Angela Ahrendts Shares Lessons She Learned While Working at Apple

[DeepIn2U]

As to be fair I wanted to give her benefit of the doubt. That said I do like how she has re-vamped the apple store with sessions and even the on-line support as been vastly improved also with email and often call back follow-up.

BUT I still feel that some flagship or the 2 main stores in a large city still should have a genius bar. having everyone herded to gather while a training class was underway was not good for all.
#GENIUSBAR #BRINGBACK

I’m curious what does the Genius Bar do anymore than:

Small OS and firmware tweaks and troubleshooting under warranty that cannot be done with remote access (unless it the Mac doesn’t boot successfully normally any longer or failed hardware)?

Most warranty claims are sent to factory now, while you wait without a make for days or weeks.

Devices are swapped out unless a screen can be fixed it as very common lately.

Consulting advice for third party software lol not likely. Apples products tend to last very well over time and Apple tends to be VERY slow to recognize warranty based issues; we all know this.

So what value does the Genius Bar bring if the “Geniuses” are not really able to perform as such any more?! There has been numerous threads in the lacking value of Genius Bar for a few years now.

 

[alex2792]

Do nothing, collect millions, great gig if you can get it.

 

[infiniteentropy]

Buddy. The Apple stores have been in chaise for the last decade already long before she arrived and they were NOT getting any better! Weak arguments

This is entirely my experience, but it used to be that at least each section of the store had experts on that section standing at or near the area and could be consulted with easily. Checking out was quick and painless and it seemed like many people could do it.

Now, you go in, talk to someone near the entrance real quick about what you need, get assigned to a queue, and wait, and wait... and wait......... and..... wait.............................

God forbid you don't get assigned to a queue and walk in without talking to the person near the door, you'll have an even worse experience.

All the while, the store is full of people gathered near a large screen for a class, around tables listening to someone doing something, people's kids running about, and it's just generally a terrible experience. It is objectively worse now than when she started. As for me, I'm done with Apple anyhow but I found myself avoiding them more and more even before I exited.

Edited to add: the added chaos from people also waiting around, those people's friends and families, etc... it's just a chaotic mess, WAY worse than when you could pop in, get a question answered, buy a product, and leave. If it went deeper than that, you got a Genius Bar appointment. That older way was much MUCH better.

 

[TobyR]

Changes under Ahrendts turned the stores into chaotic free-for-alls.

I really don't care about anything that defines her personally. The AppleStore changes made it far less pleasant of a consumer experience. Simple as that.

 

[JPack]

Smart to step down now, given the slump in smartphone sales.

She also left Burberry when the company was facing headwinds in the luxury goods market.

 

[NachoGrande]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

I didn’t care for her either. Please stop white knighting for us. Tia. Has nothing to do with her being a woman. The apple stores were/are a mess

 

[RevTEG]

Apple is “titanic”? Or should that have read gigantic?

 

[newyorksole]

Buddy. The Apple stores have been in chaise for the last decade already long before she arrived and they were NOT getting any better! Weak arguments

Thank you!

Honestly I love MacRumors, but some of you posters make me hate reading comments. You guys think the stores weren’t crowded before Angela? You don’t think Apple made any mistakes before Tim?

Some of y’all have a serious problem with how warped your reality is. The stores are still profitable and people still have great experiences there. Your 1 experience at 1 store doesn’t hold weight over the other millions of customers at 500+ other stores.

 

[bluespark]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

Or maybe this has nothing to do with her gender and everything to do with the fact that she was awful. Just a thought.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

So you assume that all the critics are males?

 

[yaxomoxay]

Buddy. The Apple stores have been in chaise for the last decade already long before she arrived and they were NOT getting any better! Weak arguments

True, but her job was to make them better. At that, she failed.

 

[majkom]

Dont give a ****, still no apple store in my country...

 

[jpn]

no humility in any of those remarks.
it makes me know for sure she didn't learn anything.
watch for her to be fired or fail at what ever she does next.

 

[Naraxus]

So glad this woman is in Apple’s rearview mirror. Absolute disaster for Apple Retail

 

[OVERTASK]

This was Apple's worst ROI, $100M down the drain.

Тhat or AirPower

She also left Burberry when the company was facing headwinds in the luxury goods market.

She is widely credited to have turned Burberry from a declining fashion-house to a successful global brand.

 

[macguru212]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

My comment was based on something I or anyone else would do - this has nothing to do with females, women, or sexism. Lighten up.

 

[s15119]

The comments are funny and sad. So much brainless meanness. Personally, I've never had a bad experience in an Apple Store. Great place to go to shop, get help, learn etc. Ms. Ahrendts is an incredibly talented and successful business person. The ones insulting her, couldn't begin to know her success. Seriously, grow up.

 

[Sandybox]

Lessons learnt....."it really is possible to fill your boots with exec comp and stock options, do as little as possible, have no impact and still get rich"

 

[MacDawg]

I don't know how people have the energy to have this much disdain for someone they don't know, have never met and whose impact on their life was negligible at best

 

[citysnaps]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

Yes! And I think it’s because some here feel threatened by successful women, and angry success has been elusive for them.

Putting her down gives them a wee bit of power that’s otherwise lacking in their lives.

 

[NickName99]

Changes under Ahrendts turned the stores into chaotic free-for-alls.

I really don't care about anything that defines her personally. The AppleStore changes made it far less pleasant of a consumer experience. Simple as that.

So basically the Apple stores have become so successful, so popular that they’re always crowded. Man, what terrible leadership

 

[Jonathan2019]

Now I know why I was treated the way I was at the Apple Store. Before this lady I enjoyed going to my Apple Store. Now I'll never go back. I think their new moto should be taking the customer out of customer service. I thought the customers were always right? If they can't do something just tell the customer in a kind and friendly way. Yet all I got were bold face lies, excuses, and treated as if I was a child.

 

[Defthand]

...the service/sales being together makes the Apple store difficult to visit. Too chaotic and should be separated.

I agree. I also would wager that the Genius center would have the most traffic, especially if they moved the iPhone cases there.

 

[definitive]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

*yawn*

a person's worth in a company is usually measured by how well they perform and benefit the company, not by whether they're an independent successful woman. she most definitely did not perform well at apple.

 

[criticasm]

Wow a LOT of hate for an independent and successful woman that left a large corporation. Man you guys must be loved great by the women in your families. Maybe not and hence the reason for this hate without substantiating it.

Independent my a$$. She didn't do anything except be the world's highest paid caretaker.

She was handed the reigns of an already built retail chain of stores around the world & just "played house" giving em makeovers. They deliberately overpaid her the same salary as Tim Cook plus more than any in stock bonuses just to make it look "balanced" as she was the only female executive. No surprise she left after being given a platinum parachute.
[doublepost=1557170619][/doublepost]Her tenure at Apple is like George Costanza with the Penske file in Seinfeld. Remember he's at a new job, gets given a manilla folder packed with papers & he just transfers them into another kind of folder. Then the Penske guy is impressed by this makeover of his file even though George didn't actually do anything beneficial.