Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts to depart in April, hands mantle to Deirdre O'Brien

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  • Reply 21 of 125
    Rayz2016 said:
    Overpaid but glad she's leaving. She seemed very bright, but the reality is she turned the best retail experience ever into the DMV and basically added nothing but logistical complication. The threat of her possibly becoming CEO has me breathing a sigh of relief as she was not a good fit.

    The new head of people and retail seems like an AWFUL idea as she is basically head of HR, and now magically a master of retail?

    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    She turned the best retail experience into the DMV? How so? 
    Probably by not being a bloke, I suspect.
    Really? The answer to everything is not oppression
    entropysStayPuftZombiekestralelijahgAppleExposed
  • Reply 22 of 125
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    Rayz2016 said:
    Apple today announced that Deirdre O’Brien is taking on new responsibilities for Apple’s retail and online stores in an expanded role as senior vice president of Retail + People

    I'm no expert, but that does not sound like a real job title.

    She's going to run HR (a hundred thousand employees and contractors) and run the Retail Chain?

    Mmmm.


    HR weenie running the shop. It won’t end well. Never does. The organisation is an end in itself. no external focus.  It’s even worse in civil service. The customer/public is a foreigner to these types.

    edit: interestingly, the complete opposite of that dude Cook appointed before Ahrendts, who was a bad fit for opposite reasons. It’s like Cook is busy overreacting to a poor earlier decision.
    edited February 2019
  • Reply 23 of 125
    I had a lot of faith in her hiring being a good thing... that slowly evaporated over the past five years. Angela turned out to be a big meh...
    kiowavtapophisradarthekatkestralStayPuftZombie
  • Reply 24 of 125
    She seems like she did a great job, oversaw the opening of some amazing flagship stores, and transitioned towards the future by making Apple stores a welcoming place for the community to interact and learn about Apple's products and how to use them to be creative.

    I always got the sense that Ahrendts took the job as a sort of coming home back to the US, a stepping stone to retirement. I'm not surprised she's stepping down. Not worried either, looks like Apple stores are on a positive and well-established track.


    fastasleepbaconstangrandominternetpersonpscooter63
  • Reply 25 of 125
    StayPuftZombieStayPuftZombie Posts: 45unconfirmed, member
    carnegie said:
    https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/02/apple-names-deirdre-obrien-senior-vice-president-of-retail-and-people/

    I guess it makes sense that Ms. Ahrendts would leave in April. She has about 105,000 time-based RSUs due to vest on April 1st.

    But she's also giving up a lot of unvested RSUs. She has another 200,000 or so unvested time-based RSUs and perhaps 350,000 unvested performance-based RSUs.

    "personal reasons" often translates to 'fired'.
    If she was fired why is she staying until April and why was she quoted in the press release? She was there for 5 years. She’s probably ready to do something else. Or maybe misses the fashion world and wants to get back into that space. Not everyone leaves a company on bad terms.

    Lot of golden parachute exit agreements and terms could make the firing more "civil" yet they are still forced out. Obviously I'm speculating, and could easily be wrong. That said, the most common cause of "personal reasons" or "spending more time with their family" is 'youre fired'.
    6502radarthekatkestral
  • Reply 26 of 125
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,031member
    crofford said:
    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    Yes - Ron was outstanding. He would’ve saved JCPenney with more time...and a better interim plan. 
    Johnson was saddle with a brain-dead Board. JCP will be the next retailer to file for Chapter 7/11. 
    DAalsethkestral
  • Reply 27 of 125
    Overpaid but glad she's leaving. She seemed very bright, but the reality is she turned the best retail experience ever into the DMV and basically added nothing but logistical complication. The threat of her possibly becoming CEO has me breathing a sigh of relief as she was not a good fit.

    The new head of people and retail seems like an AWFUL idea as she is basically head of HR, and now magically a master of retail?

    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    She turned the best retail experience into the DMV? How so? 

    And what was great about Ron Johnson other than he ran Apple retail when it was a much smaller company?
    Um he CREATED apple retail. When everyone said it would never work. Go google the articles of it's doom. He pulled it out of his mind and made it what it was. The highest $ per square foot retail ever.  So yea, there's that teeny tiny creation thing.

    As for DMV, go to a store today. You're a pinball. She added logistical complication and ruined and poisoned the retail experience. Before, you'd go to the genius bar and deal with your issues.

    Now you show up, you try to find where to check in, there is no genius bar. You ask one employee, they say, um no, im not the check in person, go over there, thats where the check in person is. You go over there and say I'd like to check in. Oh I'm not the check in person, but they are right there. Then you check in and they send you to table X,Y over there. Some people go to the wrong table. The geniuses come looking for where you should be, but the person is in the wrong spot, and now the genius goes to 2 or 3 tables finding the right person. In the mean time, people who have problems are interspersed throughout the store with their poison "my iDevice doesnt work" griping, poisoning the buying experience around others.

