Apple’s top retail executive to leave amid iPhone sales slowdown
- Angela Ahrendts, head of Apple’s retail and online stores, seeks ‘new personal and professional opportunities’
- The former CEO of British luxury fashion house Burberry joined Apple in 2014
Apple’s top retail executive is stepping down amid a slowdown in iPhone sales that has raised doubts about the technology giant’s future growth prospects.
The shake-up announced on Tuesday ends Angela Ahrendts’ five-year stint overseeing the company’s network of 506 Apple Stores and e-commerce operations. She will remain with Apple until April.
Apple did not give a reason for Ahrendts’ departure, saying only that she was leaving “for new personal and professional opportunities”.
She is being replaced by Deirdre O’Brien, a long-time Apple executive who also runs the company’s human resources department. During her 30 years at Apple, O’Brien also helped gauge product demand.
That issue has become a problem now that customers are holding onto their current iPhones longer instead of buying the latest models. It is one reason Apple posted disappointing iPhone sales during the past holiday shopping season.
Although Apple sells iPhones and other products, such as the iPad and Mac computer, through a wide variety of merchants, its own elegantly designed stores have become a pivotal outlet, especially during the first few weeks after a new device hits the market.