Here's a completely off the wall idea:

 

Why not make the Apple Store a place that people can hang out in, kick the tires, explore the wonderful Apple technology all around them, chat with some knowledgeable people in Apple uniforms who are there to make people comfortable that Apple will always respond to their needs. Perhaps these employees can point interested visitors at some relevant demonstrations that are scheduled to take place soon. Heck, call me crazy, but if these employees are enthusiastic and passionate about Apple's products, it might increase sales.

 

We were at that point a few years ago. The stores were not there to turn a profit, they were originally put in place to generate enthusiasm and counter the FUD put out about Apples' products by the competitors. The side effect was that the stores were amazingly successful at selling product and (once critical mass was reached) generating profit too.

 

What happened? When did profit for its own sake become the priority? Pay the staff. Generate enthusiasm. Service the customers and make them *very* happy. If you don't, first you'll become like Dixons, then like Radio Shack... poor undefined commodity sellers that become marginalized into oblivion.

 

I've not problem with progress - but this isn't it.

 

 

ps AI... why does right-click not give me the expected menu in Safari? I'd like to be able to correct my spelling etc.

This guy should be FIRED!!!!

 

We don't need a Romney or Bush ideologue pushing the "profits uber ales" mentality. You make more longterm profits by improving service, not cutting it.

It could be they hired this guy to let him do something stupid, which was only a matter of time.  Now they can publicly fire his sorry rear end.  That kills three birds with one stone. First, it gets rid of a competitor.  Second, it makes a statement about Apple's true DNA being customer service. Three, it shows Tim has the "scourging" skills that Steve was known for.

Oh, Apple, you've effed up.  This clown needs to go.

 

Other retailers are trying to copy Apple, meanwhile Apple hires an outsider who wants to turn Apple into the retailers they're crushing?  Yikes.

I hope none of the employees lost their job over this if this is true. I hate it when people in charge make obvious mistakes, after being told what they want to do is the wrong direction for the business, just to do it anyway, and the only ones hurt are those at the bottom just starting out.

 

Makes me sick. Maybe his multi-million dollar contract can be voided. That would surely pay for an entire store's staffing for the year.

 

Maybe he's still within his probationary period and he just fired himself. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

Being from the UK.this makes me so mad !!! I avoid places like Currys/PC World like the plague because there is NO CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE !
I would rather travel 30 miles to my nearest Apple Store.
I hope somebody at Apple wakes up quickly !

Compromising the customer experience is the first step down the road to becoming the next Hewlett Packard.  I usually don't resort to the "but Steve would never approve of this" argument, but in this case I'll make an exception.  The Apple retail stores are designed to be an experience, and are a walk-in advertisement as much as retail space. I really don't see what turning them into mall-based mini-best buys is going to accomplish. 

It gives me no pleasure to be proved right but I thought this guy was an idiot when they said (when they hired him) that he was CEO at Dixons. 

 

Dixons, for those of you not from the UK, is a national electronics chain where spotty teenagers in badly fitting suits try to sell shitty PCs to unsuspecting  shoppers who think the CD tray is a coffee holder.  How it stays in business and how he ever ended up at Apple is a mystery of epic proportions.
 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8655396/01%20Hardworkin'%20John.m4a

this goes against the very essence of who steve jobs was and what he stood for.

 

send this guy packing asap—no matter what the cost!

 

if cook allows this clown to continue, it will mark the beginning of the end of apple as the company we have grown to love and respect.

Just did it, seriously, a simple email "Fire Browett".

 

I suspect that decision was made before the public mea culpa -- they will:

• allow Browett to "resign to pursue other interests"
• announce that, by "mutual agreement" he is leaving [unspoken that he was not a good fit for Apple]

 

Nuffink wrong with this... is there???

I am crying over the hire of Browett. Ths move send all the wrong signals.

Seriously, this is exactly the same approach they had at a previous company I worked for ... a company which is now history !

I'm generally not one to sound the alarm on specific items like this, but this really concerns me.

Apple Stores are one of the gems of the Apple ecosystem, and to have a cut-rate clown like this starting to cheap out is really concerning.

I need to correct my mistake.  This is actually his SECOND strike.  The first was the terrible Apple Genius commercial that aired during the Olympics.  I'm sure he had some input since he IS in charge of retail.

 

Apple, cut your losses.  It's time for this guy to go.  No need to wait for the third strike.

I wouldn't suggest Papermaster as an example of Browett's problem. Papermaster didn't work out because he did not have the aggressive personality to argue for positions with other higher management -- he was seen as not a good fit for that reason. Browett seems to be a problem for a whole different reason. 

 

If the story here is true, then Cook should can the guy before the stock market opens tomorrow.

stop it - your making me home sick!

ya think Currys customer experience is worse than Dixons - both are sooooooo far different (in a worse kind of way) to an Apple store experience - 

however - i have never seen so many forum members unite - 

Maybe it depends on the store, but my local Apple store is always packed with employees and getting their attention is never a problem. They could easily cut back 20-25% without hurting service.

I agree that it's a mistake to cut if it hampers customer service, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't possibly cut.

 

 

Well... Good, we know nothing about -- but bad, we understand!

A bit worrying that TC hired this idiot, given his demonstrably lobotomised state. He's clearly not of the Apple mindset, seeming to be more a "pile it high, sell it cheap" kind of guy.

 

Anybody fancy starting a "Fire Browett now!" petition at change.org? I daresay it might garner a few signatures — like every Apple Store employee worldwide, for a start! ;)

Curry's is surely worse than Dixons but lIke you say - differently. PC world is totally horrible, too. I can just see future apple stores using generic floor tiles and standard issue tables. Oh, and all that glass is excessive. Besides, if we hit lower cost locations we can get more stores.

