Jony Ive Talks Design, Steve Jobs, Future Tech and More on Stage at TechFest 2017

[LordQ]

I like his clothes though.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

I've is a smart man.

 

[iPhonefreak79]

I've always wanted to ask "why do you make the designs super slippery?", and "what do you think about majority of people disliking the new notch?"

 

[44267547]

If this was 2012 then I would agree. Seeing as it’s 2017 though and Apple has made questionable design decisions rather than a better or refined experience then I disagree. How is a notch that cuts into your content, be it photos or games, make for a refined experience? It is bad design.

View attachment 723990

This is what people will be looking at when they save their Snapchat pics to their photo library. A notch that cuts into and obstructs content you are trying to view.

The Notch is a subjective stance on how others accept it for what is or rebuke it. You can firmly believe in whatever you so choose, but nor do you have evidence of what the average (Non-tech) consumer will care about. On a tech site, the Notch is the end of the world for some. In the real world for the average iPhone user, not many likely care. I don't have an issue it, that's my preference.
[doublepost=1507317373][/doublepost]

So they make the same phone for 4 years in a row now?

Are smart phones expected to dramatically change physically each year? Based on what? Every year the iPhone improves in terms of added capabilities and features. Technology is a maturity process and the current iPhone design still suits many perfectly. If you want the latest physical changes, clearly the iPhone X is geared towards a specific demographic.

 

[Arm64MyMac]

Smartphone kings

Moral of they story; wear blue, not black.

 

[morcutt11]

What planet does he come from? This is so not true coming from a company who has the biggest profit margins on all its products from any.

What are you talking about? Apple's GPM is around 38% - far below Alphabet, Microsoft, etc. If, instead, you're talking about gross profit (not gross profit margin - GPM), then yes, Apple makes a bunch more that their tech counterparts, but that goes directly to Ive's statement. They are engineering products for the people. Hence, the products sell well to the people. In other words, it isn't about the tech, but about how the product will be used and what tech is necessary to enable that. NFC is a great example. NFC colluded have been added long before it was to compete with Samsung, but it wasn't about being first; it was about bringing a viable product to the market. NFC was pointless without supporting merchants and payment card issuers, as well as reasonable security measures, card-present transaction rates, etc.

 

[Superhappytree]

The Notch is a subjective stance on how others accept it for what is or rebuke it. You can firmly believe in whatever you so choose, but nor do you have evidence of what the average (Non-tech) consumer will care about. On a tech site, the Notch is the end of the world for some. In the real world for the average iPhone user, not many likely care. I don't have an issue it, that's my preference.
[doublepost=1507317373][/doublepost]

Nor do you have any evidence that the average consumer won’t care about it as they or none of us here have used one yet. I do know that a huge chunk of the average consumer uses Snapchat and saves their photos to their camera roll, takes many screenshots etc. I think they will notice that a black notch will be cutting into their photos. Same thing can be said for games. Maybe they will get used to it but I don’t know. It could be problamatic for Apple and frustrating for the consumer

 

[BigJohno]

tech you have been working on for 5 years and they couldn't design out that ugly notch... hmmm

 

[sza]

Apple can definitely live without Jony.

 

[deanthedev]

I hope he's including his products in that quote. Pretty sure most of us can, within a 2 week window, predict when that iPhone is coming out every year after year after year. Starting to get to the same level with the Watch.

Only if you limit your thinking to finished products and not to the individual technologies used in them.

Look at their purchase of Authentec. Everyone expected a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5. Didn’t show up until another year later in the 5S. Apple didn’t just throw in a sensor that was half-baked (like the disastrous Motorola Atrix). They refined it until it was ready, and it showed up in the following generation of iPhone.

If you look at all the hires and acquisitions of Apple over the years you can see this. People trying to predict when a technology or feature will appear based on when Apple acquired something, not when it was actually ready for a finished product.

 

[9081094]

Only if you limit your thinking to finished products and not to the individual technologies used in them.

Look at their purchase of Authentec. Everyone expected a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5. Didn’t show up until another year later in the 5S. Apple didn’t just throw in a sensor that was half-baked (like the disastrous Motorola Atrix). They refined it until it was ready, and it showed up in the following generation of iPhone.

If you look at all the hires and acquisitions of Apple over the years you can see this. People trying to predict when a technology or feature will appear based on when Apple acquired something, not when it was actually ready for a finished product.

You make it sound like all great things come from Apple and Apple makes the best ones if it’s late to market. Today Apple doesn’t implement the best screens, the best camera's, the best services, and the list goes on and on and the gap is widening by the day. If Apple isn’t about the profits it’s should price their 4 year old designs accordingly. Same for their aging computer lines. Selling 4 years old tech for the same prices is theft.

I give Apple credit for their iPhone in 2007, but their behavior today has put it to shame.

 

[Hellenek]

Cook, Ive, Cue, etc. all need to retire so Apple can hire on fresh new talent like Microsoft had to do. Their old thinking and complacency are dragging down the products and services.

Surely you jest!

 

[9081094]

Completely wrong.

Name one category they are excelling.... and please, not profits

 

[George Dawes]

scott forstall had style

ive , not so

 

[DNichter]

Nor do you have any evidence that the average consumer won’t care about it as they or none of us here have used one yet. I do know that a huge chunk of the average consumer uses Snapchat and saves their photos to their camera roll, takes many screenshots etc. I think they will notice that a black notch will be cutting into their photos. Same thing can be said for games. Maybe they will get used to it but I don’t know. It could be problamatic for Apple and frustrating for the consumer

The notch isn't saved through screenshots. Just an FYI.

