Another Designer Leaves Apple

[Admiral]

Couldn't disagree more - losing a Thunderbolt 4/5 port for a single use HDMI port that most users will never touch is a step backwards. I now can't charge from the right side of my MacBook Pro and use a USB port on that side at the same time. Ironically for all the moaning about dongles when we had 4 USB-C ports for my life setup I now NEED a dongle and USB adapter because there's not enough USB ports!

I like design first, I like something that is brutally different. If I just wanted a device that did a bit of everything badly there's any other tech company in the world for that.

I too would prefer more TB5 ports over, well, basically anything else. Apple holding back TB5 from "non-Pro" products is a mistake in my view. Apple historically has been on the leading edge of change in the industry, but under Tim Apple the company has been a laggard in several critical aspects. Apple Silicon and the revolution it's wrought notwithstanding.

 

[freezelighter]

Apple has been dead for many years now while the competition got better than ever, year by year.

For almost 20 years I truly believed there are no alternatives, because the hardware and software quality and functionality were exceptional - on another level.

Now I switch the whole ecosystem step by step and, considering the ongoing unacceptable situation with iOS, Siri, Apple Intelligence, iPhone design etc., there is nothing to regret at all.

 

[philfloyduk]

More doom and gloom. Someone leaves company…. they must be going out of business! 😱

 

[bgillander]

The apple we came here for is long gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if apple gets bought up by someone like Meta or Microsoft and product is outsourced to Temu and joins the bootleg junk sold on Amazon. That’s where we are now. I can’t wait to see who and what fills the vacuum tho.

We?

I came here for the actual Mac rumours prior to the iPhone introduction, and the current Mac lineup is actually my favourite in 42 years.

 

[Ferrandix]

We really need Jony Ive to come back. It's not like he's doing much of anything. Since leaving Apple for his new design team, I've only heard of one thing he released: King Charles Coronation Logo.

View attachment 2580522

He probably doesen’t really want to work again. And i understand that.

 

[macduke]

My favorite part is that it made waves internally, as if Apple thinks that they are still the premium destination for top talent and pay. Laughable.

They need to get their head out of their ass and get to work before nobody cares about them anymore. They’re lacking focus and vision from the top down.

 

[yabeweb]

At this rate I give Apple 3yrs before Linux takes over. There is no Jony without Jobs, and Steve must be revolting in his grave.

I have been hearing the same thing for like decades now, while i like Linux and it is great in few fields, it’s nowhere near desktop usage for regular people.

Also until commercial software is supported and running in Linux (professional grade i mean) it’ll still be behind.

Heck I’d use Linux if I could, but doing graphics with Inkscape and Gimp are a no no.

While those 2 and many other more are great for open source free program (heck they are great for what they are) they are no way usable in a professional environment.

Seriff ….well Canva now with Affinity could support Linux, but it’s an issue with spending time and money to develop something for a very small niche of user that would switch to Linux.

 

[fpnc]

Quite frankly, Apple silicon is the only reason that Apple is still relevant in the marketplace and I doubt that either Jony Ive nor Abidur Chowdhury played any meaningful role in developing Apple's "A," "S," and "M" series of processors.

 

[bergert]

We really need Jony Ive to come back. It's not like he's doing much of anything. Since leaving Apple for his new design team, I've only heard of one thing he released: King Charles Coronation Logo.

View attachment 2580522

NO.

Ive was really good for Apple in the early years, when engineers had a say and would make sure the design was practical too. Then he got promoted SVP. After Ive leaving the MBP suddenly got more than two ports, card reader and magsafe charging. All these were removed under Ive. Even the small MBP now has two USB ports because the CPU does not have enough lanes for TB - but Ive would refuse to "add" any ports distracting from his design. A single port and lots of dongles (HDMI, USB-A, Ethernet, Card-reader,...).

He would have never done a large heatsink for a MacMini which is the Studio, a great replacement over the trashcan (I've both). Apple later admitted they "designed themselves into a corner" with the sleek (yes!!!) trashcan. Ive is very good, but his late designs are "meh". The new Mini with the power button underneath shows Ive's rigid design philosophy. "Humane AI pin"... anybody?

 

[bgillander]

Couldn't disagree more - losing a Thunderbolt 4/5 port for a single use HDMI port that most users will never touch is a step backwards. I now can't charge from the right side of my MacBook Pro and use a USB port on that side at the same time. Ironically for all the moaning about dongles when we had 4 USB-C ports for my life setup I now NEED a dongle and USB adapter because there's not enough USB ports!

I like design first, I like something that is brutally different. If I just wanted a device that did a bit of everything badly there's any other tech company in the world for that.

While you could very well be correct that most users will never touch a single use HDMI port, I expect that most users would also not use more than three USB-C ports at a time. It is impossible to please everyone, which is why Apple is stuck having to target as “most” as possible.

 

[Petite messe solennelle]

There is no Jobs without Jony. That’s the point.

It was the other way around: no Ive without Jobs.

Ive needs a supervisor who can veto him.
He hasn't managed anything since he left.
And if you ever heard an interview with Ive...

 

[svish]

Good to know about the changes within Apple. A lot of people have left Apple this year!

 

[bgillander]

I too would prefer more TB5 ports over, well, basically anything else. Apple holding back TB5 from "non-Pro" products is a mistake in my view. Apple historically has been on the leading edge of change in the industry, but under Tim Apple the company has been a laggard in several critical aspects. Apple Silicon and the revolution it's wrought notwithstanding.