    Before, you just went to the bar, you and your problems were isolated and didnt poison others' purchasing experience, and you didnt pinball through the miserable DMV experience. I used to love just stopping by at apple stores when Ron was in charge. I cringe if I have to go there now.  So that's how it's the DMV.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stores-suffer-from-customer-complaints-long-wait-time-2018-3/
    I don’t know what store you go to. That’s never been my experience.
    patchythepirateStrangeDaysbaconstangrandominternetperson
  • Reply 28 of 125
    Apple have had so many executive departures over the past few years, I'd love to know why
  • Reply 29 of 125
    65026502 Posts: 380member
    "...she turned the best retail experience ever into the DMV and basically added nothing but logistical complication."
    Perfect analogy.

    She can now go back to selling $390 hoodies. (https://www.neimanmarcus.com/p/burberry-fordson-zip-front-hoodie-prod206350027?childItemId=NMN56AC_&navpath=cat000000_cat000730_cat000227&page=0&position=3&uuid=PDP_PAGINATION_18e390a48e75133bdeada3fac3fd7270_5cphETxzP+gpUnoIyQ6lzkYv)
  • Reply 30 of 125
    65026502 Posts: 380member
    6502 said:
    Ha ha ha! Like I said in this thread (https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/209292/apples-experiential-retail-success-lies-in-improving-a-customers-life-claims-angela-ah/p4) she was useless and accomplished nothing. But, she raked in $100's of millions and we're left with $1,400 iphones and lousy macs in her wake. Tim Cook does not look good after two major retail hiring fails.

    The head of retail has nothing to do with the price of iPhones or how Macs are designed.
    It does when the money spent on her and her dumb ideas could have been much better spent.
  • Reply 31 of 125
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    She earned hundreds of millions yet was scared to get up and present her business. She was coddled by Tim.  Grossly over compensated 

    Now Tom has hired someone in HR to run Retail

    WTF 
    edited February 2019 1983
  • Reply 32 of 125
    65026502 Posts: 380member
    Putting the head of HR in charge of retail seems like another dumb idea. I've never met a smart HR person (only idiots go into HR as they can't do anything else). They're so dumb they think they're smart by asking interview questions like what animal you would be if you could be any animal. For anything semi-complicated, they always seek outside counsel as they can't make any decisions on their own. Bad move, Tim.
    pembroke
  • Reply 33 of 125
    carnegie said:
    https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/02/apple-names-deirdre-obrien-senior-vice-president-of-retail-and-people/

    I guess it makes sense that Ms. Ahrendts would leave in April. She has about 105,000 time-based RSUs due to vest on April 1st.

    But she's also giving up a lot of unvested RSUs. She has another 200,000 or so unvested time-based RSUs and perhaps 350,000 unvested performance-based RSUs.

    "personal reasons" often translates to 'fired'.
    If she was fired why is she staying until April and why was she quoted in the press release? She was there for 5 years. She’s probably ready to do something else. Or maybe misses the fashion world and wants to get back into that space. Not everyone leaves a company on bad terms.

    Lot of golden parachute exit agreements and terms could make the firing more "civil" yet they are still forced out. Obviously I'm speculating, and could easily be wrong. That said, the most common cause of "personal reasons" or "spending more time with their family" is 'youre fired'.
    Again if she was fired there wouldn’t be a quote from her in the press release. Scott Forstall and John Browett didn’t get warm send offs. Obviously I have no idea if she chose to leave or was fired but not every exec who leaves a company does so because they were fired. 
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 34 of 125
    Overpaid but glad she's leaving. She seemed very bright, but the reality is she turned the best retail experience ever into the DMV and basically added nothing but logistical complication. The threat of her possibly becoming CEO has me breathing a sigh of relief as she was not a good fit.

    The new head of people and retail seems like an AWFUL idea as she is basically head of HR, and now magically a master of retail?

    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    She turned the best retail experience into the DMV? How so? 

    And what was great about Ron Johnson other than he ran Apple retail when it was a much smaller company?
    Um he CREATED apple retail. When everyone said it would never work. Go google the articles of it's doom. He pulled it out of his mind and made it what it was. The highest $ per square foot retail ever.  So yea, there's that teeny tiny creation thing.

    As for DMV, go to a store today. You're a pinball. She added logistical complication and ruined and poisoned the retail experience. Before, you'd go to the genius bar and deal with your issues.

