New Apple Retail Chief Was Highly Involved in Burberry's Watch Retailing Efforts, Was Hired Over The Summer
Earlier today, Apple announced the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, the current CEO of Burberry, as its new head of the company's retail and online efforts. Now, more details are coming out about how she was hired and some of her activities at Burberry that could be useful at Apple going forward.
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Lessin, who now blogs on her own site, writes that Ahrendts loves watches and rolled out a high-end watch brand under her tenure at Burberry. This retailing experience could have an impact if Apple, as is rumored, introduces some sort of smart watch product.
I also hear she took particular interest in the watch retailing space in Burberry stores. Let’s just say her passion for watches is a coincidence. Or maybe just a plus. Needless to say the merchandising around the iWatch, whenever it arrives, will be remarkable.
Separately, The Wall Street Journal reports that Ahrendts agreed to join Apple several months ago, but the announcement of the hire was held back while Burberry determined her successor. It also reported that Apple was not the only company courting Ahrendts.
In pursuing Ms. Ahrendts, Apple won out over a more recent bid for Ms. Ahrendts by J.C. Penney. The department-store chain pursued the Burberry leader for its own top job, according to a person familiar with the situation.
J.C. Penney is looking to replace Mr. Johnson—who once held the Apple role that Ms. Ahrendts is stepping into. Mr. Johnson left J.C. Penney after his attempted makeover sent sales there crashing.
Angela Ahrendts will join Apple next spring after managing the CEO transition at Burberry.
Popular Stories
The iPhone is Apple's top-selling product, and it gets an update every year. In 2024, we're expecting the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineup, with an arguably more interesting feature set than we got with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Capture Button All four iPhone 16 models are set to get a whole new button, which will be...
Apple is widely expected to release new iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro models in the next few weeks. According to new rumors coming out of Asia, the company will announce its new iPads on Tuesday, March 26. Chinese leaker Instant Digital on Weibo this morning 日发布%23">claimed that the date will see some sort of announcement from Apple related to new iPads, but stopped short of calling it an...
Apple suppliers will begin production of two new fourth-generation AirPods models in May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this production timeframe, he expects the headphones to be released in September or October. Gurman expects both fourth-generation AirPods models to feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C...
Resale value trends suggest the iPhone SE 4 may not hold its value as well as Apple's flagship models, according to SellCell. According to the report, Apple's iPhone SE models have historically depreciated much more rapidly than the company's more premium offerings. The third-generation iPhone SE, which launched in March 2022, experienced a significant drop in resale value, losing 42.6%...
iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 should be released within the next few days, with a build number of 21E235, according to a source with a proven track record. MacRumors previously reported that Apple was internally testing iOS 17.4.1. As a minor update for the iPhone, it will likely address software bugs and/or security vulnerabilities. It is unclear if the update will include any other changes. ...
MacRumors was first to report that Apple was planning to rebrand "Apple ID" to "Apple Account" across its software platforms and websites like iCloud.com as early as this year, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has corroborated this change. A mockup of the new Apple Account branding In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new "Apple Account" branding will start to be used later this...
Apple's new iPad Pro models with OLED displays will likely begin shipping to customers in April, according to information shared today by Ross Young, CEO of display industry research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also said the new iPad Pro models might not ship until "deeper" into April in his Power On newsletter on Sunday:I've repeatedly said that new...
Top Rated Comments
This is my setup (not the clock face, per se), which I find quite elegant:
I always get compliments on it, so from my perspective, a smartwatch isn't particularly a farfetched concept, and can also look pretty great.
And if you're any bit of a watch collector, you'll know any likely price the iWatch retails at ($100-$300 probably) isn't particularly comparable to other high-end watch prices out there (though would be immensely more useful). I only have a couple 'nice' watches myself (Belova, Coach), but I seldom even wear them as I prefer my Nano watch, which was fairly cheaper.
EDIT: Ha! Sorry folks, the band was originally made by a company called iWatchz and can be found at this particular Amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/iWatchz-STLDBRDYTP-Timepiece-Stainless-Deploy-Dark/dp/B00566JHQG) (I actually got mine from an Apple store). But I think the company changed their name to kubxlab and this band (plus many others) can be found here: http://www.kubxlab.com/collections/ipod/iPod-nano-6G (mine is from the Timepiece Collection)
Her eyes are really close together.
How so? It's important to learn about new executives as they will greatly influence Apple.
Quoting the Wall Street Journal is scraping the bottom of the barrel?
I was willing to give their board of directors the benefit of the doubt in letting Ron go when they did, but if this is for real, it just sends a message that they may be out of their depth.
Karl P
How about more pictures like this?