Angela Ahrendts on Apple Retail Criticism: 'I Don't Read Any of it, and None of it is Based on Fact'

[apple_iBoy]

We got ourselves a Lucille Bluth here.

 

[m00min]

So she’s the one responsible for the current state of Apple stores? Admittedly I hadn’t visited an actual store since 2005 but when I walked into one to get my work MBP repaired at the end of last year I could barely stifle a laugh. It’s like walking into a school classroom with all those desks and no actual products (sorry, but eleventy-million watches with coloured straps doesn’t count). I took a sneaky photo and posted it into my work chat so everyone could have a laugh.

These stores do nothing but reinforce the thought amongst non-Apple users that Apple is firmly wedged up its own arse.

 

[wemax]

somebody already posted the lucille meme

 

[zoozx]

The problem with Corporate America today!

Top tear employees that think they know better than the users and make ridiculous amounts of money for poor leadership.

 

[khunbenja]

I’m glad she was fired...

My opinion of Angela Ahrendts is that she is a piece of sh_t. She had decided to came over to Apple with only one mission in mind, and that is to amass a large amount of money through salary, bonuses and stock options and then after working for a predetermined amount of time, quit. All the while pretending to enjoy and love her new position.

She had pre-planned it in her mind all along, and knew that she would only stay at Apple for approximately 5 years, a time frame in which people (headhunters in particular) will generally view this length of time as being a minimally acceptable amount of time in any new position.

Her contributions at Apple are not impressive. In particular, the current redesign of Apple’s new store’s look and feel under her tenure are hard and unfriendly.

 

[jacobj]

Does she think that all criticism is baseless? I personally felt very lost last time I visited an Apple store.

I only use an apple store if I think they are more likely to have stock. Finding the item you are looking for and someone to pay is awkward. It’s based on the assumption that we will happily seek out people to interact with. Even then it is unclear who to wait for if there aren’t any staff free to help. It’s a little chaotic and unpleasant.

 

[BigMcGuire]

The wait is what gets me at Apple Stores. I only go to an Apple Store if I have an appointment or I'm doing an in store pickup, of which I've been unhappy with the wait times. So I do everything online now.

There is a fine line between keeping your customers happy and making profit. Most companies seem to err on the side of making too much profit now at the expense of long term profit. Dell is an example of this - Michael Dell had to buy back his company and save it from the - MUST HAVE PROFITS THIS MONTH stockholders.

As far as Angela Ahrendts not taking criticism - way too many people today think they're hot *** criticizing everything and everyone - thinking they know better than everyone. Gets old.

 

[EVGabe]

As an Apple employee who spends most of the time at the Genius Bar, I can say some of the criticism is definitely fact-based (but not all).

 

[imnotthewalrus]

Apple will miss Angela as she's the nearest to Steve in terms of form and design of the Apple shops that Apple have ever had.

I’m speechless...and not in a good way.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Hasn’t really been my experience to be honest. There’s always someone to greet me at the door and wait times is usually about 15 minutes if I have an appointment. They tell you to go to a general section of the store so I get to walk around for a bit to look at the products without having to worry about staying in one place. I wish the wait time was shorter and the repair process was better documented when going from specialist to specialist, but in general my experience was positive. Admittedly the store I go to is one the newer and larger ones, so your mileage may vary.

Wow.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

Oh yeah, but that the employee rating was on a all time low for several cycles which lead to very good people leave? Including myself! I met her once, she seems like a nice person. But she has no ****ing clue!!!! She ruined everything with that ******** experience. It‘s all about the money. I recently visited the store I worked. I heard a manager telling to the employees „we need some more results today“, like, really? Is that your problem? You should care more about how they feel. But hey, I‘m so happy that I flew out of this sick, capitalistic (well most of the products are still good though) sect and followed my dreams! **** you Apple!

This sounds hauntingly familiar...

I started my Apple Retail career in 2007, right after the first iPhone was launched and a little over 4 years before Steve Jobs passed. The energy was incredible; the team was hard-working and dedicated to their positions. In those days, some store managers were hired from within; most notable to me was an employee who worked “back of house” (aka Stock Room) to manager. We had the best of the best at my store. My career (I was a Creative) spanned just shy of 10 years and many of my coworkers were there right along with me.

Enter the Angela era, and the employees were soon “force-fed” Angela’s videos in the “daily downloads” and I could see the eyes starting to roll. Our management team, who were excellent, tried to keep the culture of the past intact while some of the radical changes were taking place. Around the time the Apple Watch was launched, more and more long-term employees, including myself (with other personal reasons, to be fair) began to bail. The culture had died. As George Harrison wrote, “All things must pass” and, at least from my POV, Angela was the catalyst that sparked that death.

I will be interested to see what develops from here on in. I still love Apple, but that love is only sustained by what it once was.

