By now you must have read about the snafu at Apple’s retail operation where the retail chief John Browett started trimming the staff right ahead of the most important sales period of the year. Long time GigaOM reader Ronald had this to say about Browett, at the time of his appointment as the head of Apple retail operations.
“He seems to bleed numbers, numbers drive numbers. Ron seems too sweat experience, get the experience right and the numbers follow. Give it 2-3 years to see if JCP is a very different chain and where Apple in store experience is.”
Very astute and prescient observation. Jim Dalrymple, yesterday had a good piece on the mess at Apple’s retail operation. “It seems to me that Browett is trying to make Apple retail just like every other retail store on the planet,” he wrote. For whatever it is worth, Apple needs to lose this guy before he does any more damage to the Apple retail experience.
Totally agree. Didn’t Browett go through that “Apple University” they created? I thought they set that up precisely so that new hires would understand the philosophy and “Apple Way” before going into active roles? If they skip this for high level executives then there’s the mistake that needs to be rectified immediately. If this guy went through that and is still making mistakes like this then I’ll have to agree with your conclusion.