Apple Stores Will No Longer Offer 'Delivery With Setup' as Enjoy Files for Bankruptcy

[anson42]

I guess I should call myself "Enjoy" cause I am the one my entire family comes to for setup

That makes me "Enjoy" as well. Like many of us here, I bet 🙂

 

[anson42]

When you offer free service and do not make any money. Of course, the investor money goes bye-bye.

Wasn't Apple paying Enjoy for this service? I imagine Enjoy was contracted to provide this service for free to Apple customers.

 

[tivoboy]

I hate to say it, but I knew a long time ago this was never going to be a thing.. ;-(

 

[Vulcan4770]

From my experience - At least half of the appointments we did, people weren't wanting the personal setup anyway. Then when cases were presented to be sold at full retail you can imagine the reaction, yeaaa no thanks.

 

[Vulcan4770]

Wasn't Apple paying Enjoy for this service? I imagine Enjoy was contracted to provide this service for free to Apple customers.

They made the money from the partners, essentially guaranteeing a lower return rate than box stores.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

This guy is the Jeff Fisher of Corporate America. Had success once but other than that pretty poor success record.
At least he was smart enough to raise that much capital before filing 11. He won't have to pay back most of his creditors and get to keep what hasn't already been spent.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Ron has been an easy target since leaving Apple. I get why. Still, his JC Penny concept was really interesting and progressive and could have positioned JC Penny for a more viable future. It was a bigger, long-term vision that appears neither the company nor it's audience, could see. Their crack-like dependency on couponing wouldn't allow them to see beyond said coupons. That all struck me more right idea, wrong retailer - which is problematic as the CEO.

An easy target as long as you’re willing to ignore Target. 🙂 Which is where he was before Apple. After those two successes, JCPenny’s failure is their own!

 

[Sphincty]

I would have thought combining this with an escort service would have been the rational business decision. The setup would have been veeeerrryyyy relaxing.

 

[Fender2112]

and have an Enjoy employee deliver and set up the products at their home, free of charge.

I found the problem.

 

[krakenrelease]

I've never heard of this service. Apparently a lot of others haven't either. I get it, maybe mac enthusiasts aren't the target market, but I find it odd to hear about the service only after bankruptcy. Pandemic plus marketing issues = doom.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Johnson never should have left Apple. He's been adrift ever since and none of his successors have really captured lightning the way he did.

 

[VolceOntra]

I interviewed to work there as an engineer 😅. Dodged a bullet there.

 

[bluespark]

I don't love the idea. Modern devices do a pretty good job already at helping customers through setup. OTOH, the setup issues that remain after going through a normal process can be pretty hairy (e.g., "where is my photos library really, and how do I put my originals here without losing any of them?") and therefore not well-suited to the typical person who might be hired for roving setup jobs. I can see why this didn't work.

 

[philstubbington]

But that segment of the population needing this type of assistance is getting smaller and smaller.... Its primarily now the oldest generation that didn't grow up with any digital technology. Most people 40 and under have basically lived on it since an early age. 15 and under don't know a world without iPhones.

I would also think that the population that most needs the help is a lot less likely to buy new hardware year after year. I know my parents don't want to consider buying iPhones because they'd have to learn something new, even though they've had multiple iPads over the years. Offering them setup isn't going to push them into buying the device.

Speaking as someone in their mid-fifties I think setting the bar at the under-40s is rather low. I started programming in C and assembler from the age of 16.

 

[DarrenSW]

Johnson never should have left Apple. He's been adrift ever since and none of his successors have really captured lightning the way he did.

This. It's easy to judge him by subsequent failures, but when he wasn't happy with the first Apple Store concept he was the one person with the balls to say to Jobs, "We need to start over". The Apple Store would have been very different without his input.

And I'd have Ron over the disasters that were Browett and Ahrendts anyday 🙂.

 

[lazyrighteye]

People are this dumb and lazy? I can’t think of one Apple products which need anyone’s help for setting up.

And this was free of charge? Businesses not knowing how to make money will always fail. Can’t imagine Apple paying that much to this company either.

Just read manuals for god’s sake. People can’t focus 10 minutes to read manuals?

Haha. In many ways, I don't think we've ever been dumber or lazier as a people (I say that with empathy, tenderness and humility and a dash of hyperbole, for those that will take that literally or - worse - personally). Convenience is the silent killer of this generation. For it is in convenience that things like laziness, emotional & cognitive atrophy, dependence, etc., thrive: robbing us of key aspects that define what it means to be human.

In the earliest days of iOS, it was so simple, even a cat could navigate. I recall taking my launch-day '07 iPhone to a friend's going away party. Earlier that day, I spent a good portion of my morning enthusiastically queue'd at the Aspen Grove Apple Store with hundreds of equally excited Apple nerds. Remains one of my fav Apple moment to date. I hurried home to format my new device (which, the at-home nature of the activation process was honestly one of the most revolutionary aspects of an insanely revolutionary device/platform - completely reshaping the activation processes of an entire mobile phone industry overnight) and then headed to the party. Being that it was a going away party, the range of people there was vast: anyone from newborn infants, children, adults and seniors were there to wish our dear friend well on his journey ahead. When I showed up, the guest of honor excitedly asked "well, did you get it?!?" To which I nodded. And he shot back "well let's see it!" I remember sheepishly pulling that iPhone out of my pocket and handing it to him (you have to remember, at that time, phones were "free" with a 2-yr contract - so the idea of paying $600 for phone was... slightly embarrassing, especially as a young struggling "artist"). What struck me most about that moment, was how, without any instruction - anyone from small children to great grandparents, could navigate the device. I sat back and quietly watch a crowd of people gather to hold, tap and swipe the device then pass it to the next eager person - each wearing the same stupefied look on their face: like they has just touched the future. It was at that exact moment, I realized the power of the platform. It was also at that moment that I forever-ditched my mouse in favor of a track pad - noting touch would be the go-forward way we interact with our tech. Which is why I'm as excited about the rumored mixed-reality headset Apple's been patiently developing. I think it will do for the way we interface with tech that touch did in '07.

