Apple Introduces Major Retail Changes, Including New Pro-Level Positions and Credo

[Wanted797]

Everyone here is hating on the names and company motto saying Apple is cult like. The truth is nearly every company has a cringe worthy motto buried somewhere in their training program. Having worked in retail for 7 years this structure and naming seems like it would be fantastic. I've worked in different areas and no one has a specific job title, or role to work toward or encompass. Apple's way can give meaning to employees and make them feel like they have a goal. It can also make them feel like they are making a difference no matter how small. It lifts employee engagement which in turn only makes happy employees which makes happy customers.

Too often in my career I have seen staff who turn around the second they're placed in a role that has a definition and different to other staff. It makes them strive to be able to say 'I am a pro/expert'. I have never worked at Apple but I know how much something this simple can organise a store.

 

[Medic311]

You picked up the phone from repair, took it home, THEN noticed the screen wasn't flush? That's 100% on you bro. It's your responsibility to look over the device when you pick it up and if you have any issues refuse to accept it until they're addressed.

100% on me? sorry i don't carry around a feeler gauge with me on my keyring. when i got home the iphone would not fit back into the otterbox. i took it off prior to going to the apple store bc i knew i would have to take it off anyways. once i realized it wouldn't fit, i inspected what they replaced (the screen) and saw it was not fully seated.

It's pretty cool they offered to help you when you came back at all, because every other retailer would tell you to go pound sand -you signed off on the repair and left the store.

it's pretty cool that they were willing to fix their improperly performed repair? got it

Also, FYI, if a screen isn't flush, 99% of the time it's because your enclosure is bent. Again, 100% on you.
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enclosure wasn't bent. 2nd replacement screen was not flush. 3rd replacement screen was installed properly, went back into the otterbox just fine. difficulty reading tonight, son?

 

[JPSaltzman]

So I guess this means anyone who can figure out how to turn on or off or Sleep a MacBook Pro (minus the power button) gets to apply? Jeez, talk about lowering the barrier! Anyone who can figure out out that 3-option messup (introduced in 10.9 Mavericks) can now be an Apple whatever-specialist! (Please remind me, why am I adding AppleCare to every Apple purchase?)

 

[MH01]

Your quote: "Apple stores around me are horrible when it comes any kind of support without a scheduled appointment."

Except this is not my quote. Ill let you reread the thread and let the penny drop.

In my point of view apple has the best support, I have never turned up without an appointment, though I have really struggled to get an appointment (london White city store).

 

[ike1707]

Those will be phased out in 3-5 years.

I hope you're wrong

 

[saintstryfe]

I like your version. Laser-focused and easier for employees to understand and implement. Oh yeah, and you mention the customer! Business 101.

Apple's tiresomely long-winded "credo", OTOH, can easily be interpreted against the customer's best interests. The very first line, for example, doesn't specify whose lives are to be "enriched". So one could cynically misinterpret it to mean just the executives' lives - if one was in a bad mood that day.
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No. It's dreadful.

Corporate pablum at it's worst.

Well, you'd be a pretty big jerk if you thought that. And there's a reason corporations do this: because they work. When you are motivating employees, it is incredibly helpful if you can point to something and say "here, this is why we're doing this."

 

[RadioGaGa1984]

Promotion at apple is a joke, unless your a managers pet. After 8 years I am still at my starting position despite knowing more than most experts in my store.

Bitter party of one.

 

[saintstryfe]

I work in IT, and am so glad I don't work in retail like this or the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I prefer working in a place where I see the same people, work on the same equipment. This way, I know what works, what doesn't, make suggestions on how to improve, etc.

Also, Apple hasn't really updated its Mac hardware line in a while. Sure, CPU is important and I get how one big release is more exciting than a bunch of smaller ones. But Macs haven't really been updated in more than a year it seems like, and there have been updates in other hardware areas like SSDs, video cards, ThunderBolt, etc. Adding to that, Apple started fragmenting the iOS line, too. With the 9.7" and 12.9" iPad Pros having fairly different innards, the iPad Mini not getting the Pro treatment, having the iPhone 6, 6s & SE, not to mention Plus versions. It's not as bad as Android or the Mac line in the 90's before Steve Jobs' return, but it's getting there. Whatever happened to simplicity in the lineup?

