Comm 101

As China continues to grow rapidly, technology giant, Apple, is trying to pave its way into the Asian market. So far, their efforts have fallen short, as only 28% of their revenue comes from Asia. Cue in Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, the woman who is responsible for transforming the traditional Burberry into the technologically savvy brand that it is today. In the upcoming spring, Ahrendts will be leaving Burberry and entering the digital world, where she will become Senior Vice President of Retail at Apple. Her job will be to help Apple differentiate the look of its products and market it to Asia, particularly to China. Since the passing of Apple founder, Steve Jobs, the company has been struggling to maintain its products at the high standards that had once been instilled. By introducing Ahrendts into the company, Apple hopes she can help “crack into the Chinese market” by adding “pizzazz to Apple’s bricks-and-mortar shops”. By looking at her previous successes at Burberry, it seems that Angela Ahrendts has a real shot at developing a larger customer segment in China through branding and product differentiation. Faced with fierce competition from companies such as Samsung and Google, Ahrendts will feel the pressure of putting Apple back onto the technology catwalk.