Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts Hired By Apple As Senior Vice President Of Retail And Online Stores [VIDEO]

Angela Ahrendts, CEO at Burberry, will be stepping down from her position at the London-based fashion house for a job at Apple. The Cupertino-based tech company made the announcement today that Ahrendts would be filling in the role of Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores, a position that had been vacant for close to a year. This job entails the oversight of the strategic direction and the expansion of operations of both Apple retail and online stores. “I am thrilled that Angela will be joining our team,” Tim Cook, CEO at Apple said in an official statement. “She shares our values and our focus on innovation, and she places the same strong emphasis as we do on the customer experience. She has shown herself to be an extraordinary leader throughout her career and has a proven track record.”

“I am profoundly honored to join Apple in this newly created position next year, and very much look forward to working with the global teams to further enrich the consumer experience on and offline,” Ahrendts said in a statement. “I have always admired the innovation and impact Apple products and services have on people’s lives and hope in some small way I can help contribute to the company’s continued success and leadership in changing the world.” Angela joins Apple after being CEO at Burberry for over eight years. The announcement from Burberry was made in a video that the fashion house uploaded to their YouTube channel, which you can watch below. "I am proud of everything that we've built. I am proud of the management team that we have in place around the world ... of the infrastructure we have put in place," Ahrendts said of her job at Burberry, which will help her in her newly created position at the tech company. "We have proven that built a rock solid foundation. We have become a retail business. We are a digital, luxury retailer and one of the fastest-growing in the world today." That digital and luxury implementation at Burberry retail stores is what Apple is and what the company was looking for.

The news coincides with the teaming of Burberry and Apple during London Fashion Week in which the apparel brand shot their Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2013 Womenswear Show using the all new iPhone 5s. "Using the all-new iSight camera on iPhone 5s, Burberry is shooting high quality photos and video for runway and beauty looks, product details, and backstage moments," read the statement. "The collaboration is reimagining how Burberry engages consumers, paving the way for significant changes in how they capture and share their content." Today, Apple also made the headlines when they confirmed their new media event set to take place on October 22 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The keynote is expected to cover the announcements of the next generation iPad and the release date for their new desktop operating system, Mavericks OS X.