Where is Angela?

[Smartdrive]

We haven't heard from the new retail expert since a while?
Didn't she say she is going to give employees a weekly update on the status of the watch?

Is she hiding behind her Burberry bags and coats?
Or did she get shipped to China to assemble the watches?

Questions questions!

 

[wgr73]

We haven't heard from the new retail expert since a while?
Didn't she say she is going to give employees a weekly update on the status of the watch?

Is she hiding behind her Burberry bags and coats?
Or did she get shipped to China to assemble the watches?

Questions questions!

Shes on UPS.com refreshing to see if her apple watch is going to deliver before 2016.

 

[Wishbrah]

I think her weekly updates were aimed at employees of Apple.

 

[aguyinokc]

Is this sexism at work? Why are we supposed to blame the head of retail for the supply chain? It isn't like she forgot to order watches and thus they didn't make enough.

 

[Photography]

Is this sexism at work?

No one brought up sexism until you did. Her updates were geared towards Apple employees. She is not to blame for the failure of this launch, as she doesn't control the supply chain. If you want to blame someone, blame Jeff Williams or TC.

 

[Julien]

Is this sexism at work? Why are we supposed to blame the head of retail for the supply chain? It isn't like she forgot to order watches and thus they didn't make enough.

Because she is clearly responsible for the Taptic supply problems.

 

[shandyman]

Why are we supposed to blame the head of retail for the supply chain? It isn't like she forgot to order watches and thus they didn't make enough.

This is a valid point. People are blaming her, but she isn't in charge of the supply chain. At least people could blame the right person....

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Are you saying this an an Apple retail employee? Because otherwise you don't seem to be the audience she said she would be addressing.

And if you are an Apple retail employee why are you goading your boss?

I suspect employees have been briefed in accordance with a non-disclosure agreement, breaking of which is cause for immediate dismissal. So probably not too many brave folks willing to risk their jobs.

But how come you didn't ask where Tim is? Or Jeff Williams -- you know the guy actually in charge of manufacturing at Apple? Or maybe Phil Schiller, Apple marketing guru who was so gung-ho about the Apple watch before launch then... crickets. Maybe a word from Craig Federighi, head of s/w?

You have no questions from these GUYS? Hmmm.

 

[SixtyK]

Oh look, another angry blame post from someone who joined after the launch.

How quaint.

 

[samiznaetekto]

I wouldn't be surprised if she and that Flash Dude are fired.

 

[aguyinokc]

No one brought up sexism until you did. Her updates were geared towards Apple employees. She is not to blame for the failure of this launch, as she doesn't control the supply chain. If you want to blame someone, blame Jeff Williams or TC.

I agree with you. I was commenting on the expectation that is rampant in the tech community that women are always to blame. The OP didn't have to say "HEY GUYS, I'M ABOUT TO MAKE A COMMENT HOLDING A WOMAN TO A HIGHER STANDARD THAN MEN" for it to be sexist.

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I wouldn't be surprised if she and that Flash Dude are fired.

I would, why would you expect them to be canned? I thought the try on appointment in stores was a nice touch to complement the online only release. They could've done it sooner, but I doubt the head of retail has much say in that.

 

[mchoffa]

Are you saying this an an Apple retail employee? Because otherwise you don't seem to be the audience she said she would be addressing.

And if you are an Apple retail employee why are you goading your boss?

I suspect employees have been briefed in accordance with a non-disclosure agreement, breaking of which is cause for immediate dismissal. So probably not too many brave folks willing to risk their jobs.

But how come you didn't ask where Tim is? Or Jeff Williams -- you know the guy actually in charge of manufacturing at Apple? Or maybe Phil Schiller, Apple marketing guru who was so gung-ho about the Apple watch before launch then... crickets. Maybe a word from Craig Federighi, head of s/w?

You have no questions from these GUYS? Hmmm.

Plenty of people were extremely critical of John Browett, and with good reason. He just didn't last long enough to oversea a new product launch!

