Shop Different

I don't know that this can be generalized to many other stores though. Apple Stores work only because Apple devices are complicated (even just buying one) and Apple doesn’t care where you buy them from and they are the only ones you can buy them online from. Apple Stores are more like service centers than stores. What other companies could apply a similar model? There are probably a few, but not most. Its the same model used for Cars for similar reasons. But most other things don’t need that level of service, and if you can buy it cheaper online from someone else the store probably isn't going to survive.

Peter said: "Its the same model used for Cars for similar reasons."

Actually, car dealerships are almost always franchises, and that's the model they use because dealers long ago entrenched themselves with laws in every state of the USA which prohibit direct sales which might compete with them. Economists have long known that this increases prices for consumers. It's not something we should aim to emulate in other industries.

Independent auto mechanics exist, and typically charge less than dealers for service.

There are a lot of products and product categories that benefit from being sold by a knowledgeable and passionate person.

Books, stationary, artist materials, skateboards, cheese, shoes, tools and other hardware related stuff, building materials, chocolate, tea, kitchen appliances and tools, home electronics, cameras.

And those are just from the skall town where I live.

The difference between shopping online, or going to a store run by a person who know and love their stuff is immense.

Skall = small

Nobody should listen to anything Ron Johnson says. This guy clearly got lucky once, and now people confuse luck with expertise. Johnson absolutely murdered J.C. Penney with his incompetence and unearned confidence in his own insane ideas.

I can't believe people talk about Ron Johnson without remembering what actually happened. The kind of grace people give to someone like him is baffling.

@Plume I don’t know—I’m not that deep into the Apple stores since I never had a local one, but it seems like Johnson (along with Jobs) did a good job and various bad things happened after he left. It sounds like a lot of the book is about his mistakes at JCPenney. I don’t think Ive and Cook did well post-Jobs, either. Maybe Fadell had the most success in his next act?

> I don’t think Ive and Cook did well post-Jobs, either.

Yes, that's what I'm pointing out. All these people stumbled backward into success, and now people treat them like geniuses while ignoring all the evidence that they clearly aren't. We don't afford anyone else this kind of grace.

(I think I'm going to exclude Cook from this list because he's clearly competent at his job; it's just that his job shouldn't be "CEO of Apple." Meanwhile, Ive and his garbage Ferrari...)

@Plume OK, I guess that’s fair. I thought you were singling out Johnson. I don’t think any of these people are bozos (if you think they are, compared to who?), but it does seem that they were overrated due to circumstances/luck/Jobs. I suspect—but hope not—that subtracting Schiller may reveal that he was a similar kind of glue, though to a much lesser extent.

> I don’t think any of these people are bozos (if you think they are, compared to who?)

Compared to how much money they make and the prestige they get.

Also, I didn't call anyone a bozo. I don't think these people are incompetent at *everything*. You clearly have to be good at *something* to make it that far. They're just not very good (and sometimes really bad) at their actual jobs.

We don't live in a meritocracy. People who suck at something get paid lots of money to do it all the time.

@Plume I think we basically agree. If you look at it on an absolute scale, this is a problem across the industry. (On a relative basis, maybe they are better than many of their counterparts.) But it’s also a question of perspective. They are not very good at the jobs we want them to do, but are those the actual jobs? We’re not the ones they actually have to please, so maybe they did understand the assignment. They seem to be pretty good at rising to power, maintaining it, and collecting money and praise. So, yes, the issues are more systemic.

I also enjoyed the 9to5Mac interview with Ron Johnson that Michael mentioned. It put Plume’s comments into perspective and made me look forward to reading the book.

I think it's perfectly plausible that Johnson was instrumental in the design of Apple Stores and in no way fit to be a CEO of the company he went to afterward. We've all read enough Jobs stories to know Steve had more than his fair share of bad ideas others had to push back against.

Implying Cook "fell backward" into his success is insane too. His operations innovation might be harder to put in my pocket but his innovations (for better and worse) are some of the biggest in the history of industry.

"Implying Cook "fell backward" into his success is insane too."

Really? Insane? Sure, that's a completely reasonable response to what I wrote.

And that's sarcasm.

Yes, given all the facts about how he changed the industry, it's a big insane to say he brought no talent of his own to the process. And that's not sarcasm.

Do you genuinely feel like your response to what I wrote is reasonable? You're reacting like I personally insulted you. That you, Ron?

> he brought no talent of his own to the process

Not what I said. In fact, I acknowledged that "you clearly have to be good at *something* to make it that far."

> given all the facts about how he changed the industry

Absolutely. I do agree that he changed the industry. The roughly 60,000 employees who lost their jobs at JCPenney due to his incompetence certainly agree.

I don’t understand why you think I’m even replying directly to you when you yourself said Cook is mostly exempt from your criticism. I was just speaking on any implication that Cook just lucked into success.

Also I assumed it was obvious I was using “insane” as a colloquium, and not calling for anyone’s institutionalizing (especially since I’m not actually replying to anyone specifically, since no one here said Cook had no talent).

Sheesh I don’t even like the guy and now I’ve had to praise him three times. I need to wash my typing hands thoroughly.

“ Absolutely. I do agree that he changed the industry.”

Again, was referring to Cook here. I’m not implying Johnson had any business being anyone’s CEO (as I already said in my first thought). That would be ……. Insane!

> I don’t understand why you think I’m even replying directly to you

I think you quoting me saying "all these people stumbled backward into success" gave it away. But yeah, I mistakenly thought you were talking about Johnson, because that's who I was mostly talking about. Mea culpa.