 

I doubt it was that simplistic, but this screw-up is all on him. So far, I'm thinking they should hire back Ron Johnson after he's kicked out of JCPenny's... who are not doing well at all.

This guy is a moron. The last thing a company should do is reduce staff..it's the refuge of incompetent leaders and poor managers.

WTF?

 

This guy seems too "beige" for a company like Apple, perhaps Samsung could headhunt him to take over their new "We don't copy Apple at all" stores.

 

Part of the appeal of paying an "apple tax" whether existent or not, is that they have enough money to pay for a higher level of support than their competitors, that when you walk into a store you don't have to wait for an overworked employee, pressed for time who cannot give you the attention you require.

 

Thinking outside the square, with this approach is what made Apple stores one of the highest profit per foot retailers on earth.

There are better methods of execution than this for a successful retail business. He should have kept an eye on hiring and controlled it there rather than simply try to prop up his numbers cutting recent hires which Apple would have paid to train along with the obvious morale hit. If they hired too many people in the first place, that is a gaffe in itself, assuming the information was accurate. These were not noted as seasonal employees.  I doubt there's any way this can portrayed as solid performance from this guy.

Why in the world did Tim Cook (and the board?) hire this guy? Apple has a world class executive team. Browett doesn't fit that description at all.

 

There, fixed that for you.

 

More like f**king Thatcher!

Do all you fanboys really think Tim Cook didn't know he was going to do this?

Save a dime, lose a dollar. Asshole.

It was frustrating enough just to buy something before, and to reduce staff even further should have been clearly the wrong thing to do.

Actually, Huffington Post is <-------- that way.

First time I'm actually going to take the time to e-mail an Apple Exec. I won't go so far as to say that he should be fired immediately, but I will be certain to make it known that customer service in the retail stores is of the utmost importance to me. It's one of the biggest factors in influencing people I know to switch from Windows to Mac. It's one of the biggest reasons I've been able to convince people to choose an iPhone over an Android phone. And once these people make those choices and head into the stores if they need help or have a device problem, they're blown away by how much easier the process is than any other experience they've had. It may not be perfect all the time, especially at the busier stores, but it's still night and day better than the service you get from nearly any other major player in electronics these days.

 

And that is what Tim Cook needs to hear right now. We don't have all the facts. We have rumors and unsubstantiated reports and an ambiguous statement from Apple that seemingly denies certain accusations. So what's the truth? Only Apple execs really know, and it doesn't matter to us anyways. What matters is that we make it perfectly clear that any moves not aimed at improving customer service is the absolute wrong move.

 

And to play devil's advocate for a moment, the part of me does wonder why layoffs might be taking place for reasons other than pure profit stem from some recent lackluster experiences. While I've had no problem coming across Apple team members, I have oftentimes struggled to get actual "help." It seems that in some cases, and granted, this is mostly in the busier stores I've been to, they're in such need of people that the standards have slipped immensely. I've left the store a couple times wondering the point of hiring so many people to wear shirts if they're less than able to really be of benefit to the company. So if these layoffs and changes are taking place to change the game and focus on full time people that are perhaps more committed and potentially able to help (not that part timers aren't committed or can't help, I'm just saying that consistency and experience can be a good thing), then perhaps it's a good move. I'm just speculating though.

 

Also, considering how much growth we've seen in Apple retail and how many hirings keep taking place, you have to imagine that some of these people simply get fired because they simply aren't cut out for the job or have failed to be reliable. Then, a story pops up about retail issues that may or may not be true and may have nothing to do with layoffs, and suddenly those employees that have recently been fired chime in to suggest they're living proof that this is a widespread problem when it could be completely reasonable that they were fired for good reason.

 

Who knows.

 

I'm just saying, if you're going to e-mail Tim Cook, focus on what we value, not rumors.

 

Maybe and that's scary...

My apologizes for my "borderline postal" outburst earlier. This is the very first action I've seen since Jobs took the helm in 1997 that Apple could be resorting back to its old ways. That bothers me on many levels. While I think Apple is so strong that it would be a long time before the affects would make me look elsewhere for my favorite products it's still the ding and an unexpected one, at least for me, because it's an area that Apple should not be trying to be cheap. I know people have said the iPod was the halo device that encouraged increased Mac sales but I've always felt it was the Apple Stores. The ability to test out a Mac; the ability to ask a retail employee how something works or if a favorite app can be used on Mac OS X. If they think that a $10/hr employee isn't worth it to save a buck, will they then also consider taking away the open WiFi or using rundown display Macs because they feel the retail experience just doesn't matter that much?

Guys, here's what we should do...

 

Everyone please send an email to tcook@apple.com and request that this moron be fired immediately. I hate to go there, but if Jobs was still in charge, this man would be on the unemployment line today.

This was a bad fit right from the start.  The Apple Store is a special place and its staffers are the cream of the retail crop.

 

This was a bad move and I hope his contract is bought out and that he is on his way back to England on the next flight.

I emailed Tim Cook back in January to express my concern at the hiring of John Browett. Incase anyone is interested, here is the reply I received:

If this article is accurate then it looks like he was trying to bring Dixons to Apple.

What I have found is that a well reasoned letter to Apple investor relations, will be read by everyone who matters. In other words, every time I have written such a letter, Apple has ended up doing something significant with respect to the issue. I don't kid myself my voice has had a significant influence, it's probably the case that many others have also joined their voices in.

This particular episode with apple's new head of retail, while worrisome, does not have enough actual information associated with it to spark this level of intervention – yet.