Apple PR Chief Stella Low Departs After 8 Months, Kristin Huguet Named Successor

[erikkfi]

Do they really need a person for this job? Most Apple PR sounds like a mad lib. Just toss together product names and specs, phrases like "we believe," and then cram as many superlatives in as you can. Exciting, extraordinary, wonderful, colorful, vibrant, magnificent. Find a way to call each product the fastest and most beautiful Apple has ever made.

 

[sw1tcher]

Lying is pretty much what the entire public relations industry is built on.

Yup. You lose a part of your soul to be in PR. But someone apparently disagrees since he gave me a thumb down. ?

 

[benroberts3]

Bring back Katie Cotton.

Old school Apple fans will know who she was and how important she was to Apple and Steve Jobs.

 

[applicious84]

Mind blowing really. Somebody departs a company and all of a sudden whatever random people say is probably the clear answer…

Like….

She Probably worked 120 hours a week.

She Probably didn’t like her job.

She Probably didn’t like working for Apple.

She Probably needs more family time.

She was probably so stressed, she hated her job.

She probably didn’t like Tim Cook.


Like you said, people depart companies all the time for other prospects possibly in the future, or something more in nature to what they’re accustomed or maybe a new Project altogether. The list is endless and doesn’t always have a negative outcome like others project.

It was 121 hours that got me. I was fine at 120. Sheesh, you really gotta step up in that position.

Actually, I have worked 110 hour weeks (not that many). They're brutal, but in PR, it must be soul sucking. A little bit of lying is one thing, but spending 120 hours a week doing it must be maddening. I advocate lying for no more than 80 hours a week

 

[wigby]

The announcement wasn't botched. The very idea of this was botched.

Not really. Apple could've passed it by most users if they didn't create such confusion around their definition of on-device hashing and also announcing the parental monitoring for child abuse in iMessage at the same time as the CSAM scanning conflated two completely different technologies.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I’m confused, who is replacing who and who is in the picture? I just had lunch so I know I’m not hungry.

 

[applicious84]

Yup. You lose a part of your soul to be in PR. But someone apparently disagrees since he gave me a thumb down. ?

I totally agree with losing your soul. And your heart. You’re really start to appreciate life when you can live as a soulless, heartless mad person

 

[Wildkraut]

Probably failed to argue(communicate) around in forums,twitter & co. against pro sideloading users and got degraded.

 

[Martin Bland]

Maybe this is related to Apple's botched CSAM announcement. Who knows.

Apple’s CSAM is not a PR problem. It’s a terrible surveillance tool problem.

 

[Neepman]

I totally agree with losing your soul. And your heart. You’re really start to appreciate life when you can live as a soulless, heartless mad person

You've got it wrong. Ones soul isn't "lost". One has to be soulless to begin with to be in PR.

 

[Martin Bland]

Someone needed to be shown the door after the CSAM fiasco. Apple’s reputation as a leader in privacy has been seriously undermined in the last 6 months.

The PR person is the wrong person to be shown the door for the CSAM fiasco. No PR in the world could cover up how awful Apple’s CSAM tool is. It’s a technical disaster. The people responsible for creating it should be shown the door. With prejudice.

If this is Apple’s response to the CSAM fiasco, then Apple is hopeless.

 

[0924487]

Lying with a straight face, basically.

 

[temende]

Why does Apple need to pay for a VP of PR when Rene Ritchie does it for free?

 

[ksec]

Just a guess, but perhaps she did not fit into Apple's culture, hence deciding to choose a long-term Apple employee as her successor.

Not the first time Tim Cook did something like this.

 

[Red Oak]

It is a failure of the organization if you cannot promote from within

Identify the issues and fix them

 

[ksec]

Bring back Katie Cotton.

Old school Apple fans will know who she was and how important she was to Apple and Steve Jobs.

I think Katie and Scott Forstall is partly driven out by Tim Cook's change of culture. And I have been ranting about this for now close to 10 years.

