Apple has today announced that Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, will be joining the Cupertino company to take up a newly-created position as senior vice president of retail and online stores. Ahrendts will report directly to CEO Tim Cook and will oversee the strategic direction, expansion, and operation of Apple’s retail business.
John Browett, who spent nine months as Apple’s senior vice president of retail before being ousted alongside Scott Forstall last October, has admitted that he “just didn’t fit” in with the way Apple ran its business. Browett still feels Apple is a fantastic company and says he loved working there, but he told The Independent that he was “rejected for fit rather than competency.”
Apple’s decision to hire John Browett as its Senior Vice President of Retail has come under fire from a small but vocal minority of Apple fans who believe he may not be the right man for the job. Brits in particular, who are familiar with the Dixons stores in the U.K. that Browett used to control, are concerned he is not a suitable replacement for Ron Johnson.
But Apple CEO Tim Cook has no doubts about the company’s decision, and has labeled Browett the best man for the role “by far.”
Replacing retail genius Ron Johnson wasn’t an easy task for Apple. The company has been seeking a replacement since he announced he was leaving to become CEO of JC Penney back in June. But it seems it has now found its man, after announcing that John Browett, who has been CEO of Dixons Retail in the U.K. since 2007, is the new Senior Vice President of Retail.
