Apple Music Marketing Exec Bozoma Saint John to Leave Company

[gugy]

One of the things I miss about the old keynotes were the one man show. Steve. I know we gotta move on because nobody can replace him but my point is that Apple doesn't have one guy to drive the entire keynote. Now we have Tim and then too many people sharing the stage. Ideally we would have Tim and maybe two more guys and that's it. Too many voices too many styles. I can't stand Eddy and this woman was awful too. I think the best guy is Federigh, he should have more time.

 

[rockarollr]

All I could think about while watching her on stage at WWDC16 was Jobs talking about the "Bozo explosion" ... and post-Jobs Apple hiring Bozoma.

Yes! This EXACTLY! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thought about that! Steve probably wouldn't have hired her as an executive because of her first name alone. I couldn't help but to think - as soon as he saw "Bozo" in her first name, it would have been instant rejection. Although he was prone to changing his mind at a moment's notice, Steve believed in going with his first "gut feeling" and did it quite often from what I understand. Besides that, she would have been considered one of the "professional manager/executive" types that Steve talks about in the video I attached below. I honestly believe she never would have made the cut under Jobs.

See ya' Bozoma!

 

[AdonisSMU]

Wow, that is a little surprising. She was on some people's short list to replace Tim Cook in several yrs as CEO.

She was amazing!!!
[doublepost=1496609476][/doublepost]I really liked this woman. I was mesmerized by her when she was on stage.

 

[Analog Kid]

You're right. Of late they seem to get more opportunities with the latest 'diversity' drives and schemes.

Right... I can think of 4 high profile members of the Apple Music team: Cue, Iovine, Dre and Saint John. Go find me some posts in these forums raising Cue and Iovine's race/ethnicity when discussing whether they deserve to be retained.

Apple executives regularly get vitriolic responses on Macrumors completely out of proportion to what they deserve or have done. But somehow that becomes only a point of discussion when the subject is someone other than an old white man.

I don't see much counter discussion to comments about her performance in her job, I mostly see counter discussion to the statements suggesting the problem is that she was a "diversity hire" or somehow related to her Ghanian name...

If someone were to make the claim that Cue should be pushed out because he's straight, white or male, then you'd see a backlash against that too.
[doublepost=1496612505][/doublepost]

I think it is fair to say that, that woman was inappropriate last year.

(Note that the system merged this with my post above it, this isn't a continuation of the same theme...)
That's twice you've used the word "inappropriate" when describing her. I'm curious why you're using that particular word. I get that some people cringed at her attempt to get the geeks to sing along, and some people see her large personality as being a bit over the top, but what wasn't appropriate in her 5 minutes on stage as opposed to just not fitting your aesthetic?

 

[Mr. Dee]

Was a refreshing personality, not just being an African American face in a predominantly white male culture, but just someone who seemed genuinely passionate about something they loved - music. You can sense a little race tensions camouflaged in snide remarks about her stage presence. One thing is for sure, she is bright enough that she worked at Apple; if they didn't want her, she would have been let go long ago. She left on her own recognizance, not pushed out - then again, who knows. A lot of people forget about the roots of Apple not being the mainstream platform a long time, the tool of choice for artist and musicians.

What has happened is, in the two decades since Apple's resurgence, there are a lot of bandwagonists who have jumped on the brand because of the company's popularity and stock value. If Apple was making all these products it did without the profit, you would hear the opposite. Steve Jobs has always prided Apple on being an outsider, a minority among minorities. Bozoma continued to be part of that rich history of not caring about your race, gender or sexual orientation, but your talent.

 

[ErikGrim]

Who are these people? That was such a cringe presentation.

It was cringe because it was lost on the mainly white, mainly male, mainly geeky audience. Her presentation was ace.

 

[akash.nu]

It was cringe because it was lost on the mainly white, mainly male, mainly geeky audience. Her presentation was ace.

You present according to the audience, otherwise it's a waste of time and effort.

May I also add WWDC is called that because it's a "Developer's Conference", not a consumer show. Samsung does that crap, not apple or google.

 

[developer13245]

I'll say this up front: I believe this woman is very talented.

But let's see if you all understand a parallelism regarding how Apple manages their public image:

A few weeks ago, Apple released a full PR barrage celebrating their commitment to "Accessibility". But commitment to "Accessibility" is really only one facet of being committed to equality of persons with disabilities. I commented in one of those threads about Apple's lack of standing in AAPD (American Association of People with Disabilities) ratings and employment listing on the AAPD job board. My criticism is that Apple misses the larger benchmark of quality, so their "Accessibility" prattle lacks credibility specifically because the overbearance PR is really just a smoke screen hiding their poor performance on the larger more important issues.

The underlying reasons regarding her departure is one of those more important issues.

I'm not saying this woman is disabled. I'm just pointing out a parallel set of issues that have a common "theme". I'm sure if she reads this post, she will get it. Most of you won't.

 

[Analog Kid]

You present according to the audience, otherwise it's a waste of time and effort.

I think what he meant was the audience in that presentation hall (and apparently among these forums)... It was also live streamed internationally.

This was the public unveiling of the new Apple Music app that came with the new version of iOS. It wasn't only aimed at the devs in the room, it was the start of a pitch to global market. Thus they handed the task to the head of Global Marketing.

Sure, she may have learned that night that she over-reached by trying to get a bunch of squares to sight read rap lyrics at a moments notice-- but again, that was 5 minutes of a long career. Hardly worth judging her by. My takeaway was that Apple had a music marketing exec who understands music, musicians, and their customers. I don't care if she could get some dev group's scrum master to bust a rhyme.