 

[Razorpit]

Probably a high stressful job. Family comes first.

C Level employees rarely have a stable family, especially in Silicon Valley.

You've got it wrong. Ones soul isn't "lost". One has to be soulless to begin with to be in PR.

Don’t forget HR too.

 

[nt5672]

Yeah... And it's always a race to the bottom with all the juvenile burns about it being something nefarious with respect to Apple.

People just do not take a job for 8 months and leave without there being a nefarious reason, either on her part or Apple's.

 

[Westside guy]

Huguet Quayle has been at Apple since 2005 and has been on Apple's communication team. She joined Apple when the company had fewer than 20,000 employees, and was responsible for leading communications during Apple's encryption fight with the FBI.

"Fewer than 20,000 employees"... so she's been with Apple a while, but we're not exactly talking about the "Steve Job's garage" days.

 

[skaertus]

It doesn't seem to me that these C-suite outside hires last very long.

I don't think it is an Apple thing. I truly wonder why companies do this.

There are benefits both way. Someone growing up from the inside can be great. They understand the culture, they've already won the respect of others in the organization and know how to work with them. They're pretty much always paid less than outside hires (which is why if you want to get paid significantly more, you have to go to a different company).

But there are benefits to outside hires. They bring a fresh perspective, experience, and ideas not offered within your organization. They aren't institutionalized.

Benefits both ways. Most companies weigh both.

Many companies do this. Sometimes leadership cannot be found inside the company. Sometimes a C-level professional departs before there is a successor. Sometimes things must be shaken up.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I am not sure C-level professionals last longer or shorter than other professionals. When a trainee departs from a company, it does not make headlines.

Apple hired Steve Jobs as its CEO in 1997. Steve Jobs had left Apple in 1985, more than a decade earlier. Although he was a founder of the company, Apple was a different beast, with a different culture, when he returned. Still, he managed to continue as CEO until 2011, when he had to step down due to health issues. And, during his tenure as CEO, he led the most successful turnaround in history.

Outsider CEOs do not work when they are a bad match with the company, or when there are negative sentiments towards the hiring (instead of promoting someone from inside the company).

 

[Westside guy]

Do they really need a person for this job? Most Apple PR sounds like a mad lib. Just toss together product names and specs, phrases like "we believe," and then cram as many superlatives in as you can. Exciting, extraordinary, wonderful, colorful, vibrant, magnificent. Find a way to call each product the fastest and most beautiful Apple has ever made.

I doubt the in-house PR people are doing that work. They're mainly handling the big external agencies which create Apple's ads - relaying the general concepts from the leadership team, vetting the intermediate products which come back (I assume Tim & Co. have to sign off on the final campaign).

It's probably a lot of hours for a lot of dollars, but not a lot of time to be creative yourself.

 

[citysnaps]

People just do not take a job for 8 months and leave without there being a nefarious reason, either on her part or Apple's.

Sure they do. I don't think you are in a position speak for all people.

But with zero facts, why not assume the worst and tout it like gospel. It's the new normal to get the waters chumed up on social media.

 

[bakerzdosen]

Yeah... And it's always a race to the bottom with all the juvenile burns about it being something nefarious with respect to Apple.

So, you're saying it most likely wasn't her cocaine-fueled string of convenience store robberies while disguised as characters from That 70's Show that brought about her departure, but rather it was the fact she couldn't handle the attempted coverup of the 24/7 drunken orgies taking place at the new Apple HQ instead of people actually working on new or improving existing products?

Did I cover all of the typical (or required?) bases with that one?

 

[IllinoisCorn]

That's a short tenure. Clearly not a good fit.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Now that’s a stressful job. Hope she’ll be making a ton of $$ because a job like that can eat you up!

I'm just waiting for Apple to state an update to CSAM decision ... ?
sound: queue F is for Family Anthony's mumble sounds lol.