I think she did a pretty stellar job. Apple Stores are the envy of the world for their design, they make gobs of cash, they are centres of education and delight AND they are the most profitable stores on the planet per square foot. Any of that sound like a "fail" to you?
She didn't scrub Ron and Steve's vision, she built on it and contributed some great, lasting initiatives. She helped Lisa Jackson achieve the clean-energy goals, she incorporated open areas where people could just relax inside and outside the stores, and as she mentioned retention is higher than ever.
People who diss her time at Apple need to point to some similar accomplishments before I'll take them at all seriously. Now that UK guy who was in before her ... THAT was a disaster ...
Shhhh....people don't want to hear good things about her!
Well she's not exactly going to say her changes were for the worst is she...
"I don't read any of it and none of it is based on fact, it's everyone trying to find stories, et cetera" Ahrendts said.
"I don't read any of it" is a pretty damning thing to reveal, and is wrong for someone in her position. Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "lalalala" isn't the way to run a business. Some specific scores may be up, but if overall customer experience is down, that's a failure. I'm sure some of those reports about poor Apple Store experience are a pile of doodoo, but there are plenty that are true.
The report she was talking about came from Bloomberg. You know, the same rag that brought us the sci-fi super spy chip story, then ran and hid under a rock when asked to present their evidence.
If she spent her time reading inaccurate bumpf from the likes of Bloomberg then that’s time wasted. The report being referred to claims that things went downhill when she replaced checkout counters with roaming clerks. The Apple Stores have never had checkout counters. So what’s worse: ignoring information from questionable sources, or acting on it?
There have been numerous complaints of a degradation in service at Apple stores under her watch right here on AI. We didn't need a Bloomberg article to tell us that -- but I'm glad that they confirmed it.
I think Apple is on the right path now that she's gone. But reminders never hurt.
I’m far more concerned about the recent lack of innovative and disruptive technologies coming from Apple then I am about the learning programs and redesign of Apple stores. I want the company to once again be ahead of the curve. Based upon what I’ve read to date, I’m barely excited about this year’s iPhone but much more hopeful about the 2020 version.
People keep saying they got rid of the Genius Bar but what did they really get rid of other than that sign? There are still dedicated areas where you go to have your product service. I recently had my iPhone screen replaced. The process was extremely slick. Someone at the front of the store with an iPad checked me in. I waited for less than 5 minutes when another store employee came to work my issue. I sat down at a table, shoes him my cracked phone and he started the replacement process. An hour later I was back at the store to pick up my phone. The experience couldn’t have been easier and everyone I interacted with was very friendly,
My experience with an without the Genius bar was the COMPLETE opposite: With: make an appointment, talk to a genius almost immediately, and the job was done correctly and quickly and any possible questions or issues were discussed with a knowledgeable technician.
Without: Make an appointment that means nothing. Wait a half hour getting different stories from different employees, then told to leave it and come back in a few hours only to find that it still wasn't done. Then, finally, when it is "done" only to discover that it wasn't completely done...
The switch from service using highly trained technicians to sales using anybody who could sell did a severe disservice to Apple customers.
Thankfully, I think the Apple Stores are headed back to their high quality roots.
People keep saying they got rid of the Genius Bar but what did they really get rid of other than that sign? There are still dedicated areas where you go to have your product service. I recently had my iPhone screen replaced. The process was extremely slick. Someone at the front of the store with an iPad checked me in. I waited for less than 5 minutes when another store employee came to work my issue. I sat down at a table, shoes him my cracked phone and he started the replacement process. An hour later I was back at the store to pick up my phone. The experience couldn’t have been easier and everyone I interacted with was very friendly,
People are just stuck in the past. The Genius Bar concept was great when it was mainly just Macs that went there and Apple was 1/4th the size it is today, but as soon as iPod, iPhone, and iPad became a thing along side the Mac, the Genius Bar concept quickly became a pain in the ass and wasn't very functional for what it needed to do anymore Making Genius Bars larger wasn't a solution either as all it did was buy Apple time as it continued to grow at a rapid pace.
I would disagree with that. As Apple products made their way out to less technical people the need to quality service from high quality people becomes even more important.
I think she did a pretty stellar job. Apple Stores are the envy of the world for their design, they make gobs of cash, they are centres of education and delight AND they are the most profitable stores on the planet per square foot. Any of that sound like a "fail" to you?
