Apple Names Deirdre O’Brien Senior Vice President of Retail and People
This is likely a firing as Apple Retail has been practically treading water since Angela came on board. She failed to address the major issues with Apple&#x27;s retail offering including:<p>- Failure to be a growth engine for the company. Originally Apple stores helped to drive growth of Apple and introduce new customers as the stores were rolled out across the US and then worldwide. Apple retail should have been the spearhead for greater China dominance and a strong foothold in India. Both have not occurred.<p>- Cultural issues. Apple retail has changed from being a pleasant experience where staff were encouraged to help customers with issues (not matter what) to merely parroting a company line about why they cannot do anything with your issue because that&#x27;s the company policy. Angela also kept trotting out the &#x27;town square&#x27; community BS as well which rubs non-US citizens completely the wrong way; a US corporation trying to co-opt foreign public space for their sales offering.<p>- Lack of support integration. Apple has had a number of high profile support issues and failures including battery gate and the MacBook keyboard issues. Instead of becoming a proactive support channel to help customers with these issues, Apple Retail worked as the company&#x27;s PR firewall... exacerbating a bad situation for customers who experienced these problems. Support times at Apple Stores have increased and the experience has worsened.<p>- No innovation. Apple retail hasn&#x27;t significantly changed or improved since Angela came on-board. &#x27;Today at Apple&#x27; is a re-brand of the many sessions that Apple Stores have always had. The interior design changes and architectural changes are more Jony&#x27;s doing than Angela&#x27;s. In 5 years most of the change has been superficial with the core changes that have evolved actually degrading customers experience.<p>Glad to see the exec change. Took 5 years and should have happened earlier, but better late than never.