    Now you show up, you try to find where to check in, there is no genius bar. You ask one employee, they say, um no, im not the check in person, go over there, thats where the check in person is. You go over there and say I'd like to check in. Oh I'm not the check in person, but they are right there. Then you check in and they send you to table X,Y over there. Some people go to the wrong table. The geniuses come looking for where you should be, but the person is in the wrong spot, and now the genius goes to 2 or 3 tables finding the right person. In the mean time, people who have problems are interspersed throughout the store with their poison "my iDevice doesnt work" griping, poisoning the buying experience around others.

    Before, you just went to the bar, you and your problems were isolated and didnt poison others' purchasing experience, and you didnt pinball through the miserable DMV experience. I used to love just stopping by at apple stores when Ron was in charge. I cringe if I have to go there now.  So that's how it's the DMV.
    https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stores-suffer-from-customer-complaints-long-wait-time-2018-3/
    I agree with the DMV analogy. Just went in for an order pickup of an iPad and was handed off and asked to move to a different table several  times. The Ahrendt designed stores are ugly and it's difficult to even get a price or basic info on a product. Spent frustrating time in the Salt Lake City store to find price and basic info on a gimble on display. If you display it, you must want to sell it, right? I also thought it was strange that she didn't make public presentations the first couple years she was at Apple. Cook was dying to show that they had some diversity in the C-suite! The last couple times she's come out, her presentation skill were pretty unremarkable as Apple has a legacy of good presenters. I predicted she was going to be outed but Apple would look bad firing a high profile female executive. So, I think they realized it wasn't a good fit and made it convenient to make a change.
    BittySonkestralStayPuftZombiemobirdtobian
  • Reply 35 of 125
    larryjw said:
    crofford said:
    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    Yes - Ron was outstanding. He would’ve saved JCPenney with more time...and a better interim plan. 
    Johnson was saddle with a brain-dead Board. JCP will be the next retailer to file for Chapter 7/11. 
    Johnson was the moron who changed pricing before he changed the stores (and with it the clientele). It was the same people shopping there but now without the coupons/sales and very confusing pricing structure. Anyone with half a brain could’ve seen that was a disaster waiting to happen. 
    radarthekat
  • Reply 36 of 125
    thrangthrang Posts: 1,007member
    Five years is a neat number...perhaps this was the plan all along...

    I think the idea of creating these hybrid retail/public/destination spaces was a good one, but many locations don't have the space or panache to deserve one. I do tend to agree that the merging of sales, support, and training delivery on the floor real estate got messy when things got busy. The successful store are paradoxically a victim of their own success. They tend to be so busy its hard not to feel herded around, but a return to areas/sections in the stores, even if subtle, would help people naturally organize and regulate.
    edited February 2019 pscooter63
  • Reply 37 of 125
    FINALLY!!!
    The 17 THOUSAND Appkewatch DISASTER. 
    FIFTH AVENUE STORE IN NEW YORK LATE AND A DISASTER. PRODUCTS LATE OR NEVER RELEASED AND DRESSED FOR THE KEYNOTE AS IF ANNA WINTOUR WAS GOING TO JUDGE HER OUTFIT. 
    GREAT DECISION TIM. BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. 
    radarthekat
  • Reply 38 of 125
    6502 said:
    6502 said:
    Ha ha ha! Like I said in this thread (https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/209292/apples-experiential-retail-success-lies-in-improving-a-customers-life-claims-angela-ah/p4) she was useless and accomplished nothing. But, she raked in $100's of millions and we're left with $1,400 iphones and lousy macs in her wake. Tim Cook does not look good after two major retail hiring fails.

    The head of retail has nothing to do with the price of iPhones or how Macs are designed.
    It does when the money spent on her and her dumb ideas could have been much better spent.
    What dumb ideas?
  • Reply 39 of 125
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member
    She seems like she did a great job, oversaw the opening of some amazing flagship stores, and transitioned towards the future by making Apple stores a welcoming place for the community to interact and learn about Apple's products and how to use them to be creative.

    I always got the sense that Ahrendts took the job as a sort of coming home back to the US, a stepping stone to retirement. I'm not surprised she's stepping down. Not worried either, looks like Apple stores are on a positive and well-established track.


    Apple Store was a welcoming place for the community to interact and learn about Apple's products and how to use them to be creative long before she came. 
    baconstangradarthekat
  • Reply 40 of 125
    crofford said:
    What would be great is if Deidre is temporary and they convince Ron Johnson to come back. He was great at this role. Apple would be lucky to get him back.
    Yes - Ron was outstanding. He would’ve saved JCPenney with more time...and a better interim plan. 
    Ron was good at carrying out Steve’s instructions. He was massively out of his depth as JCP CEO.
    radarthekat
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