AppleInsider Staff
As of July, Enrique Atienza, a Levi Strauss senior vice president, has supposedly been working at Apple in an unspecified retail role, suggesting the Cupertino company may finally be close to filling the position left by former retail store head John Browett.
According to his LinkedIn profile and Facebook page, Atienza, who also goes by the name Quique, is now working at "Apple Retail" in an undisclosed role.
Atienza's profile still lists his current job as Levi Strauss Senior Vice President Retail Americas and Global Store Operations and Training COE, a position he took in July 2012 after serving as VP of Retail and Operations for two years. However, Levi's spokeswoman Rebecca Youngs confirmed that the executive is no longer with the company. She had no information as to Atienza's current employment situation. Prior to his time at Levi's, Atienza spent almost two years as VP of Store Operations at the Disney Store.
Apple is in the midst of finding a replacement for John Browett, who was taken on to fill the shoes of former retail chief Ron Johnson in 2012. Browett was fired only ten months later after a rash of complaints from Apple Store staff led to questions on the executive's plans for the business.
When Browett was ousted, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he would take reins of retail operations until a suitable replacement was found. The vacated position still remains unfilled.
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21 Comments
When Browett was ousted, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he would take reins of retail operations until a suitable replacement was found. The vacated position still remains unfilled.
Don't be silly, John Browett was so bad he didn't even leave an open space at Apple when they tossed him out.
My take on this news is that since Enrique Atienza is still working for Levi while at Apple, he & Apple will be redesigning jeans so that Samsung's oversized phablets can't be stuffed into the pockets.
Maybe he's been hired for the specific job of preparing retail for the new products to which Tim has so frequently alluded.
This is more than a weird coincidence, Apple hiring two very senior fashion/clothing/retail executives (Apple hired Paul Deneve from YSL a few weeks ago) in such a short time, both arriving without titles or any kind of job description, that we know of. And Apple has been researching wearable computing for years.
True enough, jonorom. The direction computing is going is indeed toward "fashion" and an on-body form factor. I personally don't think Google Glass is the future, but it's the beginning of that future.
True enough, jonorom. The direction computing is going is indeed toward "fashion" and an on-body form factor. I personally don't think Google Glass is the future, but it's the beginning of that future.
Yes, as consumer computing becomes closer to the human, it will be form, function and fashion. The fact that they hired a fitness person away from Nike also blends into this...
Nike, YSL, Levis. All product a 'brand' that can carry a higher sticker price, yet have high repeat customers, a high perceived quality score, and push fashion design (well, maybe not Levi's), and are all international brands. Makes sense that Tim is forming a brain trust for the next big thing (after pods, phones, pads, watches, TVs... what's next?)