 

[5105973]

This sounds hauntingly familiar...

I started my Apple Retail career in 2007, right after the first iPhone was launched and a little over 4 years before Steve Jobs passed. The energy was incredible; the team was hard-working and dedicated to their positions. In those days, some store managers were hired from within; most notable to me was an employee who worked “back of house” (aka Stock Room) to manager. We had the best of the best at my store. My career (I was a Creative) spanned just shy of 10 years and many of my coworkers were there right along with me.

Enter the Angela era, and the employees were soon “force-fed” Angela’s videos in the “daily downloads” and I could see the eyes starting to roll. Our management team, who were excellent, tried to keep the culture of the past intact while some of the radical changes were taking place. Around the time the Apple Watch was launched, more and more long-term employees, including myself (with other personal reasons, to be fair) began to bail. The culture had died. As George Harrison wrote, “All things must pass” and, at least from my POV, Angela was the catalyst that sparked that death.

I will be interested to see what develops from here on in. I still love Apple, but that love is only sustained by what it once was.

Well, I would certainly attach more weight to an insiders’ account than some of the misinformed ramblings I’ve seen that blamed her for problems that were so ridiculously unrelated to her job.

What changes did she make that you feel were the most damaging to the culture you knew? Did any one in particular stand out to you as the turning point or the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back?

 

[reden]

I’ve never waited more than 5 minutes to buy something even in packed stores. You just approach one of the staff and they put you in line to be served. Last time I went to buy something in the Apple store (last month) it was a Saturday and the store was packed and I was in and out within less than 10 minutes. It’s better if you know exactly what you want when you go in. If you need them to talk you through it show you something then it tales ages.

Yes, I did exactly that, and they had me stand there and wait for 20 minutes.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

I think that Tim Cook has made a few mistakes:

* The solid gold Apple Watch.
* Project Titan - versions 1, 2, 3, 4...
* The Butterfly Keyboard - versions 1, 2, 3, 4...
* The Touch Bar.
* HomePod.
* AirPower.
* Attempting to replace Gorilla Glass with Sapphire. He "loaned" $600 million to GT Advanced Technologies.
* Failing to update Macs on a regular basis - and not reducing prices on years old models.
* Failing to defend Apples's IP. I still don't understand how Android even exists.
* Letting everyone overtake Siri.
* Letting everyone overtake Apple TV.
* Letting Google destroy Apple in the classroom.
* Failing to update iCloud Apps - and to add new ones (including third party apps).
* Eliminating almost all "consumer" products. The only genuinely consumer product at the moment is the $329 iPad. I'm waiting for the day that Tim unveils a $5,000 Apple Watch that can edit 8k video.
* Making every Apple product some sort of washed-out pastel colour. He's even managed a pastel version of black - "space grey." Where have all the bright/ solid colours gone? At least it would be nice to have a choice.
* Failing to upgrade Apple Music to lossless / CD quality.
* The purchase of Beats for $2 billion.
* The upcoming Apple TV streaming service (this is a prediction, of course).
* The growing multitude of different "connectors" - Lightning, Thunderbolt, USB-A, USB-C, the Apple Watch puck, Qi. Some Beats products still use Micro USB, FFS!
* The quality of Apple's advertising.

I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

But the big overarching mistake is that he has turned Apple into purely a luxury brand - like Hermes (see, I told you I'd forgotten something), Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Tiffanys.

Apple used to make things "for the rest of us." Today Apple only makes products for the very rich.

Apple should be like an airline. Yes, of course they should make as much money from their first and business class customers as possible - but they shouldn't forget about "the rest of us" in economy/coach.

Some of Apple's biggest hits - iMac, iBook and iPad were not only amazing products, but they were also (relatively) affordable. Apple also used to routinely drop prices - iPods went down in price every year.

This is where I get to Angela Ahrendts.

Walking into an Apple store used to be like walking into a toy store - and not just any toy store... but Willy Wonka's factory. Today, Apple stores are like jewellery stores. I no longer feel that I belong. I'm just waiting for them to introduce a dress code.

Oh! I forgot something - Apple Maps.

This is an amazing laundry list of criticism. I %100 agree!

 

[StuBeck]

I'll just share this personal anecdote about the Apple Store. Not sure if this is fair to criticize AA for this, or Apple's overall repair strategy. But this is a ridiculous problem that needs to be corrected.

I work in Southern California, in a corporate department that uses entirely MBPs (over 500 of them). Our office happens to be in a popular suburb, and only blocks from a popular Apple Store location. We make enterprise purchases of these machines, and when we have to send them out for service (the MBPs we have span in age from 2014 models all the way to the current models), do you know where we have to take them? They make us take them to the Apple Store and wait in line like everyone else. Apple has restricted our IT dept from having the tools for internal repairs just like they have small resellers (not that it would matter, when everything inside is either glued/soldered together). So, despite the fact we have an enterprise purchasing contract with Apple, they flood the consumer repair lines with our repair requests, which can average 10-20 a week (not all of these are Apple defects; oftentimes it is for dropped machines and other mishaps).

