back to article Apple axed Brit retail boss for doing his job well - TOO well, perhaps

John Browett must be pinching himself after his stint as Apple's retail veep came to an abrupt and unceremonious end this week, despite stellar numbers from his division of the firm. Just seven months into the prestigious role, the Brit was shown the door for an unspecified reason at the same time as Scott Forstall, senior …

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      1. Toastan Buttar
        FAIL

        Re: Disgusting...

        Mainland USA has four time zones (PST, MST, CST & EST). If you want to be completely inclusive, then you must also consider Alaska and Hawaii (AKST & HST). No-one in their right minds would ever consider the USA to have only three time zones.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disgusting...

      Yeah right and you know what they ordered the storm as well.

  1. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    Apple's business is entirely about selling hardware.

    Everything else is marketing. And I really do mean everything here: from OS X to their Apple Stores. Why do Apple make OS X and suites like iLife? Because it's very hard to demo a Mac without them.

    One of the main problems with the likes of PCWorld and Comet is that they're only interested in telling you about the bullet-points on the packaging. They'll tell you what the computer is, what's inside it, and any amount of other irrelevant rubbish no customer who isn't interested in IT actually gives a toss about – and they'll even get that much wrong – but heaven forfend that they show a customer what the magic box can do.

    That's where Apple's stores get it right, and it's why Apple created software that shows their machines off to such great effect. They don't need to hire "salespeople", because their machines practically sell themselves. So they can focus on hiring experts instead. People who really do know what each one of those devices actually does and – crucially – how it can help a (potential) customer do what they want.

    Apple are only interested in selling their shiny hardware. Everything else, from the various iStores and 'ecosystem', their retail stores, even OS X, iOS and the other software they produce, is just marketing.

    It's a laser-like focus that no other business seems to have grasped. Certainly damned few "analysts" and pundits have managed it. Including the one who wrote the article.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Basically people would buy the products anyway - if anything cutting / annoying staff will just reduce sales. But he thought well we have this level of sales - let's CUT COSTS to make more profit when in reality the better action would probably be have more staff and more stores. Apple wins on service which frankly is 10x better than Samsung / others (basically they don't provide any) - so they should focus on that.

  3. Jonathan White

    The attitude to both retail staff and retail customers implied by this article is why people are discarding 'the channel' in droves for direct sales over the internet and why most of the big retail electrical chains are falling on their arses faster that a dog on an ice rink.

    Here's a clue : I can go into a shop, or I can sit at home and buy the same product on the internet. For me to want to make the effort to leave my home, drive to wherever your out of town barn of a shop is and buy the thing at probably a higher price, your shop and your staff have to add to my perceived value somehow.

    Expensive cables is not that. Expensive extended warranties with 15 pages of get out clauses is not that. Part time staff who are utterly demotivated and don't know any of the details of the products IS NOT THAT.

    This it what characters like Browett and the business tactics lauded in this article get you. It may make for a nice short term profit bump but you know what it gets you in the end? Administration, that's what it gets you. Ask Comet.

  4. Ascylto

    I wonder if he misunderstood Apple stores.

    "They (in my experience) offer minimal customer service apart from selling goods, and, particularly in the case of Dixons, are only interested in what else they can sell you (extended warranties etc).

    As such, they have a minimal staff, and often those staff who are there are only really interested in selling more stuff.

    When people go into these stores, they know this. They expect it."

    No they don't. They go into Dixons/PCworld because they want a fix for their (usually Windows) computer which they do't understand and are so non tech-savvy that they 1) believe the ads and, 2) believe Dixons/PCWorld will solve their problems. They also have enough 'pride' that they know what's needed that they'll pay dearly for the cable which they could have bought elsewhere at half the price. I feel sorry for the Dixons/PCWorld staff who are demoralised and working for a company which has no interest in them at all, let alone the customers.

    Why is Microsoft copying Apple's retail ideas? BECAUSE THE RETAIL SYSTEM WORKS! And THAT's what Browett didn't understand and will never understand. Still. he made a lot of money from Apple's error of judgement (Can't call it a 'mistake' can we?).

  5. Jay Zelos

    The Apple staff in stores are exactly the same folk you find in any other decent high end retailer. I know of a trainee doctor working in one who has no IT knowledge at all. The only difference is in staff numbers and thats not changed noticably in my local store.

    This sounds more like a knee jerk reaction to complaints from staff, proabably to avoid any bad press. In the long run Apple should be wary of giving in to staff too much, they are a company not a charity and need to keep an eye on the bottom line.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      yes, but

      That trainee doctor is expected to have used the product and know how it operates.

      What he won't do is parrot off the card and look at you like you grew a second head if you ask an actual technical question.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You actually been in an Apple store recently - I have and they are almost always super-busy. It's starting to take longer to get an appointment and they now encourage you to scan and pay for your own (smaller) stuff off the shelves. If anything they need more staff as I see people looking around for 'help' = lost sales. Cutting staff and demoralising staff would seem suicide for Apple's retail division.

  6. Magnus_Pym

    Increase profits?

    Anyone can increase profits in the short term buy selling off intangibles like customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, stuff that took years to gain. It's like a kind of invisible asset stripping and you can't buy them back after they have gone. It might take a while but but it's a sure way of cutting you throat in some sectors. Look at British Leyland etc. It took years but eventually the Rover brand went from premium/loyal to unsaleable/derided.

  7. Anons anon
    FAIL

    A sad case...

    While your obvious Apple-Hating slant is occasionally amusing, this time your correspondent has gone right through "puerile" and smashed right into a wall full of idiocy...

    "They will always try to sell you Apple"... Well, the audacity! What exactly did your apparently cerebrally challenged correspondent suggest they tell a customer? "A laptop sir? Sure! May I suggest the $499 Sony model that Best Buy down the street has for sale? Would you like me to print out some Mapquest directions, sir?"

    In my experience, this kind of baseless and puerile Apple hatred exhibited by Mr. Paul Kunert has one of two reasons... Either envy, since the person secretly lusts for Apples delightful hardware, but its priced out of his financial reach, or a poor self image and low self esteem.

    In the latter case the person reacts by striking out in spite and malice at people who project a more successful and happier life. He hates all things Apple, since that is one of the brands most often associated with upward mobile and affluent people.

    I think Mr. Kunert would owe it to his readers, to tell us which one of the two groups he belongs to? Perhaps Register readers can be of assistance by either passing the hat around, or recommending an effective anti depressant.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A sad case...

      In other news no one cares and the world keeps turning.

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