Jony Ive Remains 'Eager to Create' and 'Completely in Awe' About Creative Process

[ChrisCW11]

Cool, perhaps he can move away from "creating" fancy designs on the inside of things and bring that eagerness to the external appearance of Apple products. Certainly none of the Mac releases this year showed any eagerness to create anything new or inspired awe.

It is one thing to say that you don't have to redesign a product every generation just because, but most of Apple's designs are pushing 5 years, even the current iPhone design is reminiscent of the "old" iPod Touch and it would be nice to see some of Ives industrial design creativity coming out with a whole new generation of inspired product designs rather then continuing to just tweak the insides of Steve Job's era products.

Apple has been playing it safe for too long. They have become the VW of consumer electronics, saying something is all new and then the consumer is left struggling to identify any real difference between the old and "new" product.

 

[Naraxus]

Then go create on your own dime and get the hell out of Apple Ive. Your "reputation" as a design guru is certainly not earned and has ruined many a product line in recent memory.

The sooner he leaves Apple the better.

 

[kingjames1970]

While I admire a lot of his work, he does talk a lot of old bollocks. The only thing worse than this nonsense is the people stroking their beards and nodding in agreement.

 

[JustinRP37]

“We were able to make a keyboard so fragile that a grain of salt can render it useless, we hope to bring this technology to our displays soon”

 

[Thrutheroofnunderground]

In internals, in 2018 computers are being shipped with Soldered 128 SSD...really?
making computers disposable and NOT upgradable.
Macbooks Pro and Air would luck if you want to upgrade the RAM.

"For the first time, I remember being moved by obvious humanity and care beyond just the functional imperative."

What?!

He felt "connected" to the the design and felt that the people behind designing it cared as much about how it looked and felt as how it performed. It makes sense. It's essentially what makes things high end. Slightly better look, feel, finish to it than the lower "cheaper" option. Design nerds can relate.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

Says the guy who is ultimately responsible for the design of an iPhone which has barely changed in 4 years.

I'm not saying that I think it needed to, but saying stuff like this, you then have to wonder what does all day. Sitting in a silent room feeling terrified perhaps?

Playing with the Aston Martin configurator presumably.

Yeah. Imagine how truly accomplished his team must have felt going home at 2PM four years straight after developing such groundbreaking designs such as the iPhone 6S, 7, 8, XS and XR.

 

[now i see it]

I'll grant him that.
An empty Monday in an empty room at  with zero ideas would absolutely be terrifying.

 

[sosumi99]

*biting tongue to not snark about the disaster that is the rMBP TB*

 

[nwcs]

Lol, I don’t know what’s more amusing... Ive’s hyperbole or MR member’s extremism?

 

[Atticustas]

Cool, perhaps he can move away from "creating" fancy designs on the inside of things and bring that eagerness to the external appearance of Apple products. Certainly none of the Mac releases this year showed any eagerness to create anything new or inspired awe.

It is one thing to say that you don't have to redesign a product every generation just because, but most of Apple's designs are pushing 5 years, even the current iPhone design is reminiscent of the "old" iPod Touch and it would be nice to see some of Ives industrial design creativity coming out with a whole new generation of inspired product designs rather then continuing to just tweak the insides of Steve Job's era products.

Apple has been playing it safe for too long. They have become the VW of consumer electronics, saying something is all new and then the consumer is left struggling to identify any real difference between the old and "new" product.

“Most of Apple’s designs are pushing 5 years”...Emm seriously? The iPhone X design is the biggest change to the iPhone since the original, the current MacBook Pro designs, the iPad designs are completely new and the Apple Watch isn’t yet 5 years old so I don’t know what you’re talking about. How are the current iPhone designs reminiscent of the old iPod touch, or than the fact that they are rounded rectangles. The iPhone will still be an iPhone even when they change the design and the Mac will still be the Mac. I’m not really sure what you want them to

“The consumer is left struggling to identify any real difference between the old and the new product”. You can’t tell the difference between the iPhone 7 and the iPhone X? Seriously? I’m not sure what you want them to do.

They certainly deserve criticism in other areas and I agree that they are playing it somewhat safe compared to Steve a Jobs era but I think they are still doing a good job of improving the designs in significant ways.

 

[rafark]

I hate this guy.

 

[LeeW]

His best two options. Spend more time at Apple trying to fix his mess than trotting the globe giving speeches or resign.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I am going to be honest with you, but I don't think Jony has done any actual work in the design studio since Jobs died. He is basically a figurehead there who narrates the function of a new product at the launch event and thats it. The products you are seeing now that come out of Apple are other designers, I don't think Jony has much say in what becomes the next iPhone or iPad.