The point I'm making is that this causes a piss poor customer experience for everyone else because a corporate client is taking up most of the service repair resources of the store. And I'm sure this is not the only Apple Store that has to deal with this.

This is how it is for small business. They tried to get us into a program with them, but essentially it was paying for an account manager that would cost us money and not give us any benefit otherwise as I don't need classes.

 

[Superhai]

Maybe I’m wrong but wasn’t she there for the gold watch?

She was hired two years before Apple Watch was launched, so I would not think so. I don’t think it was the store concept that failed but rather the idea of the Apple Watch as an ultimate luxury item.

 

[Substance90]

How does she know it's not based on facts when she doesn't read it?

 

[first-to-tea]

MacRumors moderators, can you please delete sexist and demeaning comments please. As a man, some of the trash comments about women in technology is absolutely lame, some of those comments exist and live right here. Also, can we refer to Angela by name, first or last, just have some respect when typing your comment on Angela Ahrendts, Tim Cook, and any other person. We can disagree, but we need to convey it in a responsible manner, not like a herd of savages.

As a shareholder, I want a clear explanation from Apple about why some of the planned flagship stores in the past year failed and did not proceed. I watched the extended Bloomberg video, and Angela says Apple works with government, but does Apple actually work with the citizens? It seems Apple doesn’t since there have been protests against flagship stores in Sweden, Australia, and other places in the past years. People used to love Apple stores, not protest Apple stores. What’s going on?

I like the refreshed store designs, but I think the Today at Apple needs to also be made available online for people to watch. Specially recorded sessions that are delivered in store, uploaded to Apple’s YouTube. This will encourage more people to engage and encourage people to visit a store to participate. Enough with the 30 second commercials and marketing videos, put something of substance online, thank you.

Give me a job at Apple, with the right salary, I’ll help improve things.

 

[citysnaps]

The wait is what gets me at Apple Stores. I only go to an Apple Store if I have an appointment or I'm doing an in store pickup, of which I've been unhappy with the wait times. So I do everything online now.

There is a fine line between keeping your customers happy and making profit. Most companies seem to err on the side of making too much profit now at the expense of long term profit. Dell is an example of this - Michael Dell had to buy back his company and save it from the - MUST HAVE PROFITS THIS MONTH stockholders.

As far as Angela Ahrendts not taking criticism - way too many people today think they're hot *** criticizing everything and everyone - thinking they know better than everyone. Gets old.

Yup. This and many other threads here are excellent examples of your assessment.

 

[definitive]

i can now see why she left an industry heavily influenced by critique to one which rents rooms to people.

 

[bobokittylitter87]

Angela isn’t a celebrity and shouldn’t be compared to one. The Reality is, she doesn’t have to acknowledge anything that said outside Apple, and she’s no longer employed there anymore for one, and number two, if she’s confident in her skill-set that she did everything she could to improve the company, then that’s all that matters, not the negative rhetoric that others will interject.

Thank the lord, a comment that isn’t childish rhetoric. Like, clearly if you’re this passionate or so deeply involved on this site or Apple, the work she did, maybe—just maybe—isn’t for people like us?

I told my old high school teachers to try them, and they loved it. And they don’t understand technology at all. But it was useful.

 

[BeforeTheMeds]

I really hate going to an apple store, I will go if it’s absolutely the best option.

Packed with people waiting for service, crappy cubes to sit on. Horrible setup.

 

[hellopupy]

Angela A is quite overrated, she re-designed stores all over the world with a virtually unlimited Apple-type budget.

Great job, but not really. Its not anything a mid-level retail regional manager couldn't do.

 

[Zimmy68]

Sell every single item at MSRP and never have a sale.
A real marketing genius if you ask me.
That some courage.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

Well, I would certainly attach more weight to an insiders’ account than some of the misinformed ramblings I’ve seen that blamed her for problems that were so ridiculously unrelated to her job.

What changes did she make that you feel were the most damaging to the culture you knew? Did any one in particular stand out to you as the turning point or the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back?

As a Creative, the replacement of traditional training and workshops and the launch of “Today At Apple” were a flop in my opinion (many sessions were poorly attended, or not attended at all) and the all-but-elimination of the Genius Bar was a major frustration to our service customers, as the Geniuses were moved to the product display tables which blocked access to the products that “regular” customers wanted to try out and/or purchase. Maybe in the long run, people will get used to it, but IMHO the “system” needs some major tweaking.