That’s a pretty big “notwithstanding”, though.

I could be wrong, but I think the TB5 limitation is at the CPU level, as the M5 MacBook Pro also seems to be TB4 only, so I expect the TB5 is only supported in the Pro and Max chips themselves. Now, since Apple does design the chips, it could make sense to say it is Apple limiting it, but a CPU architectural change is a major change and at least understandable, as opposed to actually intentionally limiting it by Mac product lines. I was hoping they would add it to the M5, so I guess time will tell if they continue to leave it off the base chips when they move to the M6.

 

[Wx_Man]

Hmmm….”unnamed AI startup”.

Could it be Jeff Bezos’s new AI startup “Project Prometheus” ?

Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive

Called Project Prometheus, the company is focusing on artificial intelligence for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft.

www.nytimes.com

 

[patent10021]

clam chowdry

I absolutely love the image for the article, it really contextually enhances it.

Indians love purple things. Purple pants, purple cars. He's Indian British so I think this was intentional lol

 

[sunapple]

We?

I came here for the actual Mac rumours prior to the iPhone introduction, and the current Mac lineup is actually my favourite in 42 years.

Favorite Mac lineup since Lisa.

 

[Promostyle]

We?

I came here for the actual Mac rumours prior to the iPhone introduction, and the current Mac lineup is actually my favourite in 42 years.

I came for the iWalk rumors and have watched the complete rise and fall. Glad you’re enjoying the state of the art. You’re in luck, nothing about it will ever change.

 

[cybeross]

Couldn't disagree more - losing a Thunderbolt 4/5 port for a single use HDMI port that most users will never touch is a step backwards. I now can't charge from the right side of my MacBook Pro and use a USB port on that side at the same time. Ironically for all the moaning about dongles when we had 4 USB-C ports for my life setup I now NEED a dongle and USB adapter because there's not enough USB ports!

I like design first, I like something that is brutally different. If I just wanted a device that did a bit of everything badly there's any other tech company in the world for that.

I’ve gone through every iteration since the PowerBook G4, including models without HDMI, and having it is a blessing every single day. Any video professional, or speaker, or presenter, or educator loves being able to plug in natively. I don’t miss the dongle days at all.

 

[bgillander]

I came for the iWalk rumors and have watched the complete rise and fall. Glad you’re enjoying the state of the art. You’re in luck, nothing about it will ever change.

I never said it wouldn’t change, but simply wasn’t moaning about the current state somehow being well past the end of the empire.

And I would simply move on from here if I felt that way, rather than test the limits of hyperbole, but I never was able to fiddle as well as Nero.

 

[Pezimak]

Hmm it will be interesting to see where Apple goes then with fresh blood designers and no Ive influence. Current products are fine, apart from the Air.

 

[Tig_one]

MacBooks have the right amount (and types) of ports again.

And notches.

 

[bgillander]

Favorite Mac lineup since Lisa.

Sorry I rounded up. I figured no one would be pedantic enough to know that it was 41.83 years, yet think it sounded reasonable to say it that way.

I didn’t actually try a Lisa, but I would expect it to be a yes to that, as well.

 

[sunapple]

Sorry I rounded up. I figured no one would be pedantic enough to know that it was 41.83 years, yet think it sounded reasonable to say it that way.

I didn’t actually try a Lisa, but I would expect it to be a yes to that, as well.

I owned a Lisa II for a while as a curiosity but didn't have software for it. I think a Mac-like computer that's also user expandable is better in some ways than even their modern machines.

I would argue that Apple has always been anti user since the 128k due to their closed designs and limited compatibility with the rest of the world, that hasn't changed much and will always remain their Achilles heel.

That aside, I prefer their lineup of the 2009 Snow Leopard days due to software.

 

[laptech]

Employee's start to lose respect for a company when senior bosses leave and are replaced with someone who is not of the same world as those they are managing. Jony Ive is a designer, his education and employment history has all been in the design world. So when he was made the boss of Apple's designed department, all of those in the design team would have respected his appointment because he was of the design world, he had a designers mind and therefore could understand the minds of other designers.

One of the hardest thing to accept when your a designer is having your idea/design rejected or dismissed. Whilst it would still be hard to accept, having someone of I've's experience making that decision is easier to accept because it is a very experience designer rejecting the work/idea of a least experience designer. That dynamic changes when you put a non designer in charge of a design team. When idea's and designs get rejected by the non designer, the designer starts to question the ability of the non designer boss to make the right decisions because they are not of the designer world. This happens time and time again in the employment world, employees getting fed up because their new boss is somebody not of their world and therefore does not understand them or the job at hand. This starts to cause frustration and anger with the employee's, they also start to feel underappreciated because their boss does not understand the world they work in.

I am sure if those leaving the design team since Ive left were honest enough they would say they left mainly because their new boss was not of their world and therefore would not be able to relate to the problems and issues that designers face.

I've seen it personally happen during my time at working at different manufacturing companies, an engineering boss leaves to be replaced with a manufacturing boss, engineers start to leave. Quality control boss leaves and is replaced by a sales boss, the QC people start to leave and so on and so on.

Until Apple get's another highly experienced designer in as the new design team boss, designers will keep on leaving the design team.

 

[gigapocket1]

You know what I see.. I think Tim Cook is being forced to resign from Apple for the mishandling of the AI.. They are hiding it behind “age”… but as a board member, you can’t be happy with it and the bleeding lost of talent. Makes sense to make the change.