Why Apple Stores Don’t Try to Sell You Anything (#327)

What do you do when you've already lost the battle with Microsoft?

Why would Steve Jobs put his stores in the one place he hated most?

And why would Apple build a store that doesn't want to sell you anything?

Ron Johnson was recruited by Steve Jobs to do something almost everyone thought was a bad idea: open stores. For his first year at Apple, Steve called him almost every night. Ron went on to create the Apple Store and worked alongside Jobs for more than a decade. Six months into building the very first one, he told Steve the whole thing was wrong.

He discusses:
● Why Steve Jobs hated malls, and the conversation that changed his mind
● The sports metaphor that convinced Steve that Apple hadn't lost yet
● Why the Apple Store was designed not to sell you anything
● What ChatGPT would have told them to do, and why it would have been wrong
● The sleepless night that made Ron tell Steve the store was all wrong
● What happened after a 10-minute car ride in complete silence
● How the world's most famous control freak became the best delegator Ron ever worked for
● Whether Steve Jobs was really as brutal as his reputation suggests
● The store that was meant to be asleep, and what happened between 11pm and 8am
● The night before the first iPhone went on sale, and the phone call Ron will never forget
● Who was really better at retail: Ron or Steve?

The legend of Steve Jobs doesn't tell the whole story.

Ron Johnson reveals what Steve was like when the cameras were off, why the best ideas can't survive early sceptics, and the mistake he made when he tried to repeat Apple's success somewhere else.