In a former life, Ron Johnson changed how people buy Apple products.
The retail chief who helped launch the Apple Store continues to tweak how we shop for our gadgets. Johnson’s Enjoy Technology Inc. brings online device delivery to your front door with a person to help you set it up.
If you haven’t heard of Enjoy Technology, that may change thanks to a new round of investment that will help Johnson’s company reach beyond its 50 markets in the U.S.
A report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal says Johnson raised an additional $150 million thanks to a new partnership with a consumer technology investment group.
“One of the highlights of my retail career was creating a new channel for Apple customers, which was the Apple Retail Store,” Johnson said in a written statement published the Business Journal.
The new investment helps Enjoy in a new partnership with EE, a subsidiary of British Telecom Group, to be available to 80 percent of UK households by 2020, the Business Journal reported.
Johnson said Enjoy hopes to expand to a third country within a year, the publication said.
Johnson was Apple’s head of retail when Apple opened its first stores in 2001. Apple now has 506 retail stores across 24 countries.
Johnson left Apple in 2011 to orchestrate a turnaround for department store chain JC Penny. Johnson failed and left after 16 months.
According to the Business Journal, Enjoy Technology is valued at $870 million, up nearly double from last year.
