Fortune:

There are lots of things people wonder about Ahrendts. Why did she, the celebrated architect of Burberry’s turnaround, give up her post as CEO and uproot her family to become, at best, the third or fourth most powerful executive at the $183-billion-in-sales tech giant?

Here’s another: What does Apple think Ahrendts—whom it paid an astounding $73.4 million in stock and cash in her first year—brings to a company that has redefined the technology and retail sectors, one that, at this point, seems not to need a whole lot of anything? And a third: What has she accomplished so far?

A lot of people don’t understand Ahrendts role at Apple, assuming she’d be as high profile at Apple as she was at Burberry. It’s the curse of short term thinking and not realizing that both Ahrendts and Cook are, as usual, playing the Long Game.