by Mike Evans, 17 August 2012
Hiring John Browett to run Apple Retail is like hiring a McDonalds manager to run a world-class restaurant. Sure, you’ll get your food and the owners will get their money, but everyone’s going to have a bad time.
This is a rather tongue-in-cheek and probably unfair excerpt from Jim Tanous’s “Letter to Tim Cook” published today in The Mac Observer. That said, John Browett must have had a tough time over the last couple of days, whether the whole thing is some sort of misunderstanding or a serious but misguided effort on his part to save costs. I do not know.
On the other hand, I do know Dixons, Browett’s baby until he left for the USA. The brands, including PC World and Currys, are familiar to every Briton. No high street or retail park is complete without one or other of these stores. Most of us are customers from time to time. Think Best Buy rather than Apple Store.
Over the years I’ve had countless questionable experiences in Dixons, PC World, Currys and all. In fairness, though, they aren’t the only retailers in Britain who cannot hold a candle to Apple when it comes to friendliness, depth of welcome and sheer efficiency.
The big question in my mind is why John Browett didn’t do something about PC World and the rest when he had the chance. Surely he must have seen the success of Apple stores, yet as far as I can see he did nothing to emulate that success. Unfair, maybe, but we haven’t seen anything so far that inspires confidence in Browett.