Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Retail's Emphasis on Profits Continues, Tied to Operational Perspective of Cook and Browett
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That's possible too. If he did good work while at Apple, that is what should really count.
I feared this sort of thing when Cook was made CEO! Nobody in Operations ever has a clue about art, products or customers. All they see is pictures, pipelines and profits.
I have a feeling the metric they are judging the retail stores by is "ROCE" or Return on Capital Employed. In other words, the extremely high values of some of the high end stores requires staggering levels of profits must be made by the division if this measure is the main criterion for assessing the value of the Retail Stores.
IMO, they should forget metrics like ROCE and measure soft measures like customer satisfaction. Apple isn't like other businesses, it breathes, it has a soul. Who'd have children if you measured the Return on Capital Employed? But that isn't the point is it?
IMO, they should forget metrics like ROCE and measure soft measures like customer satisfaction. Apple isn't like other businesses, it breathes, it has a soul. Who'd have children if you measured the Return on Capital Employed? But that isn't the point is it?
There's no actual data to support anything (yet). Just anecdotes mixed with confirmation bias.
I've seen enough reports over the years regarding dead pixels on brand new mac laptops/desktops, yellow screens, incorrectly applied thermal paste, factory dust inside iMac screens, etc. No company has perfect QC, and the people who do NOT have issues generally don't report it.
Hell, here's an article from 2009 explaining how Apple's quality control is going down the tubes!
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/News/140116,is-apple-losing-the-plot.aspx
One thing I have noticed in the past year is that Apple more readily acknowledges problems and provide fixes now. When Steve Jobs was CEO, Apple was constantly criticized for ignoring problems, blaming the user instead ("you're holding it wrong!"), then eventually begrudgingly acknowledged a problem affecting a "small number of users," and then finally offering a fix.
It wasn't until earlier this year that Apple FINALLY acknowledged (and fixed!) the flickering display issue affecting early unibody MBP's.
Last edited:
Diversity
Bet the cute teen-something in the blue T-shirt has only knowledge enough to direct the inquiring customer to the next level of employee. Ask her about the unix underpinnings of the Mac OS and you'll get a doe-eyed stare. Count on it. If I want pretty girls in T-shirts I'll go to Hooters. The Apple Store is devolving into too many entry level types and not enough knowledgeable and qualified employees!
Bet the cute teen-something in the blue T-shirt has only knowledge enough to direct the inquiring customer to the next level of employee. Ask her about the unix underpinnings of the Mac OS and you'll get a doe-eyed stare. Count on it. If I want pretty girls in T-shirts I'll go to Hooters. The Apple Store is devolving into too many entry level types and not enough knowledgeable and qualified employees!
A Step Backwards
"While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophyboth felt the stores didnt generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses."
What? Apple stores are the most successful in the world. R U Kidding......?
"While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophyboth felt the stores didnt generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses."
What? Apple stores are the most successful in the world. R U Kidding......?
Cook did not make $378M in 2011. Get you facts straight.
----------
"While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophyboth felt the stores didnt generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses."
What? Apple stores are the most successful in the world. R U Kidding......?
And yet Jobs felt Cook was the best man to succeed him as CEO.
"While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophyboth felt the stores didnt generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses."
What? Apple stores are the most successful in the world. R U Kidding......?
what you gonna do? Stop buying? Deal with it.
This is why this site is rumours based. A lot of the rumours don't have any factual base or credible sources behind them. But it is nice to know what the Mac rumour site community is thinking. It seems they think a few little top level staff changes equals a major shift in retail policy.
This is a nice rumour. But it needs some credible sources for references for the article here to be plausible. Cause at the moment it is not. Cook is a bean counter but he's not an idiot. Jobs chose him as CEO for a reason. And I have faith in Jobs. Jobs was a flawed human being as we know but his skill is hiring the right people for the right job was second to none.
So for the time being I will believe Jobs did the right thing in wanting Cook to be the CEO. And I'll re-evaluate this line of thought when some credible sources/evidence shows up contrary to this.
I think there is a lot of sentiment that Tim Cook won't run Apple as good as Steve Jobs did, I have to agree with lots of the posters here.
I think Tim Cook will pull a Steve Balmer, Balmer made tons of bad choices for Microsoft, ( though he made some great ones to ).
