Apple's Jonathan Ive Considering Moving Back to England?

[MacRumors]

The Sunday Times reports that Apple designer Jonathan Ive and the Apple's board of directors are said to be at an impasse about his future. The British designer is said to want to spend more time in the UK while Apple's board seems unwilling to allow that. The report comes by way of The Daily Mail and Cult of Mac as the original article appears to behind a paywall.

Ive has reportedly been tied to Apple for the past three years based on a "golden handcuffs" deal from 2008. That deal is reportedly due now and will net the designer £18 million. The completion of this deal seemed to open these negotiations with even the possibility of his leaving the company. Ive reportedly has proposed to commute from Somerset, but Apple's board seems unwilling.

A friend of the family told The Sunday Times: 'Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them.'

Jonathan Ive has long been credited for being the principle designer for many of Apple's iconic products. Ive joined Apple in 1992 and has been responsible for the design of the unibody MacBook Pro, iPod, iPhone and iPad. His name was even thrown around as a possible successor to Steve Jobs in 2007.

Article Link: Apple's Jonathan Ive Considering Moving Back to England?

 

[miles01110]

Makes sense... because in this day and age he wouldn't be able to communicate or send any design work back to the mothership in a reasonable amount of time.

Oh wait, this is 2011!

 

[I WAS the one]

ok, let me see if I understand right.

Steve is Sick and is not going to be with us in a couple of years..

Jonathan Ive is going back to England...

In 20?? there will be NO Apple as we know it today.

-----

We are screw.

 

[antster94]

Come home Jon! If he's been there for near enough 20 years it seems fair enough to let him go.

 

[g8orballboy]

Makes sense... because in this day and age he wouldn't be able to communicate or send any design work back to the mothership in a reasonable amount of time.

Oh wait, this is 2011!

I agree... Make the man happy and keep him at all costs. He's the best designer this generation has and apple should bend over backwards to keep him around in ANY manner

 

[fswmacguy]

This could be a game-changer for Apple:

Apple may choose to establish a major corporate branch in the UK.

 

[184550]

Makes sense to me, a virtual presence is simply not the same as actually being there.

Who knows what his/ the teams 'creative' process is like.

 

[Littleodie914]

Apple will be in trouble without Jon designing their products.

Seriously, this does not bode well.

 

[TMRaven]

Hopefully they can come to an agreement. if anybody were to replace steve I'd want it to be jonny.

 

[Maverick713]

This could be a game-changer for Apple:

Apple may choose to establish a major corporate branch in the UK.

I didn't gather that at all from the article

 

[fltman]

ok, let me see if I understand right.

Steve is Sick and is not going to be with us in a couple of years..

Jonathan Ive is going back to England...

Scary, should I sell my APPL?

 

[deadkennedy]

******* £18M if you have to eat processed American cheese, plastic tomato and steroid induced chicken.

 

[Illuminated]

 

[balamw]

Grumble.
(CURMUDGEON)
http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/992333/8562.htm

Principle can never be an adjective, and that is where most people err. It is a noun only. referring to a fundamental law or concept or to a code of conduct, often used in the plural, as in "moral principles."

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/principle

Ive is the principal designer.

Now get off my lawn.

(/CURMUDGEON)

B

 

[Apple OC]

Apple will be in trouble without Jon designing their products.

Seriously, this does not bode well.

People talk like he is the only guy working there ... life goes on.

and in business ... anyone and everyone is re-placeable.

 

[brock2621]

No!No!No!No!No!No!No!No!

Apple honestly can't afford to lose him. Pay the man what he needs and do what must be done to keep him.

 

[EricNau]

I'm not certain this comment makes sense to me:

"Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them."​

If he's "just too valuable," then why would Apple relieve Ive from his position? Apparently the Board feels that no Ive is better than an Ive working overseas. Either that, or Apple is bluffing in the hopes of retaining him in Cupertino.

 

[miles01110]

I'm not certain this comment makes sense to me: "Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them."

If he's "just too valuable" to Apple, then why would they relieve Ive from his position? Apparently the Board feels that no Ive is better than an Ive working overseas. Either that, or Apple is bluffing in the hopes of retaining him in Cupertino.

I think it was more along the lines of:

Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple in Cupertino and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them.

I don't really get it either, though.

 

[gramirez2012]

Are you kidding? Steve would never let him go. Period.

 

[Tom8]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Daily Mail is a right wing rag, it'll be ******** no doubt.

 

[firestarter]

Couldn't he just use Facetime™?

 

[Macopotamus]

Steve Jobs is away and now Ive might leave? Not good, those two guys are geniuses and make Apple products what they are today.

 

[quagmire]

There is always Chris Bangle out there. Bangle butt MBP anyone?

 

[LethalWolfe]

Makes sense to me, a virtual presence is simply not the same as actually being there.

Who knows what his/ the teams 'creative' process is like.

Will the creative process be more negatively impacted by Ive doing more telecommuting, Ive leaving the company, or Ive being resentful that Apple is strong-arming him into not spending more time in his home country?

Why not let Ive do what he wants to do w/the understanding that if the performance drops off he'll have to return to the States or give up his position at Apple? After so many years with Apple and being a key figure in the turning around of the company I think he's earned a little slack on his leash.


Lethal

 

[Nebrie]

Just make a new deal with him, £64.0M ought to be enough for anybody!