October 15, 2013
Apple hires Angela Ahrendts as new retail chief
“She cares deeply about people and embraces our view that our most important resource and our soul is our people. She believes in enriching the lives of others and she is wicked smart. Angela has shown herself to be an extraordinary leader throughout her career and has a proven track record. She led Burberry through a period of phenomenal growth with a focus on brand, culture, core values and the power of positive energy.” – Tim Cook
I’m actually really glad that Apple finally found a good person to take over the role of Senior Vice President of Retail & Online Stores. I’ve seen Angela’s TED talk on “human energy” and I believe that she is an excellent pick. She is the current CEO of Burberry and I’ve been noticing that Apple has been hiring from great places like Nike and Yves Saint Laurent. I wish her the best in her new duties.
Apple’s hire of Ahrendts shows its future is in lifestyle , not tech
By hiring Ahrendts, Cook and his team are signaling their desire to keep Apple just as fresh and upmarket as Burberry.
Overall this is a fantastic analysis of what Ahrendts brings to the table. However, the title of the article makes it sound like Apple isn’t interested in the technological aspect of the industry. I must strongly disagree. Ahrendts is known to be very serious about technology. We must remember what Steve Jobs said: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.” This is exactly what the Burberry CEO offers. She is a exceptional balance between the humanities and tech. This is what separates Apple from Google, Microsoft and the rest.
Part of the reason for this, GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving says, is because of Media Temple’s existing size and position in the market. It has 125,000 customers for its premium website management services, and it hosts over 1.5 million websites, with some 88 percent classified as being for “advanced web and IT services”.
I’m waiting for the riots to start.
BlackBerry breaks silence in open letter
The ad also boasts about apps that will allow Android and iPhone owners to use BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging, noting that the six million people who have signed up for notices about those apps “speaks to the tremendous opportunity we have to expand BBM beyond BlackBerry smartphones to make it the world’s largest mobile social network.” Absent, however, is any reference to how the release of the apps was abruptly stopped last month because of technical problems.
Is this enough? BlackBerry touts 6 million iOS and Android users are eager to install the BBM app. So where in the world is it guys? You need to deliver ASAP.