Browett had only spent seven months at Apple as its retail senior vice president between April and October 2012
Apple CEO Tim Cook has admitted the decision to hire former Dixons CEO John Browett as the tech giant’s retail senior vice president in 2012 was a ‘big mistake.’
Cook had revealed his feelings in an interview with the Washington Post earlier this month (August 13), claiming Browett did ‘not fit the company culturally’.
Browett was appointed to the role in April 2012, only to have been sacked seven months later in October. Prior to joining Apple, he was Dixons CEO between December 2007 and April 2012. Following his dismissal from the smartphone manufacturer, he had held a non-executive director role at EasyJet (September 2007 to December 2015) and is now Dunelm Furnishings CEO.
Cook, who had taken over Apple in August 2011 after the passing of Steve Jobs, claimed he was ‘proud’ of how quickly the change was made. He said: “I hired the wrong person for retail initially. That was clearly a screw-up.
“He [Browett] didn’t fit here culturally is a good way to describe it. We all talked to him, and I made the final decision, and it was wrong. We fairly quickly recognised it and made a change. And I’m proud we did that.”
Reference was also made Apple’s recent financial results, where revenue for the three months ending June 25 had dropped year-on-year to £32 billion. The number of iPhone sales also fell by 15 per cent to 40.3999 million. This is the second consecutive quarter where iPhone numbers have dropped. “And, yes, we’re coming down some this year. Every year isn’t an up, you know. I’ve heard all of it before,” explained Cook.