She didn't scrub Ron and Steve's vision, she built on it and contributed some great, lasting initiatives. She helped Lisa Jackson achieve the clean-energy goals, she incorporated open areas where people could just relax inside and outside the stores, and as she mentioned retention is higher than ever.
People who diss her time at Apple need to point to some similar accomplishments before I'll take them at all seriously. Now that UK guy who was in before her ... THAT was a disaster ...
Apple stores were always the envy of design and making gobs of cash years before she joined Apple. There were very minor tweaks made under her watch, and were obviously a product of collecting data. No community environment was ever accomplished, the stores are sterile and don’t feel inviting or convey a sense of community in any way. She was basically an image and did nothing noticeable.
She doesn’t read any store critiques because she knows none of it is based on fact. Something seems illogical there, don’t ya think?
Fact, in many ways my store experience today is worse than when I first started shopping there the first year they opened. Building iconic palaces to commerce is a nice mission, but not the only mission.
Say hello to Geo. Bush II, the other mission accomplished guy.
Personally all American executives are overpaid, and the rest of the world follows. I can’t figure out what to do about it, as most of the shareholder votes are tied up in funds who are of course, part of the same corporatist system, deeply in bed with paid for executives and politicians who are all part of the corporatist world. Big Business, Big Union, Big Government.
As for Ahrendts, she basically quit five years to the day from start. I expect that is how long she gave herself before planning to exit on her terms.
I think she did a pretty stellar job. Apple Stores are the envy of the world for their design, they make gobs of cash, they are centres of education and delight AND they are the most profitable stores on the planet per square foot. Any of that sound like a "fail" to you?
She didn't scrub Ron and Steve's vision, she built on it and contributed some great, lasting initiatives. She helped Lisa Jackson achieve the clean-energy goals, she incorporated open areas where people could just relax inside and outside the stores, and as she mentioned retention is higher than ever.
People who diss her time at Apple need to point to some similar accomplishments before I'll take them at all seriously. Now that UK guy who was in before her ... THAT was a disaster ...
You forget that some here constantly diss the entire Apple management team from Tim Cook on down to the local Genius. All because they’re mad that Apple isn’t focusing on desktop Macs.
I think she did a tremendous job in the design of the stores...having said that, paying her $250 million to do so, is obscene!
And congratulations to her, especially in a world climate where women are typically paid significantly less than men for the same or more work. Getting a CEO to walk away from their gig usually requires more than chump change.
It amuses me to see all the complaints with little to no fact offered to support them, and then see the same people turn around demanding that positive commenters support their POV.
She said she didn't listen to 'stories' not 'store critiques'. I'm sure anything that came to her internally got her attention. I do miss a dedicated Genius Bar (an actual bar as in the early days) but I don't miss standing around waiting for a seat to open or sitting at the kiddee table because there were few other seats near the bar. That changed with AA. No more queueing up, listening for my name, or checking the tote board. They can come and find me, while I entertain myself looking at new kit or sitting on a comfy cushion.
In my experience the tone of the mobile Genii was definitely friendlier than across the bar, not that the latter was unfriendly. But on occasion I did get a 'we're superior' attitude, and that was less than pleasant. Out 'on the floor' that didn't happen once.
Another thing AA did that isn't 'seen' is being able to return an Apple product ordered from the online Store to a their retail stores. Twice I've returned a new Apple product bought only for exchange. The first time I had to send it back to Apple, the second time it was 'Bring it in...'. I'm not in the habit of buying with the 'you can always return it' attitude but it's nice to know I don't have to send it back. Luckily there are three Apple Stores near me. I'm in an Apple Store triangle.
Personally all American executives are overpaid, and the rest of the world follows. I can’t figure out what to do about it, as most of the shareholder votes are tied up in funds who are of course, part of the same corporatist system, deeply in bed with paid for executives and politicians who are all part of the corporatist world. Big Business, Big Union, Big Government.
As for Ahrendts, she basically quit five years to the day from start. I expect that is how long she gave herself before planning to exit on her terms.
