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Apple Names Deirdre O’Brien Senior Vice President of Retail and People
- minimaxir 8y agoThe subtitle is the real story: "Angela Ahrendts Plans April Departure After Five Successful Years"
- jjtheblunt 8y agoA more interesting subtitle would note that Angela Ahrendts got about 75 million to join, and that's all vested, so bye bye.
- saagarjha 8y agoSpeaking with some people on the Retail team, I got the impression that they weren't particularly happy with the changes that Ahrendts had instituted in the last couple of years.
- a-wu 8y agoYep. 5 years as an executive seems short to me, and it seems like she was only just getting her agenda fully implemented. Given that she just did this [0] interview too, I wonder if there’s something happening behind the scenes. [0] https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/angela-ahrendts-apple-retail-strategy https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/angela-ahrendts-appl...
- saagarjha 8y agoAs an aside, I find it amusing the share icons on the images don't render correctly in Safari (there's just a black bar at the button) but do in Chrome.
- jjtheblunt 8y agothey render fine in Safari : maybe transient CDN glitch?
- saagarjha 8y agoHuh, strange, they're showing up now. You might be right about the CDN glitch.
- CameronBanga 8y agoIt probably has more to do with Apple getting bigger than anything else. But been increasingly disappointed with the general level of product knowledge amongst Apple employees over the past ~2-3 years. Undeniably must be difficult as you grow and have so many stores, etc. But on my last Apple store trip, I had interactions with 2 employees. One incorrectly told me that there was no Smart Battery case in stock for the XR (it was available on the Apple Store app?). And another made a mistake about the length of power cable that shipped with the new MacBook Air. Kinda a bummer.
- saagarjha 8y agoI think there's been a shift in focus in the retail segment to hiring employees who are better at interacting with customers rather than actual "geniuses".
- madeofpalk 8y agoThis has not been a shift, or at least recently. I started working there in 2012 and the focus was always on hiring people that can actually interact with humans, rather than nerds that know everything. Its much easier to teach product knowledge than team interaction skills.
- saagarjha 8y agoYes, this has always been a focus obviously, but now I feel you're getting fewer of the people who can tell you exactly what's wrong with your Mac/iPhone and instead getting people who tell customers that they should close all their iOS apps when they're done with them to "clear the RAM" (this was the Genius helping the person next to me last time I went there). I'm not a retail employee, but from my conversations with them there's less technical training.
- Despegar 8y agoIf Apple wanted to staff their stores with early 2000s Apple Store Geniuses, they'd have like 100 stores worldwide. Apple has way more customers, way more stores, and way more products for that to be realistic.
- sparkpeasy 8y agoJust last week on January 28th Vogue Business ran a huge feature on Angela Ahrendts with an exclusive interview and photo shoot, and now this? Seems like weird timing with how "work in progress" Vogue characterized her work at Apple with the tone of the piece. https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/angela-ahrendts-apple-retail-strategy https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/angela-ahrendts-appl... "After turning round the fortunes of Burberry, Angela Ahrendts is five years into reimagining Apple’s bricks-and-mortar presence. Vogue Business meets the tech behemoth's senior vice president of retail on the steps of its soon-to-be-unveiled Washington, DC, flagship"
- Despegar 8y agoDepends on whether Apple PR organized that profile of her or whether she did herself. If she was planning on leaving she'd want to go out with her accomplishments highlighted.
- mrpippy 8y agoI don't think there's any way a magazine would profile a senior Apple exec without Apple PR being deeply involved.
- shivy 8y agoI'd imagine the interview was organised by Apple PR, but the decision to fire her was being discussed & made shortly after (because Apple PR wouldn't know of or be involved in a decision that big regardless).
- fmajid 8y agoAhrendt's tenure coincided with a sever degradation in the quality of service levels at the Genius Bar, and no amount of bling Hermès Apple Watch straps can make up for that.
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- arthurcolle 8y agoThe Genius Bar is beyond a joke these days. I went in a month ago and they quoted me >$1100 for repairs for a broken K key (the device was under warranty, and I had AppleCare+ - another $500 on top of the device cost) and I threw a fit because I felt it was absolutely ridiculous that a $4650 computer could "reasonably" lose function entirely within a half year due to a faulty butterfly key mechanism (within a YEAR!) and the guy said (no joke, brace yourselves) "I'm now terminating this interaction." He seriously said that after I responded to his initial cost estimate with absolute dejected disgust. Naturally, I felt compelled to respond with "Ok T-9000 kindly relay to SkyNet that I'm interested in communicating further with the grid." They literally prey on people that don't know better and try to extract as much money as possible unless you aggressively respond. If people knew better, they wouldn't be able to get away with this kind of behavior. It's disgusting. Eventually I was able to explain that I will literally never buy another Apple product again unless they completely fix the upper case or whatever the current terminology is for free. I was very vocal and unforgiving about how bad the design of the upper case is. What's hilarious is they actually started a keyboard replacement program for all models BEFORE 2017, even though after 2017 is when they took the butterfly keyboard model a step further. It's insane. Literally gaslighting with regard to what they are trying to "solve." I got lucky - I got the issue fixed for free. It's sad that I have to fight to get decent repair service on a product that cost a small fortune, on top of a $500 repair warranty (that doesn't protect against water damage). Either way I'm probably never buying an Apple product again. They are a shadow of their former self, and while Apple shareholders are probably collectively pissing themselves watching daily gains, they are moving to this cloud services model that I feel will eventually fail to catch on. It's just so expensive when you compare alternatives. Probably will take around a half decade or so, but eventually it will be felt. And if they can't move toward "larger plays" like autonomous vehicles (also certainly oriented as a service based model), the cloud pure play won't exist forever. It's just too expensive for the every day citizen.
