The head of Burberry joins Apple's top management

Angela Ahrendts, CEO of the British fashion house Burberry, joined Apple’s top executives as the newest Senior Vice-President and head of the on-line and brick & mortar Apple stores. I wish better success than the last two men. Ron Johnson and his sponsor, the billionaire hedge funder owner of J.C. Penny, thought he could apply his magic at the Apple Store to the lagging J.C. Penny stores. Er, it didn’t work out that way. The other guy, John Whatshisname from England, wasn’t a good fit. So I have hopes for Angela.

Hiring the head of a fashion house means Apple admits the obvious. If you display an Apple product in public, you make a fashion statement as well as one about your technical abilities.

Now will all the men who make the presentations tuck in their shirts and wear dress pants instead of jeans? What about the attire of the sales associates at the Apple Store? We will see next Tuesday how great a fashion impact she’s had on Apple so far.

Less facetiously, Mavericks will soon come out. Perhaps next Wednesday the 23rd as rumored and perhaps we’ll have to wait if a last-minute bug is found. Please, no last-minute bugs!

Tom Briant

Editor, MacValley Blog