Apple’s “Apple Leadership” has been updated with a new face and bio: Angela Ahrendts, Senior Vice President Retail and Online Stores. One spark of glamour amongst a cadre of hopeless nerds*.
Apple’s biography page for Ahrendts reads:
Angela Ahrendts is Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores, reporting to CEO Tim Cook.
Angela is responsible for the operation and expansion of Apple retail and online stores, which have redefined the shopping experience for hundreds of millions of customers around the world. Apple retail stores set the standard for customer service with innovative features like the Genius Bar, personal setup and one-to-one personal training to help customers get the most out of their Apple products.
Angela holds a Marketing and Merchandising degree from Ball State University in Indiana, where she was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2010. She is also a member of the UK’s Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council and was named honorary dame commander of the British Empire in April 2014.
Apple’s Angela Ahrendts page is here.
MacDailyNews Take: Let the debrowettization begin!
*excluding Jony and Hair Force One, each of whom are moderately less hopeless.
VAVOOM !
Welcome, Angela. Apple Retail needs your expertise and guidance.
Big things are ahead…
she isn’t the Messiah . Those that think she is are in for shock. She is a fashion merchandiser , nothing more. And unless I’m wrong Apple doesn’t have a fashion line.
You’re wrong. You don’t understand Apple or, for that matter, fashion, merchandizing, or Angela Ahrendts. Otherwise, nice post.
“Apple doesn’t have a fashion line” I beg to differ, Apple’s products are as much about fashion as they are about technology, maybe even more so.
I’m not sure you have been reading her accomplishments. Retail is as copy cat an industry that there is, and she has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to favorably distinguish the customer experience in an extremely difficult to duplicate way.
Thankfully there are those above who clearly get it in ways that “rob” doesn’t.
There is a whole lot of faith that Angela can make changes of some sort that will improve Apple Stores and Retail, she may prove to be the best choice ever, but past success is not always an indicator of future success, remember Ron Johnson…
He had the rug pulled out from under him
Bull, he attempted to make JCP the Apple of retail. NOT gonna happen.
I hope that she will do well at Apple. She will certainly be much better than her predecessor. Browett showed that an absence of leadership is often better than poor leadership. Give Angela some time to evaluate Apple Retail – pros/cons, staff concerns and issues, customer concerns and issues, etc. You don’t just start arbitrarily changing things to show that you are in charge – not unless there is an emergency that must be addressed immediately. Angela will learn more about Apple, integrate that information, work with her team to formulate and refine a plan, and then successfully implement it.
Hope she does well also, her Paul Newman eyes are riveting.
Her goal should be to improve and expand on the Apple experience. It will be a good challenge for her and hopefully she will have some good ideas on how to spice up the business.
Coming from a luxury product company she should understand how to make improve on customer service. To be honest I have not been to an Apple Store for a while but what I noticed the most was that the store was packed. While that is good for business it may be off-putting for some and drive away potential customers.
One thing that Ms Ahrendts needs to correct is that many never before Apple customers are sometimes put off by the success of Apple stores. For example, my sister in law goes to Apple stores to buy accessories for Apple products as gifts to others, but “won’t buy an Apple product” for herself because of all the activity that is typically at an Apple store. I even keep telling her about “Facetime” for the grand children but she continues to struggle with “Skype” on her “Dell”. Her eyeballs even bugged out when I SHOWED her FaceTime on my iPhone. In effect, she STILL thinks I’m lying (I don’t know how I could lie), when I use “FaceTime” in her house. She just can’t get how easy FaceTime is. Not to mention, “Time Machine” or “iPhoto” (“how did you get the pictures from your phone to your computer so quickly?”).
All that sounds dumb but that is what Apple and Ms Ahrendts are up against.
6 months