“Amid all the other news from Apple’s earnings call on Wednesday — the 7-for-1 stock split, the iPhone sales that helped earnings blow past expectations, the dividend increase — CEO Tim Cook revealed that Angela Ahrendts is finally on her way to Cupertino,” Jena McGregor reports for The Washington Post. “In October, Ahrendts, the CEO of Burberry, was named the senior vice president of Apple’s retail and online stores. She was required to fulfill a six-month notice period, but rumors had suggested she might not start until June in order to collect a performance bonus from Burberry.”
“Ahrendts’ arrival at Apple is notable for several reasons. For one, not many CEOs of powerhouse global brands go on to become SVPs to other CEOs. They’re typically unwilling to give up the power and authority of holding the top job, particularly when they’ve been as successful as Ahrendts has,” McGregor reports. “The move is also notable because Ahrendts will finally add a much-needed female face to Apple’s all-male executive suite, a distinction that has brought the company criticism. For now, at least, it appears Ahrendts will be the lone woman reporting to Cook. And Apple has just one woman on its board of directors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Let the debrowettization begin! Go, Angela, go!
Related articles:
Apple’s plan to triple store count makes it its own worst enemy, retail advisor says – April 24, 2014
Apple’s retail market share grows as RadioShack and Best Buy shrink – March 7, 2014
Angela Ahrendts could spark another Apple retail revolution – January 8, 2014
Apple’s incoming retail boss Angela Ahrendts: ‘I firmly believe in following your intuition’ – November 26, 2013
Fortune’s #4 Businessperson of the Year: Apple’s incoming retail chief Angela Ahrendts – November 21, 2013
Burberry’s Angela Ahrendts makes a smart move to Apple – November 8, 2013
Salesforce CEO Benioff: Angela Ahrendts the next Apple CEO – October 29, 2013
Angela Ahrendts: High-class CEO – not for the reasons you’d think – October 17, 2013
Apple’s newest exec Ahrendts should shake things up, fit like a glove – October 17, 2013
Apple Retail: Meet the new boss, better than the old boss – October 17, 2013
Apple’s new retail chief Ahrendts has long championed the integration of technology and fashion – October 15, 2013
Tim Cook’s email to employees announcing hiring of Angela Ahrendts as retail chief – October 15, 2013
Apple hires Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts as retail chief – October 15, 2013
Burberry CEO discusses iPhone 5s collaboration with Apple – September 17, 2013
Apple grants Burberry early access to iPhone 5s for fashion show photography – September 12, 2013
Apple’s long hunt for retail store chief continues – January 7, 2013
Apple Retail Stores in dire need of competent leadership – November 7, 2012
What’s – and who’s – next for Apple Retail Stores – October 31, 2012
Tim Cook takes full control of Apple: John Browett and Scott Forstall out; Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi get expanded responsibilities – October 29, 2012
Report traces Apple Store ‘mistake’ all the way to Tim Cook; shift in emphasis from service to profits comes from Cook, say insiders – August 29, 2012
Reports persist of Apple Retail Store budget cuts, emphasis on revenue over customer satisfaction – August 28, 2012
After being Browettized, Apple Retail touts numbers – August 20, 2012
Apple newbie John Browett brings Dixons to Apple Retail Stores – August 17, 2012
Dear Tim Cook: Apple’s retail focus should be on delighting customers, not generating cash – August 16, 2012
Apple Retail Store chief Browett: ‘We messed up’ with Dixons-eque staffing gamble; refutes layoffs – August 16, 2012
Apple retail chief Browett to get $56 million golden hello – May 27, 2012
Apple grants 100,000 shares to new retail head John Browett – April 25, 2012
Tim Cook emails UK customer: John Browett’s role isn’t to bring Dixons to Apple Retail – February 1, 2012
Eyebrows raised over Apple’s hiring of Dixons CEO to run Apple Retail Stores – January 31, 2012
Apple hires Dixons CEO John Browett as new retail chief – January 31, 2012
Burberry to outfit retail staff with Apple iPads in China stores – April 13, 2011
MDN, could we get a picture of Angela sitting on Marissa’s red ball please?
Thanks for that. It got a lot of laughter here at Blood Manor.
I know your comment was intended to be humorous, but enough of this silliness. Ms. Ahrendts didn’t join Apple’s management team to be their pinup.
Arnold, we celebrate when brains and beauty come together. That’s what I remember about Charlotte.
No, she didn’t – but that fact that she’s attractive will be helpful in a customer-facing role such as the one she’s assuming. No one wants an executive who’s so blindingly stunning that no man can even think around her, nor does anyone want one whose looks are repulsive. Ms. Ahrendts, from the pictures I’ve seen, manages her looks in a way that is appropriate, and which makes the average person more likely to listen to what she has to say.
