About Deirdre O'brien
Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail & People, has been involved in the openings of several new Apple Stores in 2024 and 2025, including locations in Miami, Florida; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Tysons Corner, Virginia. In interviews, O’Brien said that Apple’s store design emphasizes natural and sustainable materials, such as recycled timber and local flora, to create what she described as a “biophilic” environment that connects to the local community. She also highlighted the role of store teams, stating that “the number one thing that our customers are going to experience when they come to Apple ... is our incredible teams,” and noted that the Today at Apple program allows customers to learn about products and explore creativity.
O’Brien has also discussed Apple’s environmental goals, stating that the company is “fully carbon neutral” through its operations and aims to be carbon neutral across its entire footprint by 2030. During product events in 2020 and 2022, she introduced features such as Crash Detection on Apple Watch Series 8 and the Family Setup feature, and commented on the role of Apple products during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it was “gratifying to see the important role our products have played in helping people come together.” O’Brien, who joined Apple over 30 years ago, said she feels “grateful and privileged to be a part of this incredible company where we truly live our values every day.”
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Deirdre O'brien's recent appearances.
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Transcript (13 segments)
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Interviewer0:10
I got the chance to talk to a very important person, which is Deirdre O'Brien, the senior vice president of Apple retail. So let's not waste any more time and let's go talk to her. Apple Kabar! Wow, thanks for joining this interview.
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Deirdre O'Brien0:24
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to get the chance to talk with you.
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Interviewer0:27
Yeah, it's a great pleasure for me. I am very excited that the first Apple Store is opening in Malaysia. How do you feel about that?
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Deirdre O'Brien0:33
Oh, we are thrilled about the store. Apple The Exchange TRX is going to be one of our most beautiful stores. We have put so much thought and attention into creating a very special place to welcome our customers in Malaysia. I think that not only will our customers absolutely love our teams, but I think they're going to absolutely love the incredible teams. Our goal is to make sure when a customer walks in our doors, they feel the incredible care, the thought, and the attention that we put into our products come to life with our teams. As we say, the best of Apple comes together in our stores. I think when our customers step in the door of our newest store and our first store in Malaysia, they are going to be completely wowed by the design and also the connection with our teams, the opportunity to come in and learn about all of Apple's great products. We have so many amazing products, our latest iPads, so many products there to be able to discover, to be able to explore their creativity, get service, and also just really spend time in an amazing place. I think the customers are going to love it.
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Interviewer2:11
For our customers, a physical experience. So this is our goal, to be where our customers need us. Our goal is to create a seamless journey for our customers to discover, learn, buy, and also service their products with us. The great opportunity here is that someone can discover a product online, buy it, and then come to the store and pick it up, and then get set up in store, and really have that multi-channel experience that we think is amazing. In the end, we just want to be here for our customers and show our customers what the best of Apple is all about. And based on my experience, it's a really good spot to hang out, people be there and chill.
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Deirdre O'Brien2:50
Totally right. And I think one of the great ways about hanging out, I just want to call out, is our Today at Apple program, which is just amazing.
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Interviewer3:10
Nice. So speaking of Today at Apple, how has the program grown over time?
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Deirdre O'Brien3:17
Oh my gosh, this is one of our best things that we have in Apple retail. It's our ability to not only explain everything about our amazing products and show off our incredible lineup of products, but be able to really help customers get set up with them, and then over the course of time continue to learn new things, become a better photographer, learn how to explore your creativity with drawing with the Apple Pencil and the iPad. There are so many different ways to learn how to code. We have camps for kids. There are so many things that we do where we really want to make sure that the Today at Apple program just really serves our customers. We do have a really special opportunity here as we open the store in Malaysia. We have a special connection that we have with the community, and really the fact that we get to show people using the products and really share the passion for Apple products.
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Interviewer4:18
Nice. So I've been to a few Apple Stores now, and I always feel that the vibe is always very nice. The retail team is always very welcoming and friendly. And now I'm sure you are adding Malaysians into the retail team family, right? How does this adding of Malaysians add up into the experience?
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Deirdre O'Brien4:38
Well, we are so excited to be able to have this new store here and have so many Malaysians on the team. We also have a number of team members from all over the world coming to the store to open the store. And I will tell you that no matter where I visit all around the world, I always find the most amazing people are a part of our teams at Apple. Our whole goal is to connect with our customers, to feel that care and that connection and that incredible friendliness. So really happy to welcome our customers.
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Interviewer5:17
Nice. I think one of the things that creators can do in Malaysia is go around and talk to the retail people and ask which retail outlet were you from before this, or are you new? Right, right. That's great. That's great. Okay, so I guess that's it for the interview. Thank you very much for your time. Do you have any messages for Malaysians watching now?
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Deirdre O'Brien5:36
Well, thank you so much. It's been really wonderful to speak with you. And I just want to say to all of our customers in Malaysia, we cannot wait to welcome you to our new store. We are so excited to see you. Our teams are so happy to serve our customers there. So, join Malaysia!
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Interviewer5:52
So that was it. Deirdre was a very nice person. You love gadget videos like this, don't forget to subscribe to this channel, follow me on all social platforms. My name is Smash Poop, and I'll see you in the next video. Yo!