Also, in terms of upgrading/maintenance, all Apple hardware pretty much sucks. I get the appeal of skinny, but when you have to pay over a hundred bucks just because someone tore off a key on on a MacBook, or totally replace an iPhone because it dropped out of your pocket, not good.

SSDs - not really anything revolutionary in the realm of SSD sizes or speeds in the last two years, except that M.2-PCI interface boards are coming down in price. The fact that SATA SSDs are cheap isn't of much concern to Apple. We might see some movement soon as Samsung and Toshiba start getting out single chips with more storage (a recent announcement by Samsung - they have a new chip with over a TB on one single chip, which is a huge improvement, though it isn't available yet) and faster interfaces.

Video Cards: again, not much change, particularly from Apple's main video card producers - Intel and ATI. nVidia has just told mobile card makers to fark off, use full-size cards for 10x0 series mobile graphics (which are really 10x0m's but nVidia won't let them get marketed that way), ATI is just starting to get its new chip lines out the door, and most of them have been gaming oriented so far not the workstation ones Apple wants, and Intel's have been reliant on new chips - which simply haven't been that compelling.

I know you said you understand CPUs - but let me explain for those who aren't aware. The oldest chips Apple is using (except for the non-Retina MBP) are 4th gen Haswell chips (I believe only in the MBA now). The MBPs and Desktop Macs are using the 5th Gen Broadwells, and the MBr is using the newest 6th gen Skylake chips. Broadwell and Skylake for the most part didn't add anything - they were just spec bumps. Skylake added a controller for USB 3.1 right into the chipset, so an extra USB 3.1 controller wasn't needed, why the MBr uses them.

The next upcoming chip is called Kaby Lake, the 7th gen. These will be much bigger. Aside from expected speed bumps,these will offer some new tech - better video for one. Most specifically, they will support Thunderbolt 3 via USB 3.1 - meaning faster speeds, more port options and lower costs. If Apple wanted to have TB3 without Kaby, they'd need another controller chip on the board - raising costs and reducing available space for other things. Kaby Lake is just getting to designers like Apple now (which is why I'll be surprised if we see new machines by the end of the year).

 

[32828870]

George Orwell would be proud...

Right, because Apple's overhaul on an antiquated retail structure is the equivalent of subjecting people to negative reinforcement and torture in order to control society. Wtf is wrong with people? Has society become so jaded and negative that people are making associations that don't exist? Jesus.

 

[Larry-K]

Don't forget the mini.

You mean the "Mini Pro"?

 

[grahamperrin]

Before we go any further with credos, let's take a moment to reflect upon a 2014 description of a product:

"… refines the impression of plausible, physical dimensionality …"
– but not for a face cream, readers.​

That that was infamously for the
flattest product in Apple's history: Yosemite.​

Well, congrats on your sexism, but …

I understood the mention of a catwalk to be fashion-related, not gender. As I put it in 2014,

Burberry's web presence appears very sterile.​

Generally, I was bemused when I learnt of Apple giving seniority to someone whose decades of experience were in fashion, not computers. Beyond bemusement: I'm never surprised by people joking about it

… but let me explain for those who aren't aware. …Kaby Lake, …

and Bunny Lake, undamaged by her 1960s childhood trauma, in her sixties but still learning and growing, figuring out what's next, imagining the unimaginable, doing it all over again tomorrow, showing none of Olay's seven signs of aging – the skin around her eyes and below her chin has plausible, physical dimensionality – and looking good great in Burberry.

The creedo (cheesy poem) came from when Ron Johnson was the SVP of Retail. From what I see that changed, …

Thanks. Seriously now, does anyone have a link to the pre-Angela credo?

Don't forget the mini.

Those will be phased out in 3-5 years.

I hope you're wrong

I can't make a prediction, but I was very surprised when (a few days ago) I realised that promotion of Mac Mini ceased, to customers in education, more than a year ago – I have no idea when, but it wasn't always that way (and how nice it was, last decade, to gain an overview of the hardware range without paging down).

