position vacant permanently then? If Ron Johnson is not interested, who would you suggest would be better? It doesn't sound like anyone would be qualified to you. And what is a chav?
 
Apple retail store has been without a boss for too long. This could be bad for Apple.
 
HiRez said:
Burberry seems a much better fit for Apple's culture than Pepsi does or ever did, Jobs was wrong on that one. Same thing with Browett, Dillard's seems pretty much the polar opposite of Apple culture (by all accounts, I'm not in the UK), and that predictably failed.

Burberry sells high end products to people "with taste and discrimination" (real or perceived, doesn't matter), and values a long term relationship with their customers almost above all else (again, here's what Browett didn't understand). They value impeccable presentation and they prefer to sell to customers who can afford the higher end at the expense of casting the widest possible net to sell to everyone on the planet (i.e. Pepsi).
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Yes, I understand the rationale hiring her. My point is only that the best laid plans of mice & men often go awry so it's premature to praise the pick since we don't know the outcome. It will take 6-1yr after she's at her position before an honest assessment can be made.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Yes, I understand the rationale hiring her. My point is only that the best laid plans of mice & men often go awry so it's premature to praise the pick since we don't know the outcome. It will take 6-1yr after she's at her position before an honest assessment can be made.
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Well I agree with that. But at the same time a) they need to fill this position and b) she seems about as well-qualified as anyone for it. So I don't think knocking the hire at this point is fair either.
 
HiRez said:
And what is a chav?
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U.K. version of a homeboy gangsta.

----------
HiRez said:
Well I agree with that. But at the same time a) they need to fill this position and b) she seems about as well-qualified as anyone for it. So I don't think knocking the hire at this point is fair either.
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Ok, now you are just filibustering. I never said she is the wrong person for the job; that Apple shouldn't fill the position;that she isn't qualified. Do not put words in my mouth, read what I wrote and don't invent sentences I didn't write.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I never said she is the wrong person for the job; that Apple shouldn't fill the position;that she isn't qualified. Do not put words in my mouth, read what I wrote and don't invent sentences I didn't write.
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Easy dude, I never said it was you knocking her, sorry if it sounded that way to you. But a lot of people on this forum are, without any good reasons that I can see.
 
She's holding out for as much money as she can squeeze out, just like all the other high level executives. Still don't see what she can do for Apple retail - does she even know the difference between Windows and OSx? Or between an iPhone 5 and a Samsung S5?

The shoppers in Burberry have a LOT more money than the ones that shop in the Apple stores. When you walk into an Apple store they welcome you no matter what you are wearing. Walk into a Burberry store and they ignore you and follow you around to make sure you don't steal something. Burberry is the least inviting and least friendly store in our local mall, even less friendly than Nordstrom.
 
HiRez said:
Burberry seems a much better fit for Apple's culture than Pepsi does or ever did, Jobs was wrong on that one. Same thing with Browett, Dillard's seems pretty much the polar opposite of Apple culture (by all accounts, I'm not in the UK), and that predictably failed.

Burberry sells high end products to people "with taste and discrimination" (real or perceived, doesn't matter), and values a long term relationship with their customers almost above all else (again, here's what Browett didn't understand). They value impeccable presentation and they prefer to sell to customers who can afford the higher end at the expense of casting the widest possible net to sell to everyone on the planet (i.e. Pepsi).

And along the way they hope to get some people who are perhaps less affluent to aspire to own their products. If the products are desirable enough, perhaps they stretch their budget to afford them. In any case, whether they get a particular sale or not, there is a status and desire created for the brand. But at the same time, they have a range of products that a large number of people can afford, so it's not super exclusive like very high end fashion, watches, etc.

Which all sounds a lot like Apple, so I think she will be a pretty good fit from that perspective.
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All fine and good as long as Apple doesn't get all full of itself and start taking victory laps as it raises prices to appeal to customers of discriminating taste!!
 
IJ Reilly said:
We don't know the entire story about Browett, but the sense I got was that he was hired to apply some of his mass-market retail knowledge to making Apple Retail more efficient, and got canned for actually trying to do it. Maybe he tried to do too much too quickly. That was Johnson's apparent mistake at JC Penny.
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The Dixons group (the company that he came from) have one of THE reputations for customer service, over here in the UK.