I’m not sure how “big government” is part of the world you described above. Other than that part, I’m with you all the way. Including where you include unions, as I was victimized by an employer who had my union completely in-pocket. Wherever there is power, corporatists will infiltrate. Without proper regulation, including closing the revolving door between government positions & corporate jobs, this is the inevitable path of [laissez-faire] capitalism.
Can't edit previous post due to crap forum software.
Edit 2.0: Edit was actually successful despite post not showing as updated. Will AI ever replace this terrible forum software? /offtopic
It’s been really buggy for me lately the last couple of days. I’m signed in, I go to comment but my iPhone’s keyboard won’t appear until I close out of the app a few times. Then it’s fine again. Very annoying.
Not to mention the huge amount of bugs that manifest here when using mobile Safari. Text edit bugs, autocorrect failure, bounding box stupidity (if you tap outside the invisible bounding box, the keyboard vanishes, and that invisible bounding box is WAY smaller than the visible UI box).
im (see, autocorrect fail on new line) not sure whether it is the forum software, iOS Safari, or the combination, but it has been pissing me off for years and no one is fixing it. Over on macrumors.com, they have a forum that causes the page to scroll to the bottom if you press the space bar... (has that been fixed in the forum software???)
Well she's not exactly going to say her changes were for the worst is she...
"I don't read any of it and none of it is based on fact, it's everyone trying to find stories, et cetera" Ahrendts said.
"I don't read any of it" is a pretty damning thing to reveal, and is wrong for someone in her position. Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "lalalala" isn't the way to run a business. Some specific scores may be up, but if overall customer experience is down, that's a failure. I'm sure some of those reports about poor Apple Store experience are a pile of doodoo, but there are plenty that are true.
So true!
I find it bothersome that today's leaders so often tend to only hear what they want to hear, see only what they want to see -- and to bend truth and reality to suit their own purposes.
Today’s? When has this ever NOT been the way things are handled by the people in charge? When complaints are lobbied, those who are responsible almost always either ignore it or make a statement defending their preferred view of reality (whether accurate or fantastical).
Well she's not exactly going to say her changes were for the worst is she...
"I don't read any of it and none of it is based on fact, it's everyone trying to find stories, et cetera" Ahrendts said.
"I don't read any of it" is a pretty damning thing to reveal, and is wrong for someone in her position. Sticking your fingers in your ears and saying "lalalala" isn't the way to run a business. Some specific scores may be up, but if overall customer experience is down, that's a failure. I'm sure some of those reports about poor Apple Store experience are a pile of doodoo, but there are plenty that are true.
The report she was talking about came from Bloomberg. You know, the same rag that brought us the sci-fi super spy chip story, then ran and hid under a rock when asked to present their evidence.
If she spent her time reading inaccurate bumpf from the likes of Bloomberg then that’s time wasted. The report being referred to claims that things went downhill when she replaced checkout counters with roaming clerks. The Apple Stores have never had checkout counters. So what’s worse: ignoring information from questionable sources, or acting on it?
There have been numerous complaints of a degradation in service at Apple stores under her watch right here on AI. We didn't need a Bloomberg article to tell us that -- but I'm glad that they confirmed it.
I think Apple is on the right path now that she's gone. But reminders never hurt.
What have Apple changed since she left that you characterize as “on the right path”?
I’m far more concerned about the recent lack of innovative and disruptive technologies coming from Apple then I am about the learning programs and redesign of Apple stores. I want the company to once again be ahead of the curve. Based upon what I’ve read to date, I’m barely excited about this year’s iPhone but much more hopeful about the 2020 version.
By their very nature of dramatic difference, combined with dramatic success, “disruptive” products are not at all common. Expecting a company to keep pumping out “disruptive technologies” is unrealistic and naive.
What Apple ought be doing is solidifying their existing products, not continuing to diversify. Unaddressed software bugs are at an all-time high, and hardware design is trapped in a pathological obsession that is contrary to robust product.
People keep saying they got rid of the Genius Bar but what did they really get rid of other than that sign? There are still dedicated areas where you go to have your product service. I recently had my iPhone screen replaced. The process was extremely slick. Someone at the front of the store with an iPad checked me in. I waited for less than 5 minutes when another store employee came to work my issue. I sat down at a table, shoes him my cracked phone and he started the replacement process. An hour later I was back at the store to pick up my phone. The experience couldn’t have been easier and everyone I interacted with was very friendly,
My experience with an without the Genius bar was the COMPLETE opposite: With: make an appointment, talk to a genius almost immediately, and the job was done correctly and quickly and any possible questions or issues were discussed with a knowledgeable technician.