 

[lolkthxbai]

Uh no. You don't get it. The idea was to get all screen repairs into a queue because they have limited machines to repair phones. That doesn't change with this stupid addition of roles.

Actually, its you who doesn't get it. I was letting the OP understand that Apple did not create this position to pay their employees less for the same job that a Genius does. I never once said that this new role would change how many repairs can be done at a given moment.

 

[VMMan]

Tim Cook's legacy at Apple in one word ... "Pro"

I'm waiting for the Pro watchbands.

 

[lolkthxbai]

I'm sure glad they're spending all this time and effort on these extremely critical restructures and poems instead of those wretched MacBooks.

I'm willing to bet that Angela, as head of retail, does not work on designing and engineering new MacBooks. I'm sure the designers and engineers do that so she can write her "poems" and work on "critical restructures".

 

[ValiumEater]

Everyone here is hating on the names and company motto saying Apple is cult like.

2003 Apple Store employee here: Yes, it's turned into a cult.

 

[lolkthxbai]

Promotion at apple is a joke, unless your a managers pet. After 8 years I am still at my starting position despite knowing more than most experts in my store.

Wow, 8 years and still at your same starting position? That's a long time to stay stagnant and not grow at all.

 

[Porco]

Considering changing my username to 'co Pro'. No, not really.

Not sure I find adding the Pro to people's job titles all that tasteful. Though it would be fun to see people come to work with a new tattoo of three little dots on their face, or dressed in a black tube, or wearing a large silver rectangular coat with a retina display and a few ports...

Where's the new Pro?
-Oh haven't you heard, she's on maternity leave.
She's having a Mini?!
-Yeah! According to the Macrumors' Buyer's Guide, it's actually long overdue already!

 

[MarkusL]

So even their employee's get the 'Pro' title, besides their products. Seems the 'Pro' term is a little over used in my opinion.

Still, looking at the product lines it makes some kind of sense to use the word Pro to show seniority among the staff. Sort of like how Mac Pro means the oldest Mac.

 

[Larry-K]

Those will be phased out in 3-5 years.

Woo-Hoo! That means one upgrade!

 

[Sandybox]

Yes, because every last one of them believes that they aren't being exploited, they are simply not millionaires yet.

Aspiration without realism........that's really sad if true. Can anyone provide an example of becoming rich from working in an Apple store, if so I will stand corrected?

 

[TimmyFetchMeMyTools]

Oh boy, glad I jumped ship when I did. From my experience, most of the Experts I encountered were loathed by other members of staff for being pretentious and holier-than-thou, but actually did the same job as Specialists most of the time. Not always the case, but more often than not. I can't imagine how insufferable a 'Pro' would be.

I can see it now:

Specialist: "Hmm, I'm not sure about that, let me get you an Expert"
Customer: "Sure"
Expert: "Oh that's a little beyond my knowledge. Let's ask a Pro"
Customer: "Kill me"

 

[Sandybox]

I like this part:

AT OUR CORE

We believe our soul is our people.
People who recognize themselves
in each other.
People who shine a spotlight
only to stand outside it.
People who work to leave this world better than they found it.
People who live to enrich lives.

If this was really how Apple live their lives how come their ordinary "people", apparently the true heroes, never get to share the spotlight at the overblown keynotes and launches? Seems to me that the execs not just stand in the spotlight, they own it - and tell "people" to only shine it at there egotistical, shallow and frankly rather comical selves.

 

[smacrumon]

To me it sounds like they are trying to address wait times by expanding the pool of employees who can address basic technical matters.

While paying the pool of staff less.

 

[lolkthxbai]

Actually can't we check ourselves out now? I've never done it but my husband checks us out using an app. It feels weird and I keep worrying someone will yell "Stop! Thief!" But they never do.

You can and everyone whose complained about crowded stores here so far could have done so too. The only disqualifications I've come across for self-check out is when you are purchasing something too expensive or has a serial number. If that still doesn't tickle their fancy then they could always order online and have it shipped to them or pick it up themselves in the store.

 

[Woyzeck]

The way Apple goes makes me want to vomit.