Apple's Longtime Design Chief Jony Ive Leaving to Start New Design Company With Apple as a Primary Client

[smulji]

I honestly think this is best for both parties involved. Apple's design thinking hasn't moved a needle under Cook, and Ive will be allowed more freedom to be more open to more ideas. If he truly does continue to work for Apple under his own consultancy, and they aren't just saying that to cushion the stock prices, this will allow him to be more expressive and creative for future Apple products. And I do indeed believe that Apple's design culture will stay strong despite the leader leaving.

"If he truly does continue to work for Apple under his own consultancy, and they aren't just saying that to cushion the stock prices,"

This is Tim Cook's Apple, of course they're saying it to cushion the stock price. Cook is pro Wall Street as they come.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Yuck. No thanks.

“You can tell it’s a notes app because it looks like a notepad. Derp derp.”

HAHA .. and YET we ALL chose iOS because icons where heavily PUSHED to have quality over Android's and Microsoft's fisher-price quality. Yet Ive came in and made the "FLAT" design to which in iOS7 the audience barely applaused until the cheer from TIM. Funny how that is where hardware mobile GPU increased in function and power and yet we're going backwards in the UI quality.

the UI looks 'basic' not forward thinking or alive like it once was and could be. Yes I love paralax and a few other features ... but I don't think the "flat" icon was needed.

I'll BET you still love the CLOCK which has a second hand on the icon that STILL moves! Calendar shows the current DATE, Reminders even under Ive's iOS7 redesign STILL has been untouched until ioS13!! WOW blows my mind that junk hasn't properly worked since iOS 10!

I'll BET you LOVE TimeMachine though janu for real!

iMessage ... yeah you love those notifications for sure.

 

[EM2013]

“Apple will be one of Ive's "primary clients," which means Ive will continue to do design work for the Cupertino company.“

He’s leaving but he’s not really leaving.

 

[smulji]

Ive's team likely had little to do with the butterfly keyboard. That is engineering, not design. Ive might have had a say into the look of the keycaps; the embossing process; the corner radii; color,; material; font style, size, and placement; stuff like that.



And Forstall is still "consulting" with Apple. I think it's window dressing to help calm investor nerves. Schiller is next, which may not be a bad thing.



It's clear that Ive has not been involved at a high level with any of Apple's recent products. The iMac is basically a 7 year old design, as is the current MacBook Pro body. iMac Pro design is just a slight modification of iMac. iPhones have been iterative with absolutely asinine looking camera bumps. The only really cool looking product in a long time is the new Mac Pro. It smacks of a much younger, urban, more modern aesthetic than Ive has shown us.


Can you imagine the line of clients he's going to have? OMG!

What makes you think Schiller is next? I think he's done a great job. Under him, there's renewed focus and excitement in the Mac lineup, the App Stores are much better run vs under Eddy Cue's leadership

 

[pika2000]

Cook is a business guy. Jobs was a product guy. Jobs warned about letting the financial department ruins things.

Jobs warning about financial department stuff was from a different era. Even Jobs knew better than that and thus he handpicked Cook personally to replace him. Who knew Apple better, Jobs or you?
Besides, management != finance. Cook is the right person at this stage of Apple.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

It was past time for him to go. He seems to lack the supreme gift of knowing when to stop.

 

[MX20]

There are lots of flaws and less intuitive feature implemented on every Apple product. Did Jony Ive aware that the customer is going to buy an iMac that look virtually indistinguishable from 11 years ago...the chin design is quite out of place and should be gone by the year of 2019

If Apple folks are willing to do the right thing by listening through feedback for some improvements, the next iteration of iMac needs to make it even more accessible like capable of turning it into a standalone display and offer multiple choice of color with a minimum of 4, integrate touchbar&touchID into the keyboard as a default package.

 

[Tucom]

You know, the thing I'm going to miss most are his voice overs for product showcase and the hind the curtains design videos.

I think that's truly the most tragic loss here. Plus possibly a laptop that you don't have to squint to see the thickness of.

Seriously though, thank you Jony for your incredible design contributions that helped define Apple.

 

[Royksöpp]

Good job Tim.

 

[WhackyNinja]

Sad to see you go Sir good luck in your future ventures

 

[groove-agent]

Instead of stupid conspiracy theories here are some thoughts based on reality.

The team he built is still there and they will continue to crank out amazing stuff. (They already have been)

What would you consider amazing stuff? The 1st gen butterfly keyboard? The 2nd gen butterfly keyboard? The 3rd gen butterfly keyboard? Kidding aside, I think "amazing" might be a subjective term.