They are the epitome of the Sell it now (telling you whatever they have to, to get the sake), don't care if it fails when you get home" culture, that is the polar opposite of Apple.

Certainly here in the UK, there was a huge "WTF" moment, when we read/learned that he was going anywhere near Apple retail.

I honestly can't think of another company that would be a poorer match to Apple.

I'm not blaming Browett alone, but the buck stopped with him, and all of the group's companies had the same "just don't care" approach.

Dixons went online only a few years back, that left Currys & PC World (puke). Not that long ago Currys & PC World merged their stores to become Currys/PC World, but the "service" levels were still rock bottom (at full RRP too).

John Lewis have proved (via their large profits) that people are willing to pay full RRP, just as long as the service is good, but Dixons group still seem to strive to do the opposite.

I still think they'll be the next high St name to go under.

IMO, Browett at Apple was never ever going to work.
 
If I was Tim I would tell her I thought she chose Apple because she was passionate about the opportunity and join as soon as she can leave Burberry or find another job. She has plenty of chances to make money at Apple, hell I even thought she might replace Tim one day, but apparently her priorities are not in building the best experience.
 
Seems like a revolving door at Apple. Executives in, executives out.

I wonder what it will take to get this company stabilized. Yes, yes I know the buckets of money keep arriving, but nothing lasts forever.

Apple will run on autopilot longer than most before losing altitude.
 
Azzin said:
The Dixons group (the company that he came from) have one of THE reputations for customer service, over here in the UK.

They are the epitome of the Sell it now (telling you whatever they have to, to get the sake), don't care if it fails when you get home" culture, that is the polar opposite of Apple.

Certainly here in the UK, there was a huge "WTF" moment, when we read/learned that he was going anywhere near Apple retail.

I honestly can't think of another company that would be a poorer match to Apple.

I'm not blaming Browett alone, but the buck stopped with him, and all of the group's companies had the same "just don't care" approach.

Dixons went online only a few years back, that left Currys & PC World (puke). Not that long ago Currys & PC World merged their stores to become Currys/PC World, but the "service" levels were still rock bottom (at full RRP too).

John Lewis have proved (via their large profits) that people are willing to pay full RRP, just as long as the service is good, but Dixons group still seem to strive to do the opposite.

I still think they'll be the next high St name to go under.

IMO, Browett at Apple was never ever going to work.
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The purpose of hiring Browett clearly wasn't to turn Apple Retail into Dixons. Only people with perfect hindsight are now making that claim. Everything else you've said is simply an argument that Apple had no knowledge of Browett's previous employer and essentially hired him at random. That being plainly ridiculous, I look for other reasons he was hired by Apple, reasons that make actual sense.
 
my god, i would have never left the position of CEO of Burberry for "just" a VP position at Apple where a bunch of men are making the rules
 
Method To Her Madness

macchiato2009 said:
my god, i would have never left the position of CEO of Burberry for "just" a VP position at Apple where a bunch of men are making the rules
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Ahrendts is ambitious. She's done a major technology makeover of Burberry as well over the past few years, so she's clearly no technophobe. Apple is the perfect place for her to land. There's been considerable executive turmoil, their retail operation is one of the most successful on the planet and Apple's market niche plays nicely to her strengths.

If she's as effective at Apple as she was at Burberry, she could end up running the place in a decade. Tim Cook could always stumble and be replaced by the board, or he could simply succumb to illness the same way Jobs did. Ahrendts is likely to become Apple's second most prominent executive in short order, which would place her in a good position to assume the CEO role someday if Cook is somehow forced to step aside.
 
old-wiz said:
Burberry is the least inviting and least friendly store in our local mall, even less friendly than Nordstrom.
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Natick Mall? I've been to that Burberry they were very welcoming. And Nordstrom is one of the most approachable of the higher-end department stores. I'm a little bias as I do work for them, but even before I did I always have had very friendly experiences. Even as a teenager dressed very plainly and with friends that tended to be annoying and loud I never felt they were prejudging me.
 
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