Apple has wasted little time in tackling their worldwide sales problems. After announcing an earnings warning, the resignation of their Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, and earnings that actually fell slightly below their own warnings, the company has moved quickly to reshape their sales team. Apple has announced a new European sales team that will specifically target education sales and the retail channel. According to Apple:
Apple today announced that it has created two European sales teams to focus on growing the Company’s retail and education market shares.
"The creation of dedicated, pan-European sales teams to specifically address the education market segment and the retail channel demonstrates Apple’s commitment to taking advantage of the significant growth opportunities in both segments in Europe", said Pascal Cagni, vice president of Apple Europe. "This investment will allow our executive team to focus on better serving consumers and educational institutions, while leveraging experience and optimizing the allocation of resources across Europe".
Brendan O’Sullivan, previously head of the UK & Ireland region for Apple is promoted to education director, Europe. Brendan has worked in education for over ten years and helped Apple achieve the number two position in the UK where one out of six Macs sold today is via the education channel.
Thomas Lot, previously head of the French region for Apple, is promoted to retail director, Europe. Thomas helped create the strong presence that the Mac has in retail in France, where one out of four units is sold through this channel.
Mark Rogers takes the position of regional director, UK & Ireland, effective from October 15th, 2000. Mark was previously based in the Asia Pacific region where he was finance director and, more recently, acting vice president, Apple Asia Pacific.
Brendan, Thomas and Mark will report to Pascal Cagni.
You can find more information about Apple at their Web site.
The Mac Observer Spin:
With a market cap as low as Apple’s, it is important for Apple to move quickly to make changes. In our coverage of Mr. Mandich’s resignation, we suggested that perhaps his resignation cover story was spot on (something an Observer took us to task for), but Apple’s conference call with analysts earlier this week seems to indicate otherwise. There are some serious problems with both education sales and retail sales, and Apple is obviously taking this seriously. We can hope that their efforts in Europe will quickly bear fruit.