Apple to Eliminate Several Business and Event-Related Retail Positions

Apple is planning another shakeup within its retail stores, according to a source who shared the company's plans with MacRumors. At the end of April, Apple plans to eliminate certain retail positions, including Business Manager, Business Events Lead, Events Coordinator, and Events Lead.

Apple Store Leaders began informing affected employees about the change earlier this week, and many were caught off guard by the sudden sunsetting of specialized positions that have long existed at retail stores.

Apple retail
Our source says that the elimination of the Business Manager position is something of a shock because Business Managers lead the Business Team and are responsible for bringing in up to 20 percent of overall store sales.

"These managers have established relationships with various small and medium businesses in their markets," said the source. "Their position is highly specialized and often times not easily understood by retail leadership who do not have experience in B2B sales." Existing managers, senior managers, store leaders, and market leaders are currently unfamiliar with the "complex sales cycles involved with B2B engagements," so Apple's retail change could have a significant impact on business sales.

Employees who currently hold positions that are being eliminated have been told they can take a lower level (also lower paying in many cases) position or take two months of severance pay. "This comes as a rude awakening to employees who have always felt Apple has had their best interest," said the source.

Managers and affected employees have been notified about the imminent change, with a broader announcement planned for an all-hands meeting that will take place on Sunday, April 23. Apple may share more information on the reasoning behind the elimination of the positions and its future retail plans at that time. On its "Jobs at Apple" page, Apple has already removed "Business Manager," as an option, a change that was made recently.

The sunsetting of these specialized retail positions comes following some major retail changes that were introduced in mid-2016. Three new retail positions were added, including Pro, Creative Pro, and Technical Expert, and several other positions were renamed.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

Born Again Avatar
108 months ago
Nothing new here.

Profits come first. People second. Watch bands 3rd.
Score: 72 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jdillings Avatar
108 months ago
Another great move by Angela! Killing the Apple Store little by little.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
needsomecoffee Avatar
108 months ago
Hello Staff: This is Angela. We are terminating Business Managers. Affected individuals will be considered for soon to be announced Fashionista Manager position. Preference given to those who can best optimize watch-band color to specific runway events. Anyone who has sold > 1 Edition Watches and/or knows a Kardashian is top of the list. Best, A.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LordQ Avatar
108 months ago
What's happening to this company?
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
108 months ago
Sunsetting...

Corporate speak never ceases to amaze me... and by amaze me I mean severely disappoint. People are being let go, unemployed, not sent vacationing in Hawaii.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
britboyj Avatar
108 months ago
Their position is highly specialized and often times not easily understood by retail leadership who do not have experience in B2B sales.
HA!

I worked at Apple Retail for 2 years, including on the business team, and every business manager I met was deluding themselves. People shopping at Apple Retail stores for their business ARE NOT B2B customers, and every business manager I saw get promoted to corporate crashed and burned in no time at all.

There's A LITTLE extra expertise about taxes and such, but they were all vastly overpaid for what they actually did. They weren't doing cold calls, the business just walked in. You could train a specialist to do the majority of their work in an afternoon.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)