- happybuy 8y agoThis is likely a firing as Apple Retail has been practically treading water since Angela came on board. She failed to address the major issues with Apple's retail offering including: - Failure to be a growth engine for the company. Originally Apple stores helped to drive growth of Apple and introduce new customers as the stores were rolled out across the US and then worldwide. Apple retail should have been the spearhead for greater China dominance and a strong foothold in India. Both have not occurred. - Cultural issues. Apple retail has changed from being a pleasant experience where staff were encouraged to help customers with issues (not matter what) to merely parroting a company line about why they cannot do anything with your issue because that's the company policy. Angela also kept trotting out the 'town square' community BS as well which rubs non-US citizens completely the wrong way; a US corporation trying to co-opt foreign public space for their sales offering. - Lack of support integration. Apple has had a number of high profile support issues and failures including battery gate and the MacBook keyboard issues. Instead of becoming a proactive support channel to help customers with these issues, Apple Retail worked as the company's PR firewall... exacerbating a bad situation for customers who experienced these problems. Support times at Apple Stores have increased and the experience has worsened. - No innovation. Apple retail hasn't significantly changed or improved since Angela came on-board. 'Today at Apple' is a re-brand of the many sessions that Apple Stores have always had. The interior design changes and architectural changes are more Jony's doing than Angela's. In 5 years most of the change has been superficial with the core changes that have evolved actually degrading customers experience. Glad to see the exec change. Took 5 years and should have happened earlier, but better late than never.
- rkho 8y agoI'm not sure where your perceptions come from (such as if you've ever worked at an Apple Retail store) so I'm going to give you my perspective and only on a couple of your points because I can't speak to all of them. I worked in Apple Retail under Ron Johnson and John Browett. From what I recall, the original intent of these stores was to have them be "gathering places" for people -- similar to a town square. This concept's as old as the first of the stores. During the ten months John Browett was in charge, the store I worked at saw significant attrition due to cut hours, an increased emphasis on offering more support than we had the resources for, and a very obvious push to attach multiple accessories onto each sale. Those "Today at Apple" rebranding you're talking about? They were essentially gutted to quick, useless Q&A sessions when Browett worked there. I really don't think Angela was a problem. If anything her hire was a breath of fresh air for them.
- macintux 8y agoI saw some speculation a few years ago that Ahrendts might be groomed to take over as CEO someday. I suppose that’s rather less likely now.
- mcast 8y agoI recently visited an Apple Store in University Village (Seattle) and I was impressed with how large the space was. I kept walking around the entire store looking for their laptop displays thinking maybe they had removed it. Alas, I found the MacBooks at the far back corner of the store with no one around it, and they only had one table dedicated to the MacBook with only 1 laptop per model.
- darkpuma 8y agoHeh, I was recently in that same Apple Store for a repair and was left with a contradictory impression of it being empty yet crowded at the same time. It's certainly a big space but, at least when I went, it was pretty crowded anywhere there was seating. It was strange and not particularly pleasant.
- btgeekboy 8y agoAnd there’s huge open spaces too! Why not, I dunno, put out another table of computers? There is exactly one Mac mini on display in that entire store. God help you if some kid’s too busy screwing around on YouTube to let you actually shop.
- sonnyblarney 8y agoI don't see what the issues is, specifically. I've been to the store for service a few times, it was very professional. Everything seems generally well run. What's the fuss? Apple Retail needs to be executed well, and it's a strategic pillar, but really in the end the stores in and of themselves are not going to be the story. I wonder what the real issues are. I wonder how involved she was in pricing/promotional aspects, because her strategic imperative on pricing may be a source of the problem. Apple is getting a little expensive for it's britches and they have a great brand, but this is not Burberry, it's tech, so utility factors in strongly. If she was behind the expensive mac story ... then maybe. But somehow I doubt it. I wonder what the real story is ...
- wtmt 8y agoThis sounds like an abrupt and possibly unexpected departure of Angela Ahrendts (whether voluntary or forced), since Apple is assigning one additional division to Deirdre O’Brien. It’s not that she (Deirdre O’Brien) would be incapable of leading both people and retail, but Apple looks like a company that needs more focused attention on products, services and retail. Could it be that Apple is searching for someone to head retail and that this is just an interim appointment?
- math_random 8y agoThe new iPhones are not that good, too expensive and lot of software issues. Can't really blame retail for that for selling $1000 device.
- zapzupnz 8y agoThey've managed selling $1000 devices that many found of questionable value for a lot longer than Ahrendts' reign, so this argument doesn't quite hold. Meanwhile, the competition manages the exact same feat, so your comment feels like more of a swipe at Apple's products rather than a discussion of the actual intrigue of O'Brien's sudden appointment.
- gregimba 8y agoMy personal experience at an apple store in the pseudo tech hub that is the Domain Austin left a poor taste in my mouth. I went there to pickup a laptop expecting a relatively painless and transparent experience and was left wishing I had gone anywhere else but there. A long hour long wait with no actually apology or contact after the initial checkin left me feeling rather annoyed at the whole apple experience for the first time in my life.
- kalleboo 8y agoI don't even know what's going on with Apple Retail here in Japan. Rather than expanding, they've actually closed Apple Stores in two cities, leaving you with the absolutely terrible Authorized Repair Partners. Getting a MacBook Pro repaired here is a trial in patience, it's a really poor experience - if it wasn't for macOS I would have no reason to buy Apple in 2019.
- KevanM 8y agoMaybe the Apple Store will be redesigned so it's actually responsive and works on mobile.