Without: Make an appointment that means nothing. Wait a half hour getting different stories from different employees, then told to leave it and come back in a few hours only to find that it still wasn't done. Then, finally, when it is "done" only to discover that it wasn't completely done...
The switch from service using highly trained technicians to sales using anybody who could sell did a severe disservice to Apple customers.
Thankfully, I think the Apple Stores are headed back to their high quality roots.
My recent free iPhone 6s battery replacement (five months ago?) was without problem. I did feel confused about where I was supposed to be and what the employee roles were, but there was no problem in my visit. The guy who handled me was straight-forward and wasn’t even “Apple employee creepy” (I find heavily-scripted employees to be heavily creepy).
What actually changed? Did the tech people get moved to/hidden in the back room where the on-sight work is done, leaving the employees in the main room acts as a buffer between customers and tech people?
What has changed that you think Apple are going back to what you consider high-quality roots?
Comments
Shhhh....people don't want to hear good things about her!
I think Apple is on the right path now that she's gone. But reminders never hurt.
With: make an appointment, talk to a genius almost immediately, and the job was done correctly and quickly and any possible questions or issues were discussed with a knowledgeable technician.
Without: Make an appointment that means nothing. Wait a half hour getting different stories from different employees, then told to leave it and come back in a few hours only to find that it still wasn't done. Then, finally, when it is "done" only to discover that it wasn't completely done...
The switch from service using highly trained technicians to sales using anybody who could sell did a severe disservice to Apple customers.
Thankfully, I think the Apple Stores are headed back to their high quality roots.
Fact, in many ways my store experience today is worse than when I first started shopping there the first year they opened. Building iconic palaces to commerce is a nice mission, but not the only mission.
Say hello to Geo. Bush II, the other mission accomplished guy.
You forget that some here constantly diss the entire Apple management team from Tim Cook on down to the local Genius. All because they’re mad that Apple isn’t focusing on desktop Macs.
It amuses me to see all the complaints with little to no fact offered to support them, and then see the same people turn around demanding that positive commenters support their POV.
She said she didn't listen to 'stories' not 'store critiques'. I'm sure anything that came to her internally got her attention. I do miss a dedicated Genius Bar (an actual bar as in the early days) but I don't miss standing around waiting for a seat to open or sitting at the kiddee table because there were few other seats near the bar. That changed with AA. No more queueing up, listening for my name, or checking the tote board. They can come and find me, while I entertain myself looking at new kit or sitting on a comfy cushion.
In my experience the tone of the mobile Genii was definitely friendlier than across the bar, not that the latter was unfriendly. But on occasion I did get a 'we're superior' attitude, and that was less than pleasant. Out 'on the floor' that didn't happen once.
Another thing AA did that isn't 'seen' is being able to return an Apple product ordered from the online Store to a their retail stores. Twice I've returned a new Apple product bought only for exchange. The first time I had to send it back to Apple, the second time it was 'Bring it in...'. I'm not in the habit of buying with the 'you can always return it' attitude but it's nice to know I don't have to send it back. Luckily there are three Apple Stores near me. I'm in an Apple Store triangle.
Not to mention the huge amount of bugs that manifest here when using mobile Safari. Text edit bugs, autocorrect failure, bounding box stupidity (if you tap outside the invisible bounding box, the keyboard vanishes, and that invisible bounding box is WAY smaller than the visible UI box).
im (see, autocorrect fail on new line) not sure whether it is the forum software, iOS Safari, or the combination, but it has been pissing me off for years and no one is fixing it. Over on macrumors.com, they have a forum that causes the page to scroll to the bottom if you press the space bar... (has that been fixed in the forum software???)
What Apple ought be doing is solidifying their existing products, not continuing to diversify. Unaddressed software bugs are at an all-time high, and hardware design is trapped in a pathological obsession that is contrary to robust product.
What actually changed? Did the tech people get moved to/hidden in the back room where the on-sight work is done, leaving the employees in the main room acts as a buffer between customers and tech people?
What has changed that you think Apple are going back to what you consider high-quality roots?