The problem with someone like Tim Cook vs Someone like Steve Jobs, is that Tim cook will put every single penny of profit before customer service.
What makes Apple so successful, is their customer service, I've had a couple of interesting encounters, but it was still top notch for me.
Might take some heat for this, but whatever. Apple does make some awesome products, but when you compare something like a Mac to a High end Windows PC of the same price, the Mac suddenly doesn't seem like such an awesome choice. Until you realize the amazing support behind it, Sure, Dell and HP, and some PC OEMs and shops have great support, but its not nearly as widespread as Apple stores are imo.
But, Apple provides customer service, and they provide a pretty good overall experience for the average consumer, ( Not Pro and Power Users of course, but they're all already on the Windows/Nix Side, due to the lack of decent hardware imo ). iPhone? iPad? Macs? I might not like all these products ( I love my iMac, even though it has given me problems, and I've been buying macs for over a decade ), but they are all well made, ( though not any better than anything in the same price range imo ), they are easy to use, and most people love them, and they love the support they get.
Once profit is put ahead of customer satisfaction and the customers overall experience with the Apple System goes downhill, the company will start spiraling downhill.\
As much of an Apple Fanboy ( even though I clearly am not, I heavily criticize apple, including products that I bought! ), but Steve Jobs would have never put a couple dollars of extra profit before the customer service side of the things.
I think Tim Cook will pull a Steve Balmer, Balmer made tons of bad choices for Microsoft, ( though he made some great ones to ).
The problem with someone like Tim Cook vs Someone like Steve Jobs, is that Tim cook will put every single penny of profit before customer service.
What makes Apple so successful, is their customer service, I've had a couple of interesting encounters, but it was still top notch for me.
Might take some heat for this, but whatever. Apple does make some awesome products, but when you compare something like a Mac to a High end Windows PC of the same price, the Mac suddenly doesn't seem like such an awesome choice. Until you realize the amazing support behind it, Sure, Dell and HP, and some PC OEMs and shops have great support, but its not nearly as widespread as Apple stores are imo.
But, Apple provides customer service, and they provide a pretty good overall experience for the average consumer, ( Not Pro and Power Users of course, but they're all already on the Windows/Nix Side, due to the lack of decent hardware imo ). iPhone? iPad? Macs? I might not like all these products ( I love my iMac, even though it has given me problems, and I've been buying macs for over a decade ), but they are all well made, ( though not any better than anything in the same price range imo ), they are easy to use, and most people love them, and they love the support they get.
Once profit is put ahead of customer satisfaction and the customers overall experience with the Apple System goes downhill, the company will start spiraling downhill.\
As much of an Apple Fanboy ( even though I clearly am not, I heavily criticize apple, including products that I bought! ), but Steve Jobs would have never put a couple dollars of extra profit before the customer service side of the things.
And yet Steve Jobs recommended Cook replace him as CEO.
And look how he's already starting to ruin the company
"Question for all the Steve idolizers: do you think he was wrong to recommend Cook replace him as CEO?"
YES! It happens every time. These egotistical maniacs who run corporations pick minions who do their duty without thinking or commenting. The last person who should pick a new leader is the old leader who picks the guys with no mind of their own...just a sickening desire to please the boss.
I've seen it in action. With Wall Street's new form of incentive pay these mindless sheep would throw their mothers off a bridge for a kiss from the boss.There will never be a new inspiring leader until a crisis results in the installation of a new visionary. The only friends a good leader has is his sheep and he will always pick one them.
YES! It happens every time. These egotistical maniacs who run corporations pick minions who do their duty without thinking or commenting. The last person who should pick a new leader is the old leader who picks the guys with no mind of their own...just a sickening desire to please the boss.
I've seen it in action. With Wall Street's new form of incentive pay these mindless sheep would throw their mothers off a bridge for a kiss from the boss.There will never be a new inspiring leader until a crisis results in the installation of a new visionary. The only friends a good leader has is his sheep and he will always pick one them.
Someone admitting Saint Steve made a mistake. Wow. Never thought I'd see the day.
Just curious who you think the board should have named as CEO and why.----------
And look how he's already starting to ruin the company
So you think Steve should have recommended someone else? Who?
Someone admitting Saint Steve made a mistake. Wow. Never thought I'd see the day.
