get serious

Pretty safe way to get your name in the news. Kudos to his publicist.

Beats said:

It’s insane how much work Apple has to do to invent the first iPhone. Swiping, scrolling and pinch-to-zoom were insanely great innovations.

Only for Android to come along and copy all the hard work. Imagine how that felt?

Imagine how the inventor of the wheel has to feel.

Apple retail employees, including Part time, employees do get benefits. Pretty nice ones. Sick play, vacation pay, stock purchase plan, 401k, products discounts personal and family/friends. Also healthcare  and life insurance. Tuition  subsidies. And more. Pretty darn good for retail and best I’ve ever had in 30 years of working in the world. 
As for opportunities - they are there, but I think many employees over estimate how many opening there are. Many new employees have dreams of working in Cupertino.  With  100 to 300 employees per store and 500 stores there are more retail employees than in all of Cupertino. The road to corporate is riddled with unqualified people that full of themselves. 

Let's see. Invest in training for workers to develop cutting edge production and supply chain technologies. Invest in transitioning suppliers to renewable and cleaner energy sources. Sounds like something the U.S. should be interested in but Apple's not in the Military/Oil/Coal/Pharma industries so U.S. Gov doesn't care.

Apple retail is not easy by any stretch. The product knowledge piece alone has ballooned in the past 15 years from 8 product and service lines to over 20 lines with another 20 sub categories. Then you need to know  a myriad of carrier plans, financing plans and trade options. That's the sales side. Technicians just had iPods and Macs not that long ago. In fact "relationship" repair was the primary task of the 'Genius' bar back when. 
I've been a part of every roll in the store in my tenure, save for management - been there done that, not worth it to me. That said I've seen Apple Retail grow from 100 stores to over 500 stores world wide. Head counts in stores  have quintupled. Training has varied from 3 days and you're on the floor, to two weeks and weeks of mentoring. Apple Store customer experience used to compete with Computer City, Best Buy and carrier stores, they still do. But now they compete with the expectations Apple created from past visits. A tough and ever higher bar customers reset every day.
I could go on but few are still reading this... Apple is a great way station for those young people to learn business and customer skills. As a lifetime career choice, not so much. Sure there are paths to other parts of Apple, but few realize there are more Apple retail employees than all of the rest of Apple. The stock options and benefits are wonderful. But after 5 years of the Genius Bar there are many companies that will take on that experience for more pay and less pressure. Just remember this as much as you think you won't miss the customers - you will. They are the greatest (except for those that aren't)