Shocking display of arrogance and stubbornness, wow. Very glad she's gone. A majority of the Apple Store redesigns under her lead looked cool, but she seemed to forget that customer service is just as important.
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Angela Ahrendts on Apple Retail Criticism: 'I Don't Read Any of it, and None of it is Based on Fact'
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I've never seen a dedicated cashier except a long time ago at Christmas time.
You don't seem to understand the difference between "Customers have asked..." and "Some customers have asked..."
Apple knows their base base better than anyone, including perpetually unhappy tech forum members. Apple designs for their base, not for the few.
And that's the secret to Apple having many millions of repeat customers opening their wallets year after year after year, purchasing premium products at premium prices. And becoming one of the largest and most successful companies in the world.
Doesn’t seem to be unique amongst the US senior executives ranks across many companies. Sadly.
I'd like the surprised about this, but this kind of attitude towards the customers and customer criticism seems to have become the rule rather than the exception at Apple. It's not even a new thing as it was a thing even when Jobs was still running the show. However it feels like it's only gotten worse under Cook's tenure, giving further credibility to the argument that Cook is a repeat of John Sculley (i.e max profit in the short term, ruin in the long).
Thankfully we don't have official Apple stores here in Finland and the Apple specialists are generally pretty helpful, even if the prices Apple charges them generally forces them to charge customers more than the official Apple store.
Thankfully we don't have official Apple stores here in Finland and the Apple specialists are generally pretty helpful, even if the prices Apple charges them generally forces them to charge customers more than the official Apple store.
I've never sen people who enjoy being stepped on by corporation like current day Apple fans. This is the sort of thing you'd se in 1970's dystopian movies, except you're reveling in it.
Enjoy being taken advantage of then.
About 6 weeks ago I went into an Apple Store to buy a mini display port to VGA adapter for my old MacBook Air. They didn’t have it! The guy directed me to Best Buy. I worked at the Apple Store in Palo Alto as a college student in the summers from 2006-2008, that sort of stuff never happened when I was there.
She was not a good fit for the job. It’s clear to see with her comments. I have seen fish-out-of-water situations in corporate life before, so I recognize it when I see it. And I definitely see it here.
I don’t think saying that you don’t read criticism (yet somehow know it’s all false) is helpful either. Sounds like she wants to live in her own bubble instead of learning and growing as real leaders do. I am sure at least a little of the criticism is true. So that’s on her and I blame her for that. And I blame people who take jobs they aren’t right for. It just never works.
But it takes two to tango. And in such situations, the person that hires a bad fit to the organization is to blame as well. Hopefully a lesson to Tim Cook or whoever. She came from the fashion world, not tech. Outside the box is fine, but they shouldn’t be looking so far outside the box, that all perspective is lost either. There is a balance to be had, and I just don’t think they had it here. And to see than she was making more than anyone at Apple (including Tim Cook!) at least in the 2014 year (not sure about others) is astounding.
I don’t think saying that you don’t read criticism (yet somehow know it’s all false) is helpful either. Sounds like she wants to live in her own bubble instead of learning and growing as real leaders do. I am sure at least a little of the criticism is true. So that’s on her and I blame her for that. And I blame people who take jobs they aren’t right for. It just never works.
But it takes two to tango. And in such situations, the person that hires a bad fit to the organization is to blame as well. Hopefully a lesson to Tim Cook or whoever. She came from the fashion world, not tech. Outside the box is fine, but they shouldn’t be looking so far outside the box, that all perspective is lost either. There is a balance to be had, and I just don’t think they had it here. And to see than she was making more than anyone at Apple (including Tim Cook!) at least in the 2014 year (not sure about others) is astounding.
Excellent, and so adorable ... obfuscate and create a straw man when you’re out of gas with respect to your original assertion!
As an aside, Apple continues to deliver what I want. Feel free to purchase from other manufactures if Apple isn’t making what you want.
Yup! The stores started declining once she started removing all the genius bars. Now it’s a mess of people and technicians making buying something next to impossible at busy nyc stores
Yeah my last few experiences in the Apple store were to talk to someone with an iPad that would tell me I'd get a text at some point when it was my turn to speak with someone else. I'd go shop at other stores for a while, or I'd go home.
It was a mess of people everywhere and Apple employees standing around (apparently not doing what I needed done?). The only reason I'd wait is to get a battery replaced or similar. Otherwise it's better to drive the half hour home to order from the web store. Bonus, pay 4-5% sales tax instead of 10-11% also!
There were also little cubes to sit on, which is great if you're 12.
I am.
Been using an iPad to teach in the classroom since 2012 and don’t see myself giving it up anytime soon.
iPad 3 -> iPad mini 2 -> 9.7” iPad Pro -> 11” iPad Pro.
Think my MBA is collecting dust in a drawer somewhere?
Apple never made things for the "rest of us".
Microsoft figured out how to make things for the "rest of us" which is one of the reasons their user base soared. Apple has always been a luxury brand in one aspect or another. Take off your rose-colored glasses and get a clue.
My guess is that she never had the 'customer' experience given she worked for Apple.
But as Apple store management told me, changes she introduced directly impacted their ability to book and handle warranty repairs in a timely fashion. They were quite clear on that, like before she made the changes it worked this way and everyone liked it, to the fact she wanted people queuing outside stores at opening time trying to get one of the mythical places left to see a genius.
But as Apple store management told me, changes she introduced directly impacted their ability to book and handle warranty repairs in a timely fashion. They were quite clear on that, like before she made the changes it worked this way and everyone liked it, to the fact she wanted people queuing outside stores at opening time trying to get one of the mythical places left to see a genius.
Better late than never, but for the record...
In my opinion and based on my personal experience, the Apple Store retail experience got consistently and decidedly worse during Ahrendts' reign. Not awful mind you, but for folks that walk in and know what they want / need, definitely slower and needlessly tedious. Maybe it's better for people trying to choose which color band to pair with their new iWatch, but I would have no way of knowing whether might be true or not.
In my opinion and based on my personal experience, the Apple Store retail experience got consistently and decidedly worse during Ahrendts' reign. Not awful mind you, but for folks that walk in and know what they want / need, definitely slower and needlessly tedious. Maybe it's better for people trying to choose which color band to pair with their new iWatch, but I would have no way of knowing whether might be true or not.
My local "town square" is literally just a bigger version of an Apple Store with weird cubes everywhere that people use to sit on while they wait for Geniuses, and it's hard to see it as anything but a retail store when there is always private security around telling you not to stand too close to the products while waiting for your Genius because all of the cubes are taken. I have little doubt that Ahrendts' time at Apple will be looked back upon unfavorably, and the fact that she hit these internal "goals" only proves to me that the executives/Tim Cook are losing touch as well. She says these figures include things like "customer loyalty", but surely the #1 factor for that is the product itself. For example, I am no longer "loyal" to Apple because their latest MacBooks have so much I don't like. At at the end of the day, I and people I know who've been to the Apple Store recently still need to wait 15-30mins *with* a Genius Bar Appointment before seeing a Genius. If reducing average wait time wasn't one of her goals, her priorities were not straight. Education is great but ain't nobody going to the local mall/shopping center to learn Swift programming basics.