John Browett's short tenure at Apple was marked by strife

2

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 48
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by drblank View Post


    You bought a Moo Box?  I wouldn't be going around publicly stating that.  Moooooo..


     


    It's kind of like admitting you bought Windows Vista......



     


    That cow box was awesome. Establishing brand identity through things like a spotted box that stood out in a sea of brown boxes was a trick Apple itself copied and mastered in the mid to late 90's.


     


    Back in it's Sioux City Iowa, still family owned days, Gateway 2000 had the second highest reliability in the PC market, so I'm not understanding what you feel any owner should be embarrassed about. Perhaps you thought this was an android-centered article, and required your brand of trolling.

  • Reply 22 of 48
    desuserigndesuserign Posts: 1,316member


    RE Browlett:


    Disappointing that it took Tim 10 months to figure out what what seemed obvious from the start.


    Then there's the front loading of $60M. Who did that negotiation?


    Apple has payed less for whole companies complete with key technologies and personnel!


     


    RE Forstall,


    If you can't have a civil conversation with Jonny Ive, it's a problem.

  • Reply 23 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by juandl View Post



    Surely Ron Johnson will be available in a little while. 


     


    If JCP's board is smart, he won't be. JCP hasn't been doing well lately, but the changes Johnson is making are good for the long term prospects for the company.

  • Reply 24 of 48
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 25 of 48
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    "Didn't take Tim Cook very long to see they were right...and take corrective action."

    I thought it was too long, most of Brits already knew, and i thought he wouldn't last for longer then 3 - 6 months. So 10 months is way too long for some body as bad as him.

    Honestly, how did he get to be CEO for Dixon in the first place?
  • Reply 26 of 48


    I'm glad Browett is gone. When the British Apple users wrote about the stores he previously ran I really wondered what the hell Tim Cook was thinking. Clearly the guy was a bean counter and not about customer service.


     


    My first computer was a Gateway from 2002. I bought it in a Gateway store. The service wasn't that great. I'm still using the speakers from that machine and they sound good. They were made by Cambridge Soundworks. The computer's 1.8 GHz Celeron was still working when the power supply fan died. Nobody made that part anymore so I got my first Mac after that. The fan was a custom size bolted inside a sealed box with no way to get to it without a hacksaw.


     


    The telephone support from Gateway was very good until my warranty was up. Some operators didn't care and helped me anyway. Others were militant and refused to say a thing without a credit card for payment. At least all of their telephone support people were in the USA.

     

  • Reply 27 of 48

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DESuserIGN View Post


    RE Browlett:


    Disappointing that it took Tim 10 months to figure out what what seemed obvious from the start.


    Then there's the front loading of $60M. Who did that negotiation?


    Apple has payed less for whole companies complete with key technologies and personnel!


     


    RE Forstall,


    If you can't have a civil conversation with Jonny Ive, it's a problem.



    Tim Cook maybe the CEO, but everyone can be fooled at interview process and even though references were taken, the people giving the references probably thought that Browlett ability to keep profit margins high with lean employees at Dixon was their expectations. Anyway Tim will learn from this experience and next person will be vetted with microscopic detail.


     


    I agree with your comments, Forstall made a  bad management decision to screw with Sir Jonny, since he is royalty in Apple.

  • Reply 28 of 48


    This bloke has to be the dumbest person on the planet. I have spent my whole life in retail as an employee of a large company and as a retail chain owner and this bloke was/is clueless. All he had to do was monitor the business and steer the ship away from rocks for 5 years and collect $60M.  Apple retail is cog in a bigger machine, not a retail chain for the sake of being a retail chain. It has to represent and reflect the values and ethics of the company. Profit will come if the total package is giving customers what they want , service quality and treated with respect. If a customer has to wait for service the company is telling that customer their time is less important than the companies. Service is everything. I am a little annoyed that someone so dumb has walked away with a reasonable amount of the shareholder money. He must be a good salesman.

  • Reply 29 of 48
    rbrrbr Posts: 631member
    I hope the new head of the iOS team actually uses the product. It has been obvious that iOS has been designed by people who never used it. There are many crude implementations in iOS and things left out that anyone who has ever used OS X would immediately say where is (fill in the blank). iOS needs a fresh start from a clean sheet of paper.
  • Reply 30 of 48
    Great news. Perhaps now Apple can go back to focussing on their exemplary customer service instead of being turned into a PC World/Dixons/Currys shambles. Well done Tim Cook!
  • Reply 31 of 48
    richlrichl Posts: 2,213member
    Jony Ive is going to be a busy man! Glad that Apple acted quickly (for a large corporation) to correct the error.
  • Reply 32 of 48


    Hi,


     


    I wonder if we can blame Browett for the location of Sweden's first Apple Store, that opened last month.


