Apple lays off employees who sell devices to schools, businesses, and the government
Those losing their jobs had no idea that Apple was going to lay them off
a record-breaking top line for the December quarter with sales on pace to hit $140 billion.
A couple of weeks ago, Apple eliminated 20 jobs for its sales teams in in Australia and New Zealand. One reason why this is considered a surprising move by Apple is because it is believed to be developing a low-priced laptop that would be perfect for the business and educational markets which are two of the areas where Apple has handed out pink slips to sales personnel.
A couple of paragraphs ago, we told you that Apple invited employees who were laid off to apply for new jobs. In that vein, Apple sad that employees who lost their jobs have until January 20th to get another job inside the company or else they will be officially terminated and will receive severance pay. Some of the employees leaving Apple have been with the company for 20 to 30 years.
There is speculation that third-party resellers will replace those let go by Apple
One of the teams hard hit by Apple’s actions was the sales team that works with U.S. government agencies such as the U.S. Defense Department and the Department of Justice. This team already was stressed after facing issues like the record 43-day government shutdown and job cuts forced on Apple by the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
Apple is positioning the layoffs as part of a plan to streamline its sales teams to eliminate overlapping jobs. But some of those laid off by Apple have a different story. They claim that Apple wanted to have more sales come from third-party resellers, which Apple refers to as the channel. Not on, would this shift allow Apple to save some money by lowering salaries, it could also boost sales since some organization prefer to do business with a reseller as opposed to a sales team from the actual company.