----------
So you think Steve should have recommended someone else? Who?
Yes. Who? I don't know who. The problem with Tim Cook is that his mindset is that of a bean counter. Apple is not a company that should be led by a bean counter.
One of the biggest reasons apple is so wildly successful is their customer service and technical support. So what does Mr cook do? Hire someone who has destroyed the customer service at other companies ( did you know PC world used to be a great place to shop? ), in the name of a few extra dollars of profit, that could lead to a long term downward sprial of apple.
For a bean counter, being the most profitable company in the world isn't enough, they want every last penny.
Someone admitting Saint Steve made a mistake. Wow. Never thought I'd see the day.
----------
So you think Steve should have recommended someone else? Who?
It may seem like a mistake to some, but Tim was probably the only halfway good choice compared to all others Steve had. Not defending his decision; Tim isn't good as CEO, he was good in the position he was before. It's just Steve probably didn't have any visionaries to choose from.
I believe Apple / Steve didn't manage to find a visionary somewhere else taking over Steve's heritage in time, hence they picked a person who at least had much to do with their former visionary, hoping that he would understand which way Steve thought and follow his style as close as possible. (Forgetting that you just can't become a visionary overnight)
That's my theory.
Since you asked:
Tim is an Industrial Engineer...what we called an imaginary engineer in school. They specialize in things like manufacturing line layout and logistics. They really are not engineers academically. It's a much less demanding curriculum often appealing to dropouts from engineering. I'm pretty sure that dropout line does not apply to Tim Cook.
He went on to get an MBA from North Carolina or North Carolina State while working for IBM in Raleigh. That makes him a classic bean counter.
Who do I think? An engineer from one of the primary disciplines in Apple...software,hardware, or design. I don't know who exactly...possibly an outsider, but an engineer who would continue innovation priority. Not a bean counter focused on stock price and short term profit.
Tim is an Industrial Engineer...what we called an imaginary engineer in school. They specialize in things like manufacturing line layout and logistics. They really are not engineers academically. It's a much less demanding curriculum often appealing to dropouts from engineering. I'm pretty sure that dropout line does not apply to Tim Cook.
He went on to get an MBA from North Carolina or North Carolina State while working for IBM in Raleigh. That makes him a classic bean counter.
Who do I think? An engineer from one of the primary disciplines in Apple...software,hardware, or design. I don't know who exactly...possibly an outsider, but an engineer who would continue innovation priority. Not a bean counter focused on stock price and short term profit.
Cook is a smart guy. He realizes that Apple will not be the most valuable company forever. He needs to maximize returns while they're ahead and while some of the designs from the last 5 years are still brining in profits.
Steve Jobs was not the one that designed the products, but he did have the ability to pick one winner product out of several mediocre ideas.
The stock price will eventually flatline, as Apple cannot innovate forever, especially since a lot of the original talent is no longer at Apple.
Steve Jobs was not the one that designed the products, but he did have the ability to pick one winner product out of several mediocre ideas.
The stock price will eventually flatline, as Apple cannot innovate forever, especially since a lot of the original talent is no longer at Apple.
How reliable is this news?
Profit over customer satisfaction ?
Well, no something new but really Apple?
Profit over customer satisfaction ?
Well, no something new but really Apple?
And yet Jobs felt Cook was the best man to succeed him as CEO.
Jobs also hired Sculley.
The man wasn't perfect...
As soon as we in the UK heard the name Dixons, it wasn't a gut feeling; we knew it was the wrong guy. I mean Dixons! Jings, Crivvens!
Well since his death some people here seem to think he was.
That's why I bring up the fact he wanted Cook to replace him. And if not Cook then who? I suppose Apple could have gone outside the company, but that's what Jobs did with Sculley and look how that turned out. Seems to me Cook is the one guy on the executive team everyone else is comfortable working for (there were rumors that Bob Mansfield and Jony Ive refused to be in meetings with Scott Forstall unless Tim Cook was present). And Tim is also the one guy investors had confidence in.----------
Tim Cook may turn out to be a bad choice, but its too early to tell. And I have yet to hear anyone offer up who they think would have been a better choice (internal or external). Tim Cook may not be a product guy but that's what you have guys like Ive, Forstall and Schiller for.