     


    In the past, Apple has chosen prime down-town locations for the first store in a country. The store in Sweden is located a shopping mall 16 km / 10 miles north of down-town Stockholm, a city of about 1.5m people. Big disappointment among Swedish Apple fans when the location was revealed. I live in the city and have not been in that mall for several years, as there are others much closer. Would not be surprised if the store is showing sub-par sales.


     


    I hope Tim Cook fix this mistake too.


     


    Daniel


     


    PS. Forgot to add that the store is on the second level in the mall.

  • Reply 33 of 48


    I hate to say this but I was right. ; ) He was never going to make it at Apple. It was like hiring a flight attendant on a budget airline to pilot the USS Enterprise.

  • Reply 34 of 48


    Oh so predictable, and swift, to the benefit of Apple's retail business and most importantly CUSTOMERS.  Hopefully staff morale will not have been too damaged in the long term.  Us Brits said it wasn't a good idea....


     


    If they want somebody from this side of the Pond who gets customer service, Apple need to look at another British business in which all employees have total customer focus in every store - The John Lewis Partnership - their technology departments sell Macs / iPods as a plus point, but no matter who you speak to (and there's never any problem finding someone, just like an Apple store) you will always get the same level of exemplary service. Which is why, despite the hard economic times, John Lewis has been doing well in a very competitive market.  That ethos comes from the top...

  • Reply 35 of 48
    "Last year, Apple worked with recruiting agency Egon Zehnder International to find a replacement for Johnson, a decision made by Steve Jobs, who was said to be "extensively involved" in the process"

    Not Tim Cook's hire, nor was Forstall. The report clearly points the finger at Steve Jobs influence on this one. Tim Cook is doing a great job getting rid of Browett.

    What you're seeing is a classic case of new CEO in a large company:
    Phase One - bribe all the important people to stay and get them on side to be loyal to you above all;
    Phase Two - get rid of all those who may be a threat/face doesn't fit/argue with you;
    Phase Three - blame any mistakes on your predecessor;
    Phase Four - reorganise;
    Phase Five - retire early and live off your employee millions.

    Unless you formed the company and it's "your baby" you can't get more emotionally involved with it than the above...
  • Reply 36 of 48
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I wish Tim would find a way to rehire Ron.
  • Reply 37 of 48


    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post

    I wish Tim would find a way to rehire Ron.


     


    Well, if JCPenney goes under… 

  • Reply 38 of 48
    jnjnjnjnjnjn Posts: 588member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Felix01 View Post



    Well, the Brit readers warned us about John Browett and why he'd never mesh with the Apple culture.

    Didn't take Tim Cook very long to see they were right...and take corrective action.

    You've got to admire a leader who realizes/admits he was wrong and takes quick remedial action before said employee could do any real lasting damage to the organization and its brand identity.


     


    A shame though that Tim Cook made the wrong choice.


    I guess John Browett's real talent is to present himself favourably.


     


    J.

  • Reply 39 of 48
    jnjnjnjnjnjn Posts: 588member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by souliisoul View Post


    Tim Cook maybe the CEO, but everyone can be fooled at interview process and even though references were taken, the people giving the references probably thought that Browlett ability to keep profit margins high with lean employees at Dixon was their expectations. Anyway Tim will learn from this experience and next person will be vetted with microscopic detail.


     


    I agree with your comments, Forstall made a  bad management decision to screw with Sir Jonny, since he is royalty in Apple.



     


    I couldn't agree more.


     


    J.

  • Reply 40 of 48
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SwissMac2 View Post



    "Last year, Apple worked with recruiting agency Egon Zehnder International to find a replacement for Johnson, a decision made by Steve Jobs, who was said to be "extensively involved" in the process"

    Not Tim Cook's hire, nor was Forstall. The report clearly points the finger at Steve Jobs influence on this one. Tim Cook is doing a great job getting rid of Browett.

    What you're seeing is a classic case of new CEO in a large company:

    Phase One - bribe all the important people to stay and get them on side to be loyal to you above all;

    Phase Two - get rid of all those who may be a threat/face doesn't fit/argue with you;

    Phase Three - blame any mistakes on your predecessor;

    Phase Four - reorganise;

    Phase Five - retire early and live off your employee millions.

    Unless you formed the company and it's "your baby" you can't get more emotionally involved with it than the above...


    Steve Jobs apparently hired the recruiting agency, but he was not alive when Browett was hired.

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