The issues with watches not being available are 100% NOT on Angela. The retail/sales aspects are though. The way to get this right would have been 1-2 weeks of try on appoints BEFORE preorders, so that hundreds or thousands weren't 100% sure of what they wanted or needed. I'm sure there were plenty of cancellations or changes after people ordered and then went to try on the watches. That, coupled with transparency (which falls on TC or someone else), would have made this launch extremely smooth despite the delays.

 

[KPOM]

The issues with watches not being available are 100% NOT on Angela. The retail/sales aspects are though. The way to get this right would have been 1-2 weeks of try on appoints BEFORE preorders, so that hundreds or thousands weren't 100% sure of what they wanted or needed. I'm sure there were plenty of cancellations or changes after people ordered and then went to try on the watches. That, coupled with transparency (which falls on TC or someone else), would have made this launch extremely smooth despite the delays.

I thought the try-on concept worked pretty well. Could they have started the try-ons a few days before the pre-orders? Perhaps, but I doubt that would have changed things significantly, either in terms of perception or actual customer behavior.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Plenty of people were extremely critical of John Browett, and with good reason. He just didn't last long enough to oversea a new product launch!

The issues with watches not being available are 100% NOT on Angela. The retail/sales aspects are though. The way to get this right would have been 1-2 weeks of try on appoints BEFORE preorders, so that hundreds or thousands weren't 100% sure of what they wanted or needed. I'm sure there were plenty of cancellations or changes after people ordered and then went to try on the watches. That, coupled with transparency (which falls on TC or someone else), would have made this launch extremely smooth despite the delays.

AA isn't blameless. I have issues with how she is selling the AW in stores. The try-on reservation scheme is ridiculous, not upscale. Felt more like I was a shoplifting suspect than welcome customer, and that is very un-Apple Store like. Then the try-on watches were not even functional. Huh! I make an appointment to try on a watch and it doesn't work?

But OP is alluding to actual inventory and that isn't anything AA is responsible for. Moreover, while he doesn't ask any questions of Apple execs who are closer to the fiasco epi-center, he goes on to demean AA by suggesting she is "hiding behind Burberry bags and coats." C'mon, you gotta see the trolling going on there.

 

[mchoffa]

But OP is alluding to actual inventory and that isn't anything AA is responsible for. Moreover, while he doesn't ask any questions of Apple execs who are closer to the fiasco epi-center, he goes on to demean AA by suggesting she is "hiding behind Burberry bags and coats." C'mon, you gotta see the trolling going on there.

Trolling, probably... sexist, I wouldn't think so... the Burberry comment only alludes to her previous executive position. No different than saying Browett was hiding behind his flat screens and car stereos (Dixons).

Anyway, I wouldn't call her a failure like Browett, but she might want to step it up a notch... and anyone actually using their brain would understand the supply issues have NOTHING to do with her.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Trolling, probably... sexist, I wouldn't think so... the Burberry comment only alludes to her previous executive position. No different than saying Browett was hiding behind his flat screens and car stereos (Dixons).

Anyway, I wouldn't call her a failure like Browett, but she might want to step it up a notch... and anyone actually using their brain would understand the supply issues have NOTHING to do with her.

Right buy "hiding" behind clothing is the mark of a scared person. If one suggested a guy was hiding behind clothes it would be emasculating. I don't recall anyone saying Browett as "hiding," but rather he wasn't the right person for the job. The OP is frustrated about availability but I don't see any comments suggesting other execs are in hiding. Why single out AA?

Again, OP's post wasn't about anything that has to do with AA's actual responsibilities.