 

[deanthedev]

Name one category they are excelling.... and please, not profits

Processors.
[doublepost=1507319779][/doublepost]

You make it sound like all great things come from Apple and Apple makes the best ones if it’s late to market. Today Apple doesn’t implement the best screens, the best camera's, the best services, and the list goes on and on and the gap is widening by the day. If Apple isn’t about the profits it’s should price their 4 year old designs accordingly. Same for their aging computer lines. Selling 4 years old tech for the same prices is theft.

I give Apple credit for their iPhone in 2007, but their behavior today has put it to shame.

So now you’re going to fabricate something I said (when I didn’t) and try to argue against that made-up statement instead?

Where did I ever say all great things come from Apple? Try and stay on track.

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

For a guy who supposedly knows what's beautiful, he always dresses freaking awfully.

People have different priorities.....

 

[redheeler]

I like this quote. Because I feel this is so true about Apple, where they want to make a product better and a more refined experience than what the competitors do. This is what separates Apple from everybody else and what makes their products and software so unique. They don't want to be the first, they want to be the best.

True for some things Apple has done, but not all of them. The Mac mini is a disgrace at this point, and likewise for 21.5" iMacs with 5400 RPM HDDs...

 

[Karma*Police]

If it took them five years to design the iPhone X I'd be surprised, the bezel-less display feels reactionary to other phone makers (not Samsung but just the smaller Chinese ones like Xiami)

The bezel-less part is just one aspect of it. I'm sure Face ID and developing a UI without a home button took a good bit of R&D. Also, unlike smaller firms, Apple has to wait for the tech to mature enough to produce 100's of millions of units, not just a few million.

 

[Naraxus]

Ive is lazy. Same phone design for four years in a row. Nothing new about the Mac portable line unless you count their asinine obsession with thinness & removal of ports professionals use on a daily basis. Creating an absolutely imbecilic design for the Mac Pro and then letting it languish for years to say nothing of his horrific sense of software "design".

He needs to be shown the door with Cue holding it open for both of them

 

[LordVic]

Everytime I hear Ive speak, it grates on me. out of every 1,000 words out of his mouth, maybe 5 of them actually have meat and substance. the rest is verbal masturbation of superfluous and self gratuitous back patting.

When you utlimately look at the designs with Ive's names on it, he's essentially only got a couple claims to fame that he has ridden on the backs of with minor tweaks for most of his career.

and those products were heavily influenced by prior art.

this isn't to say the iPhone isn't a great looking device. Though the iPhone 6 design we have today was more bland and iterative of the smartphone market than his own design.s The iPhone 5 would be the last true iPhone to carry the distinctive iPhone look/feel. Everything he's put his name on since has been "thinner" and iterative at best. From the MBpro to the iPhone 6. Even the Apple watch looks identical to the iPhone 1, in a smaller form factor.

 

[69Mustang]

Only if you limit your thinking to finished products and not to the individual technologies used in them.

Look at their purchase of Authentec. Everyone expected a fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5. Didn’t show up until another year later in the 5S. Apple didn’t just throw in a sensor that was half-baked (like the disastrous Motorola Atrix). They refined it until it was ready, and it showed up in the following generation of iPhone.

If you look at all the hires and acquisitions of Apple over the years you can see this. People trying to predict when a technology or feature will appear based on when Apple acquired something, not when it was actually ready for a finished product.

Of course I'm talking about finished products. That's what we buy - finished products. Based on the context of what he said, it's what Ive is talking about as well. Gonna be honest with ya... I have no idea where you're going here. It's a fair bit of distance between what I quoted from Ive and what you've discussed here. There's no relation.

 

[44267547]

Nor do you have any evidence that the average consumer won’t care about it as they or none of us here have used one yet. I do know that a huge chunk of the average consumer uses Snapchat and saves their photos to their camera roll, takes many screenshots etc. I think they will notice that a black notch will be cutting into their photos. Same thing can be said for games. Maybe they will get used to it but I don’t know. It could be problamatic for Apple and frustrating for the consumer

You're overly conflating between someone who dissects the Notch and the Technology behind it. The average consumer that doesn't frequent a tech site doesn't care about the Notch when they make their decision when purchasing the iPhone X. They base it if they can afford it, color and storage. That's literally it. The demand is overwhelmingly strong for a phone the basic iPhone user wanting this iPhone regardless. Especially given the nostalgia behind Face ID and the potential for this new security. It may be a design not appreciated by many for obvious reasons, but I agree with Federighi, that once this technology has the ability to debut, it will consumers to understand its true potential.

 

[melendezest]

Article quote:

"Sometimes design inspiration at Apple comes from poorly designed products, and that was the case with the iPhone. According to Ive, a loathing for the current phones at the time motivated Apple to come up with something new. "You think there has to be a better way of doing it," said Ive."

I like this quote. Because I feel this is so true about Apple, where they want to make a product better and a more refined experience than what the competitors do. This is what separates Apple from everybody else and what makes their products and software so unique. They don't want to be the first, they want to be the best.

I think that was true when Steve Jobs was at the helm.

And I believe it was he that gave the team the direction necessary to make devices not just unique, but brilliant.

Alas, Apple is going through the motions and thankfully the entire industry learned to make things better from Steve Jobs.

Today, the only things Apple can say are the best with a straight face is macOS (for now) and their profits.

I cannot think of a single thing Apple has made "better" or the "best" since Jobs' passing.

 

[dogslobber]

What planet does he come from? This is so not true coming from a company who has the biggest profit margins on all its products from any.

And Apple exists solely to maximize profits for shareholders. We own APPL and that is their singular focus for us..