IMO, they haven't cranked out anything amazing recently. I would consider something amazing if it changed they way you lived your every day life (for the better), or the way you worked. The closest thing to that is the AirPods, but those are simply an accessory.

Building a super fast computer for an outrageous price is not innovative (Mac Pro, iMac Pro). If you built one for a reasonable price, that would be innovative.

 

[smulji]

What it means is he's out, but they're allowing him to save face. As soon as his new firm gets some other clients Apple will part ways with him. He's unlikely to have much if any involvement in anything Apple going forward, whatever designs he's already got in the roadmap he'll consult on if they need to tweak something but that will be it.

So you're implying that he got fired? If so, I disagree. I think he quit and this announcement is a way for Apple to save face and scare Wall Street.

 

[Glockworkorange]

My guess is Craig Federighi is named to take over Tim Cook within the next 2 years.

It’ll be Jeff Williams, but I’d rather have Craig.

 

[smulji]

You mean drive the ship into the ground. Read up on Apple history. They are coming very close to those dark years. Fleecing your customers never ends well.

Last time I checked people don't live forever. New blood will eventually have to replace old blood. That's life. For Apple to be successful it needs to be able to adapt to not only external changes but internal leadership changes via new blood. Otherwise it doesn't deserve to exist.

 

[iGobbleoff]

Golden Handshake and one of the worlds most desirable customers also, someone’s going to keep living the dream

 

[pika2000]

That is what Apple was supposed to have. It was Steve’s vision. Tim Cook was supposed to take control through a period of stability. This would allow time for Forstall to finish training, as he was personally groomed by Steve to eventually take over operations. Tim Cook, in my beliefs, saw Forstall as a threat to Tim’s ability to take a ton of profits and stock out as CEO. He never championed any vision of the future. He only kept Apple on a straight line path trying to keep up what I believe were Steve’s final design and tech wishes.

So, Tim hasn’t done what’s best for the company. He has done what’s best for Tim. He has led the company to all time stock highs by buying back way too much stock instead of using profits to build out new technologies. Apple will never be a great visionary company as long as Tim Cook is the CEO. But the Board allows him to push his gay pride, eco conscious and talk via a list of main talking points.

I am not saying there’s anything wrong with gay pride, although I do think Tim should use his own money to spread that cause and it’s a good cause but not the responsibility of Apple. Now, the environmental stances Cook has taken that jobs would have never cared about like using renewable energy seem to be in the best interest not of Apple Shareholders and Stakeholders but of the core ethos of believers of longtime Apple purchasers. However, most people who buy iPhone probably couldn’t care less about that. But, I believe it’s necessary for good leaders to take a stance they believe in that’s good for the world.

In the long run, Tim Cook will be remembered as a great man who was able to grow Apple or AAPL into the valuable company it is - but I believe his key decision to fire chief threat Forstall was the biggest mistake he could make. Ive is important in the industrial design, but Forstall gets the big picture and has revolutionary software ideas. Before you go throwing out words like skeuomorphism and etc. Think about a new iPhone user picking up an iPhone XS/XR for the first time. It’s not intuitive. There’s a learning curve that came from the iPhones before it. This will cause a failure to adopt iPhone from people who may otherwise.

As a strategist, consultant, leader, and lifetime learner, I think Cook has had his time and the Board should do the proper thing and move on to not what will bring instant stability - the markets, economy and Fed will do that now - bring in a visionary, someone who understands users, consumers, and real world leadership. Tim Cook was a good successor to Jobs, but Tim should have never been allowed to fire Forstall. It’s almost like Forstall should have had a seat at the Board and guaranteed right of passage and time after Cook to champion a rebirth of visionary products. I cannot in good hope or faith think that Apple will ever present a revolutionary world changing product again. And if that’s true, it’s just a matter of time before it’s increasingly irrelevant how Apple lost its way, but allowing the executive team to grow older and not bringing in youthful visionaries who may not have had the best business sense but understood customers needs for the future and how AAPL could be a $10T company.

If you’re such a Forstall fanboy, why don’t you list out his achievements instead of berating Cook, a man that has been managing Apple since Jobs era. Let’s list out Forstall’s achievements post Apple if he’s so great.

Apple is no longer a one man show. Apple is no longer a small company. With the size of Apple today, Apple needs people that can collaborate well, not going rogue like Forstall. This is a different era when Jobs went back to Apple, Apple was near bankrupt back then. Yet even Jobs knew what Apple needed, thus he handpicked Cook himself to run Apple in the background. As a leader, you should’ve known better.