 

[Denmac1]

Being an SVP, she should have been part of the team that was aware of inventory concerns. Otherwise, how could anyone, male or female, be aware of the implications that inventory shortages/restrictions would affect the launch.
IMO, the launch was not smooth and contributed to customer dissatisfaction and media distortion. Sure, supply constraints are definitely going to be a contributing factor to inventory supplies. But being a previous CEO, there should have been an awareness that this was not going to go well if she was given the proper feedback based on the supply constraints. These are not unseasoned professionals at the top. With that, if the feedback didn't happen, then Tim and Jeff are the ones that should be on the hook.
Did she do the best under the circumstances...perhaps. She should have enough clout in her position to stand up to what was going to become a difficult and challenging launch.Not a good thing for her going into this position.

 

[shandyman]

She should have enough clout in her position to stand up to what was going to become a difficult and challenging launch.Not a good thing for her going into this position.

You're assuming she did not state she had any concerns, but we don't know. She did not have the final say about the launch going ahead or not. So the point remains, she's not to blame.

 

[RayDonovan]

Is this sexism at work? Why are we supposed to blame the head of retail for the supply chain? It isn't like she forgot to order watches and thus they didn't make enough.

So every time someone mentions anything remotely negative about someone who just happens to be a woman in the workplace they are being sexist?

You people are ridiculous.

 

[Ryanclbryant]

So every time someone mentions anything remotely negative about someone who just happens to be a woman in the workplace they are being sexist?

You people are ridiculous.

Not necessarily, no. But it does need to be asked. As pointed out earlier in this thread she is hardly to blame... Where as there are several men who were responsible for ensuring production was on target, yet none of them are being held to the flame the way Angela is.

 

[NAYo2002]

Not necessarily, no. But it does need to be asked. As pointed out earlier in this thread she is hardly to blame... Where as there are several men who were responsible for ensuring production was on target, yet none of them are being held to the flame the way Angela is.

A few things that she does have control over:

- Having watch try on before preorders went live so that people don't order a bunch of watches so that they can decide which one to keep before returning. This further stained supply.
- Priortizarion of shipment to shops such as Maxfield in LA. I can live with having to wait a month ordering 17 minutes after preorders went live, but it's annoying when someone already receives the same exact model from Maxfield after ordering last week.

 

[dannyyankou]

I've been seeing a lot of April 2015 join dates recently. Interesting.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

So every time someone mentions anything remotely negative about someone who just happens to be a woman in the workplace they are being sexist?

You people are ridiculous.

You said "you people". Racist!




Seriously though, you're right. That initial comment was ridiculous. If that person hadn't interjected sexism into this discussion, it would have remained about the original subject at hand… the launch was poor and what role (if any) did Angela play in it.

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Not necessarily, no. But it does need to be asked. As pointed out earlier in this thread she is hardly to blame... Where as there are several men who were responsible for ensuring production was on target, yet none of them are being held to the flame the way Angela is.

It does not 'need to be asked'. That's what is ridiculous.

She's the "face" of this launch. That's why she's being held responsible in the court of public opinion.
She's a high level exec at Apple and although Supply Chain may not fall directly under her domain, it's definitely related and at the very least has a dotted line.

Anyone who immediately thinks it's possibly sexism or that it "needs to be asked" is part of the PC-crowd that creates so many red herrings that we cannot get problems solved at times. Let's focus on the real issue and not some made-up issue of 'sexism'.

 

[powerslave65]

A statement like this would have worked better: " After the overwhelming response to the Apple Watch we can't wait to get the Watches shipping to Apple Stores. We are also excited to announce that Apple will be joined by 6 exclusive retail partners around the world (insert names of stores and significance here) that will be rolled out in the coming weeks. We are working hard to meet demand and can't wait to see our customers getting and using their Apple Watches."

 

[cruze1987]

This is a valid point. People are blaming her, but she isn't in charge of the supply chain. At least people could blame the right person....

But how is this sexism though? Nobody said "it's Angela's fault because she's a woman" .... Even if it was a guy in charge people would be blaming HIM, people want their watches (including myself) and since we don't have a clear answer to why is everything delayed we're just looking to blame someone but again, nobody is blaming Angela because she's a woman