That Dixon fool Browett has been a failure, this is a step in the right direction for apple and its stores 👌👌👍👍
What CEO would take on the role of SVP at another company? One that might have a reasonable expectation (or even tacit promise) of being the next CEO.
Or just one that thinks Apple is an amazing company and who wants a new challenge.
Or one who knows that their salary will double and their stock options will triple.
I think she’d make a great Apple CEO. I think Apple hired her with a CEO succession plan in mind. She needs to spend some time learning the Apple ropes but she seems to have the right traits already.
No, no, no. Happy to see the stores continue to shine, but that’s where the ladder ends. Remember what Our Steve said:Because what’s the point of focusing on making the product even better when the only company you can take business from is yourself? So a different group of people start to move up. And who usually ends up running the show? The sales guy. John Akers at IBM is the consummate example. Then one day, the monopoly expires for whatever reason. But by then the best product people have left, or they’re no longer listened to. And so the company goes through this tumultuous time, and it either survives or it doesn’t. Look at Microsoft, who’s running Microsoft? (interviewer: Steve Ballmer.) Right, the sales guy. Case closed. And that’s what happened at Apple, as well.
http://stevejobsdailyquote.com/2013/05/04/monopolies/
Nonsense.
Hmmm. CEO of a $6.42 billion company, or Senior VP of a $508 billion company.
There is a major difference between being the biggest fish in a tiny pond, and one of the 8 biggest fish in a rather large lake.
Again, Angela, welcome aboard.
We’re so happy to have you onboard. Looking forward to the leadership and expertise you’ll be providing.
Agreed, welcome aboard! Glad to have ya (ignore my previous tongue in cheek comment.) 🙂
What he said.
Apple is treating itself more like a luxury goods company and knows that in order to enter the markets it’s eyeing it will need a retail chief to match.
Well Angela, it is about freakin’ time you got here. Everyone expects big things from you, so don’t let us down. Also, don’t f__k things up, but keep making the buying experience better.
I’m still not sold on her. Fashion is not Apple. Its a whole other ball of wax. I could be wrong , but I don’t see this being a good fit. .Apple doesn’t need to be turned around which is what she did at Burberry . Apple needs better salespeople and NEW product. They need to start releasing things in the summer like Jobs always did. The reason Apple only has 30% sales in the US is that people are waiting for those new products
In the summer? Out of seven generations of iPhone models so far, three were released in the fall. None of the iPod models came out in the summer (February, March, but mostly September). iMacs came at various times (MacWorld in January, also February, late August), MBs and MBPs also all over the calendar. None of the iPad models were launched in the summer (February, April, October, November…).
If we go back in history to the time of the MacWorld shows, then vast majority of Apple products were released in January.
I’m not sure what is the special value of releasing products in the summer, when large percentage of population takes vacations and doesn’t pay much attention to media.
Let us see what Ahrendts does. Her track record is a perfect match. Apple is deeply aspirational brand, much like Burberry is now. She knows the importance of protecting the value of the brand and the ways of doing it. She should be a great fit, and if Jobs were alive, I’m sure he would have loved her.
Seeing is believing. I thought Ron Johnson was going to do amazing things for Penney’s.
Ron Johnson might have turned Penney’s around, given enough time. The board was interested in a quick fix that maintained the status quo. Not possible.
I am so happy she’s joining Apple. She is an excellent and creative manager. When Jobs opened the stores they were cool and had great staff. That is no longer true. They have too many employees and most if them are close to worthless. Now that will change.
Naturally the preponderance of Apple retail stores are in the US, but only 30% of Apple’s business presently comes from the US. The worldwide opportunity for Apple’s growth “runway” is staggering. For example, there are more iPhones in China now than in the US, yet Apple has only 13 stores in greater China. Burberry has around 70 stores there, so I am certain Angela can be very instrumental in rapid expansion as China Mobile rolls out its 4G network to more and more cities all around greater China. Welcome Angela, and best wishes on growing Apple to be the first $1 trillion company.
It can’t have escaped Tim Cook’s attention that Angela knows the Chinese market very well and treats it seriously. Some people imagine China to be a poor country, but there are very large numbers of affluent Chinese who are keen to spend money on aspirational brands. Angela knows how to reach out to those customers.
When you add in the fact that she did a brilliant job of integrating technology into Burberry’s retail operation, I think we can look forward to some truly innovative changes to the Apple retail experience combined with a substantial improvement to Apple’s bottom line.