There is nothing wrong with it either and its probably a good sign, which means, Apple is not at the mercy of Ive to design whats next. I am sure Jony is not the one who has increased Apple's R&D to over 10 billion either. At the same time, Jony retiring from Apple or removed from the company would look bad in the eyes of shareholders; especially with sales of the iPhone starting to reach its peak.

So, he is basically an emeritus, a fundamental part of the resuscitation of Apple in 1997 and Steve Jobs return.

 

[I7guy]

SJ, Jony, and Phil were Apple's creative troika. Apple explicitly stated this in early Apple University classes. Once the band broke up, everyone started drifting. The state of things today is the result.

What state of things today? 1T? AW, HomePod, airpods, bigger phones?

 

[LeeW]

I am going to be honest with you

You are probably right but the issue is that it's his ideas that have been passed on to whoever is designing so the result is the same whether he does it or not.

 

[I7guy]

Then go create on your own dime and get the hell out of Apple Ive. Your "reputation" as a design guru is certainly not earned and has ruined many a product line in recent memory.

The sooner he leaves Apple the better.

He’s not leaving anytime soon, just like Cook isn’t leaving anytime soon.

 

[pika2000]

And this is why innovation in Apple has been dead for years.

The external iMac design has not changed in 10 years.
Mac mini same external box after 4 years.
Mac pro was a complete failure.

In internals, in 2018 computers are being shipped with Soldered 128 SSD...really?
making computers disposable and NOT upgradable.
Macbooks Pro and Air would luck if you want to upgrade the RAM.

I would like to know where is the innovation??
Innovation in Apple has been in price only by increasing prices in the entire line up with zero innovation.

Soldered components and non-user accessible parts computers are Steve Job's original vision. Jobs wanted to make a computer as an appliance. He said that multiple times. He did get it, the iPad.

Innovation is happening on the silicon side. Apple has arguably the fastest and most power efficient mobile SoCs right now in the age of diminishing innovation (look at intel core chips, and even Qualcomn's in a sense).

 

[Winni]

Mac pro was a complete failure.

Commercially, probably, yes. For real power-users and people who needed a success to the previous Mac Pro workstations? Yes, they probably failed there as well.

For me personally, I think the trash can Mac Pro is a beautiful - quiet! - and powerful enough desktop computer. I refuse to pay that much money on a private computer, but I can justify the price for a work horse at my work place, where it performs very nicely. (And yes, it also runs Ubuntu... You just have to take care of that weird mix-up of the audio ports -- 'speaker' is 'headset' and vice versa and you have to plug something into both ports in order to get it to work on Ubuntu.)

Anyway, I'd buy that machine again -- and I rarely say that about a computer these days...

 

[Peter_M]

I getting a bit tired of these tech industry "safe spaces" in mainstream media and academia, where all questions are soft balls. There are lot of issues going on right now, pertaining to freedom of speech, allowing for political diversity, censoring of moderate conservative voices (while ignoring incendiary rhetoric from far left ideologues), private information used for commercial means etc. Instead, we are getting insipid platitudes masquerading as "hard-hitting" debates and interviews. Give me a break.

 

[HiVolt]

I don’t think I’ve ever come across somebody who manages to speak only in Apple product voiceover as though it’s a language.
View attachment 805487

I'd probably shoot myself if I had to speak with him for an extended period of time. His voice & delivery, just like Tim Cook's, annoys me to no end. From the current Apple execs, I much prefer Phil Schiller or Craig Federighi speak.

 

[weup togo]

What state of things today? 1T? AW, HomePod, airpods, bigger phones?

People who make comments like this are usually new to Apple in the last ten years or so.

 

[vixster1901]

And this is why innovation in Apple has been dead for years.

The external iMac design has not changed in 10 years.
Mac mini same external box after 4 years.
Mac pro was a complete failure.

In internals, in 2018 computers are being shipped with Soldered 128 SSD...really?
making computers disposable and NOT upgradable.
Macbooks Pro and Air would luck if you want to upgrade the RAM.

I would like to know where is the innovation??
Innovation in Apple has been in price only by increasing prices in the entire line up with zero innovation.

AND AND a keyboard that doesn't work. The MAIN input device!

 

[kemal]

You call it "create". I call it damage.

 

[trip1ex]

"I realized that what you make represents who you are."

So in other words they are all snobs.

I like me Apple products but always found they do a little too much race to the top just like the other guys do too much race to the bottom.

And lately Apple really racing to the top with all the price increases. The price of every one of their products in the past 2 years seems to have gone up 20%.

 

[whooleytoo]

Wonderful.

Now stop drinking your own kool-aid and design better products. Focus less on thinness and more on strength and battery life. Function over form (but ideally both). Stop giving us video monologues at product launches about wonderful the design process was, tell us specific details of the product and let us decide for ourselves. You can't learn anything from your users once you stop listening to them.