apophis
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Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts to depart in April, hands mantle to Deirdre O'Brien
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.StayPuftZombie said:
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.rogifan_new said:
She turned the best retail experience into the DMV? How so?StayPuftZombie 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.
And what was great about Ron Johnson other than he ran Apple retail when it was a much smaller company?
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/
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Apple getting more aggressive with Apple Music deal-making after Jimmy Iovine's 'retiremen...
Iovine and Dre (especially now his #metoo problems) were worthless as execs and just had offices, staff and expense accounts. Could they even make 'better deals' than Eddie? Ahrendts is also an exec that has shown little for her lengthy time at Apple. The stores aren't any better when she took over. The products on display no longer have apps that work correctly. Used to be they were set up with trial accounts so you see how the apps work. The ugly brown furniture and trees in the stores add little value. -
Apple to cut several business & events positions at retail stores - report
Apple Stores are trending down in user experience. Used to be a destination, but now in my experience the employees aren't as well trained, don't know as much and sometimes rude! On Ahrendt's watch, the stores have declined. Her largest visible initiative, the redesigned store, aren't even appealing. Another decline is the displayed merchandise. Why are the headphones next to the iPhones not even working? they're cool and wireless but aren't operable. The salesperson just shrugged. No good apps are on the Macs anymore, used to be some Adobe and MS apps were installed - not anymore! The screensaver/demo movies on the mac are also confusing. I was wondering what the latest image of the city with emoticons was for, is this an app - gotta ask a salesperson to find out that it was for the new stickers in Messages. The Stores don't seem to be firing on all cylinders anymore - from displays on the wall, demo merchandise to employee training. Plus, there's no more live demos or theaters - all removed for meaningless trees and benches (SF store).
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Apple's Mac sheds marketshare in Q2, sinks to 5th place amid worldwide sales slowdown
Apple isn't helping things by taking so long to release updates to its Mac hardware lines. Mac Pro (a joke by now). MacBook Pro and no recent updates to the Air. At least show you care or change colors of the Airs and sales will increase. The Mac Pro needs to be redesigned again as it's limited upgradability makes it age even quicker than before. Go back to a box with removable drives and graphics cards - it's what pros need and want.