 

[Glockworkorange]

HAHA .. and YET we ALL chose iOS because icons where heavily PUSHED to have quality over Android's and Microsoft's fisher-price quality. Yet Ive came in and made the "FLAT" design to which in iOS7 the audience barely applaused until the cheer from TIM. Funny how that is where hardware mobile GPU increased in function and power and yet we're going backwards in the UI quality.

the UI looks 'basic' not forward thinking or alive like it once was and could be. Yes I love paralax and a few other features ... but I don't think the "flat" icon was needed.

I'll BET you still love the CLOCK which has a second hand on the icon that STILL moves! Calendar shows the current DATE, Reminders even under Ive's iOS7 redesign STILL has been untouched until ioS13!! WOW blows my mind that junk hasn't properly worked since iOS 10!

I'll BET you LOVE TimeMachine though janu for real!

iMessage ... yeah you love those notifications for sure.

I miss iOS 6 and Mavericks.

Go ahead shoot me, but that’s when Apple’s design was just...fun

 

[jujufreeze]

He will still work at Apple- just requires a dongle.

 

[fokmik]

so nothing really changed. instead of getting paidby apple. he will charge apple the same salary, or more, and still do the same job for apple and Other companies as well, if they can afford him

 

[Glockworkorange]

If you’re such a Forstall fanboy, why don’t you list out his achievements instead of berating Cook, a man that has been managing Apple since Jobs era. Let’s list out Forstall’s achievements post Apple if he’s so great.

Apple is no longer a one man show. Apple is no longer a small company. With the size of Apple today, Apple needs people that can collaborate well, not going rogue like Forstall. This is a different era when Jobs went back to Apple, Apple was near bankrupt back then. Yet even Jobs knew what Apple needed, thus he handpicked Cook himself to run Apple in the background. As a leader, you should’ve known better.

Forstall: iOS and full touchscreen. Tavanian’s team tried the iPod phone. Forstall gave us iOS.

Best article on Forstall I ever read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-10-12/scott-forstall-the-sorcerers-apprentice-at-apple

 

[pika2000]

What would you consider amazing stuff? The 1st gen butterfly keyboard? The 2nd gen butterfly keyboard? The 3rd gen butterfly keyboard? Kidding aside, I think "amazing" might be a subjective term.

IMO, they haven't cranked out anything amazing recently. I would consider something amazing if it changed they way you lived your every day life (for the better), or the way you worked. The closest thing to that is the AirPods, but those are simply an accessory.

Building a super fast computer for an outrageous price is not innovative (Mac Pro, iMac Pro). If you built one for a reasonable price, that would be innovative.

Yay, cheaper PCs. How’s that innovative? LOL

 

[smulji]

RIP Apple.

I predicted the new Apple display would have a (practically) zero bezel. Oink. I was correct. And now I predict the end of Apple as we have known it. Oink. itunes will be no more. And I predict Apple will completely do away with all i-prefixes within a year or two. In the future it'll be ( for example): Apple Phone, Apple Pad etc. The Jobs era is over, as of Mr. Ive's departure. We should be concerned, but all good things come to an end..... oink.

Watch out: Cooke might be the death of Apple. oink

The iPhone is the best-selling consumer electronics product of all time. No way Apple gets rid of that brand.

 

[-BigMac-]

He pronounces it as:
AlumiNIUM

alumiNIUM is the correct way to read it lol

 

[Spock]

I wonder if Apple will be the only tech company that gets his designs or could Samsung hire his company if the money is right?

 

[4jasontv]

Junior employees always do what their bosses want them to do. They get assigned tasks, and they suck up to the boss. Yes, there were teams of people working under Jony Ive doing most of the actual work, but they did it at his direction, under his parameters, and they naturally would have their work biased by his vision, for good or ill. Nobody at Apple was going to turn in a design that was something they knew Jony wouldn't like, or flew in the face of his particular design aesthetic or philosophy.

Anyone who has ever worked at a large company would know that low level employees have very little freedom to be truly creative, even when the job ostensibly calls for creativity. There is a strict framework, projects are assigned with the requirements already given from upper management, and an employee works within that framework using the tools they're told to use, to meet the requirements they're told to meet.

Yes. That was my point. Their terrible creativity was filtered by Ives. Remember when Apple tossed Jobs and they had no one telling the underlings to not do stuff? We got the Newton. Do you really want another Newton?