 

[Juicy Box]

You present according to the audience, otherwise it's a waste of time and effort.

Great point, as any public speaking or presenting course would teach this.

I don't think she should be totally condemned from just this though, as anyone could have a bad day. Although, the video from the keynote was pretty bad.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

Apple music ever since they purchased "beats" has been an utter mess and lost in the wilderness. Even the rumours for this WWDC predicts ANOTHER interface change, how many are we up to now within just the last 3 years? Under her leadership, Apple has lost market share to Spotify and other streaming services. This has nothing to do with her race or her gender (Shame on people trying to play that). She is just legitimately crap at her job. She took the world's premier music marketplace and made it a hot mess.

Purchasing Beats and the people behind it was the worst decision Apple has made in a decade.

 

[Sora]

Because she was annoying. And it has nothing to do with her race, as you so predictably tried to bring up as a relevant point in your comment.

lol
Right. Nothing to do with race - because racism is dead right?

Seriously dude, fix your racism, it smeared and it's showing.

I can't admit she's intelligent. Good at what she does. Represents a segment of the population (women & black) that are consistently under represented in the higher ranks of corporate America. Her presentation was unique, captivating, and informative. I don't know her personally. Never sat down with her for coffee, or had a meal with her, so I don't know her. Can't judge her personality or personally.

But yeah, fix your racism because it's easy to spot.

And while i'm here, don't say you don't see color as a response - people who say that 10 times out of 10 are the most racist people on this planet. I don't see color - wtf - you color blind now?? How do you stop at red lights? Gtfooh!

 

[rockarollr]

Purchasing Beats and the people behind it was the worst decision Apple has made in a decade.

Absolutely agree.

 

[MH01]

Please....she wasn't some visionary executive. She's an executive that Apple inherited from a 2nd tier music streaming service that would have gone out of business if it wasn't bought by Apple. If she was truly remarkable, the Beats streaming service wouldn't have been such a failure. If you want evidence of how little she's thought of in the music streaming industry, look at how little the charity lunch with her raised: $2500. 'Nuff said. Now let's hope Cook sends the other Beats executives packing along with Cue.

Geez apple paid a lot for a company about to go out of business. Not smart.

 

[Bonte]

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? A bit ironic even.

Yeah wow, i even forgot that for a moment, the only Apple CEO with a marketing background kicked Steve Jobs out.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

lol
Right. Nothing to do with race - because racism is dead right?

Seriously dude, fix your racism, it smeared and it's showing.

I can't admit she's intelligent. Good at what she does. Represents a segment of the population (women & black) that are consistently under represented in the higher ranks of corporate America. Her presentation was unique, captivating, and informative. I don't know her personally. Never sat down with her for coffee, or had a meal with her, so I don't know her. Can't judge her personality or personally.

But yeah, fix your racism because it's easy to spot.

And while i'm here, don't say you don't see color as a response - people who say that 10 times out of 10 are the most racist people on this planet. I don't see color - wtf - you color blind now?? How do you stop at red lights? Gtfooh!

Projection much? Seriously dude, the guy never said racism doesn't exist. That's you straw mining him. The only one concentrating race is you You clearly have a chip on your shoulder, that is confusing legitimate criticisms of this women as racism. Which they are not. There has been equally as much criticism in this thread aimed at Cue as well. But unsurprisingly no one criticising him is being called a racist. Can we just keep the discussion focused on her professional conduct? Is that so much to ask for in 2017?

 

[nt5672]

I cautiously enquire why you think this?

From what I'd seen and read, she was an enthusiastic, intelligent person who increased the profile of black women in industry.

Ah, so you mean a figurehead. It's not really surprising she's leaving, especially if she was intelligent. Being hired to improve Apple's image is not the most challenging of work.
[doublepost=1496662370][/doublepost]

. . . .

P.s. Apple isn't always the best company to work for.

This captures it exactly. It is always hard to work for a company whose carefully crafted image and management style/focus/priorities are vastly different. Those of us who have, know.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Ah, so you mean a figurehead. It's not really surprising she's leaving, especially if she was intelligent. Being hired to improve Apple's image is not the most challenging of work.
[doublepost=1496662370][/doublepost]

This captures it exactly. It is always hard to work for a company whose carefully crafted image and management style/focus/priorities are vastly different. Those of us who have, know.

I'm learning that this is true of all companies.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Steve Jobs thought most of Silicon Valley was full of idiots anyway, including the ones who worked at Apple. Probably only Ives hardware team had the respect. You could be brightest coder at Apple he didn't give a ****.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Steve Jobs thought most of Silicon Valley was full of idiots anyway, including the ones who worked at Apple. Probably only Ives hardware team had the respect. You could be brightest coder at Apple he didn't give a ****.

I agree, Google is one of them that full of fools including it's head of opps. Just look at what they did to Motorola.

 

[Gasu E.]

Because she was annoying. And it has nothing to do with her race, as you so predictably tried to bring up as a relevant point in your comment.

OK, so she was annoying to you, for some reason. She's an executive, not someone here for your entertainment.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Yeah wow, i even forgot that for a moment, the only Apple CEO with a marketing background kicked Steve Jobs out.

And he even worked at Pepsi!!!

 

[Xenden]

That's twice you've used the word "inappropriate" when describing her. I'm curious why you're using that particular word.

WWDC is Apple’s developer conference, even more so, it is Apple’s message to the world on what they are bringing to the table as far as innovation, compitition, as well as how they want to frame any message that they are trying to frame.

Dancing like a f’ing chicken , then trying to turn the audience into a gospel revival, in my opinion was inappropriate.

Also, I use the word I ovation with a little bit of tongue-in-cheek.