Admittedly, iOS & iPadOS have never been more complex and, by default, convoluted. There was a time I could troubleshoot an iOS issue over the phone with a friend without looking at my device as reference. Those days have since passed. But that doesn't mean Apple isn't doing their job well. I believe they are - especially considering the just-mentioned [inevitable] complexity and convulsion of their mobile OSes. So that's where the hyperbole about our laziness comes into play. While I do feel we have never been lazier, I do think the OS has never been more complex. Thus, I could see where some thought Enjoy a viable business opportunity. Guess not. 😉

 

[jmgregory1]

Penny was struggling before Ron joined them. That’s why they were looking for a new ceo. They’ve had several, and none helped. The original came back some time ago after Ron left, and he hasn’t made much of a difference either.

But a problem for ceos who have enjoyed success at one company as a division chief, is that they didn’t have to make company wide decisions before, and often, this new responsibility is too much. Unfortunately for Ron and his employees, Enjoy ran into Covid, then shortages, then the Ukraine war, then more shortages and inflation causes by the shortages. I’m not sure it ever had a chance, even assuming it was a good idea, which was something I doubted, as companies like his have never succeeded.

I thought the plans he put in place for JCP was the right thing to do for a brand that desperately needed to move away from their past. Of course their existing penny pinching customers with zero brand loyalty complained and that then frightened shareholders and board members and killed it for Ron. When he started Enjoy, I thought it was the dumbest idea, and seemed almost like a scheme to milk investors or brand partners out of money. If consumers want help setting up product, why would they want or expect someone to come to their house or place of business to do it? Sure, if you’re home-bound, but otherwise I just never understood why anyone would think this was a good idea.

 

[oldwatery]

People are this dumb and lazy? I can’t think of one Apple products which need anyone’s help for setting up.

And this was free of charge? Businesses not knowing how to make money will always fail. Can’t imagine Apple paying that much to this company either.

Just read manuals for god’s sake. People can’t focus 10 minutes to read manual

 

[appleguy123]

"In an earlier SEC filing, Enjoy said it would be pausing at-home delivery and setup of Apple products in the U.S. beginning July 1 in order to "focus on its business priorities."


Unless the article is missing key information, at home delivery and setup of Apple products was the business priority. Stopping doing the core business activity is not what I would call focussing.

The business priorities now are paying off all their creditors. If they can do that and have something left, then their business can do something else.

 

[tubular]

A quarter billion gone in half a year? Why does this remind me Leo Bloom of “The Producers” saying “you can make more money on a flop than on a hit.”

 

[rpmurray]

Darn, I was thinking of using this service once I had enough money to purchase an Apple Polishing Cloth.

 

[StuBeck]

Johnson has, ah, not a great track record at this time. He didn't give enough credence to his success being more than just about him. Like maybe this guy named Steve was part of it.

I've never had a good experience at an Apple store buying anything and I'm not sure why he is considered great for having a shop without a till. Its either been a struggle to find someone who will take my money, standing around waiting for a pickup of an item or a bonkers situation where I had to send a fax to Apple corporate to show that I bought an item from Apple corporate to get a warranty replacement done.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Ron Johnson seems to have the reverse-Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to 💩.

He also did pretty well at Target before Apple. I think he's just the kind of person who performs well when he's a VP but not great at being CEO.

 

[lazyrighteye]

An easy target as long as you’re willing to ignore Target. 🙂 Which is where he was before Apple. After those two successes, JCPenny’s failure is their own!

Exactly.

I remember Ron's J.C. Penney's keynote (which for some reason, I'm unable to find it to share here - anyone??). It was SO Steve. And SO good. His vision for what JCP could be was breathtaking - save the logo change. Ugh, I wish I could find that dang keynote. This is the best I could find, which is woefully shy of watching the actual keynote (honestly, if anyone can produce a link to the full keynoter, I'd be grateful). And when it wrapped, you instantly got the feeling that there was no way JCP had the balls to see that through. Turns out, they didn't. A classic case of too much [change], too fast. And maybe a dash of exe ego that was too insecure and impatient - if not too beholden to stockholders - to allow a long-term vision play out. Nope. It wasn't even a year later and Ron was gone (IIRC). And like you said, that is more on JCP's execs than Ron. Wreaks of classic exec ego getting in the way of a great idea - which is a daily occurrence.

Anyway, I can't remember the last time I thought about J.C. Penney's. Are they still a thing?
Oh wow. I just went to their site. What an eye-gouging, train wreck of awful. if that works foe them, I guess something as simple and sophisticated as Ron's vision never stood a chance.

 

[Rogifan]

Johnson has, ah, not a great track record at this time. He didn't give enough credence to his success being more than just about him. Like maybe this guy named Steve was part of it.

Wasn’t he pretty successful at Target?