Jony Ive's Involvement at Apple Reportedly Tapered After the Original Apple Watch Launched in 2015

[Pearple]

Steve would have never allowed this. He would have made Ive an offer, he couldn’t refuse. He would have locked the main gate and would have told him, that he can take the keys out of his cold dead hands.

Another fail for Bozo Cook.

 

[djcerla]

Am I the only one who's not surprised by this? Ive is at his core, a designer. His reduced role at Apple these past few years is reflected in their products. Innovation has been absent since Steve's passing and now I fear design has also left the building. Apple has changed and not for the better.

Interesting how the haters narrative quickly adaped to the news, switching from "Jony Ive is destroying Apple" to "His reduced role at Apple these past few years is reflected in their products".

Innovation has been absent since Steve's passing and now I fear design has also left the building

Absent.

My watch makes me a goddam EKG and I wear voice activated computers in my ears. But innovation has been absent.

 

[DNichter]

People move on in life. He’s been with Apple for so long, he wants to design other things. I certainly don’t blame him. I also don’t see it as a problem for Apple. New blood or direction in their design may end up being a good thing. Either way, they are just tech products. Some will like them and buy them and some won’t.

 

[LizKat]

Steve would have never allowed this. He would have made Ive an offer, he couldn’t refuse. He would have locked the main gate and would have told him, that he can take the keys out of his cold dead hands.

Another fail for Bozo Cook.

Nah. We're all jes' guessin' at how (and why) the new arrangement came to pass. It will be fine for everyone. Or anyway it will be whatever it will be after it's news we can abuse...

 

[DNichter]

Steve would have never allowed this. He would have made Ive an offer, he couldn’t refuse. He would have locked the main gate and would have told him, that he can take the keys out of his cold dead hands.

Another fail for Bozo Cook.

Steve’s gone. Nobody knows what Steve would have done and it honestly doesn’t matter at this point. Maybe he would have been happy for his friend to take on a new challenge. You certainly have no idea. The Steve would have done this... crowd never made sense to me.

 

[MattMJB0188]

Hopefully it means more!

Says just you. We don't want the flat look or ugly notches on our phones.

 

[I7guy]

Steve would have never allowed this. He would have made Ive an offer, he couldn’t refuse. He would have locked the main gate and would have told him, that he can take the keys out of his cold dead hands.

Another fail for Bozo Cook.

By what can be measured objectively (as opposed to an opinion from an anonymous internet poster) Cook didn't fail at anything. As far as Steve this and Steve that, did you speak to him recently, to get his views on the matter?

Says just you. We don't want the flat look or ugly notches on our phones.

You don't speak for me, when you say "we".

 

[ipponrg]

Steve’s gone. Nobody knows what Steve would have done and it honestly doesn’t matter at this point. Maybe he would have been happy for his friend to take on a new challenge. You certainly have no idea. The Steve would have done this... crowd never made sense to me.

When Steve was at the helm, momentum was showing more focus on product and less on profit revenue. It’s also well known he had strong opinions about the design.

I feel many complaining today were the ones that were excited about where Apple was going when Steve was alive and directing.

On the flipside, it’s obvious that Tim Cook is leading Apple in a different direction. For better or worse, it is definitely different than Apple in the past. Personally I dislike this direction. Fortunately I’m not the only one, and I am glad that competitors are upping their game

 

[I7guy]

When Steve was at the helm, momentum was showing more focus on product and less on profit revenue...

This is nothing but a meme at this point in time.

 

[smirking]

Behold the genesis of the "butterfly" keyboard.

Which is interesting because everyone here thinks that Ive was behind that.

 

[willnpc]

Now it all makes since...You think Ive approved of that new camera layout on the next iphone? No way...He wants to leave before the sht really hits the fan

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Man, are the haters here really so full of impotent rage that they don’t see how fundamental Jony is to Apple’s success? It’s like John leaving the Beatles and people saying ‘good riddance’. I mean, Ive practically IS Apple.

I disagree.

STEVE was Apple. HE was the one to provide the many 'no's to every 'yes'.

What's been happening since his death is a steady decline away from the machines we had into appliance-dom across ALL products, even PRO ones!

The deal is, those appliances are still very, VERY good.

So to hear he's leaving and had a diminished role in recent times, coupled with the obvious infusion of 'hell yes' evident in the last WWDC, I'm thinking Apple's future looks bright without him.

Apple has and still is transforming into something new (even if I don't like everything I see currently and miss how things used to be).

Sometimes I love the work of the influenced, even over the influencers. I like the Beatles, but also Oasis. Love Led Zeppelin, but prefer Soundgarden. Black Sabbath is amazing, but I also love many bands that were heavily influenced by them.

Yes, I'm an old headbanger.

 

[xXRainKingXx]

Save us Forstall.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Steve’s gone. Nobody knows what Steve would have done and it honestly doesn’t matter at this point. Maybe he would have been happy for his friend to take on a new challenge. You certainly have no idea. The Steve would have done this... crowd never made sense to me.

Agreed, although because Steve was very vocal about his philosophy behind Apple products some of us can't help but compare them against the current status-quo, particularly product-wise.

I have to hand it to Tim Cook for taking Steve's advice regarding him not doing what Steve would do, but what's "right". He certainly took Apple in a different direction, and even if I don't agree with a great many of his decisions, he has kept Apple on a successful and innovative path while going his own way.

In a sense, I see Apple as more adaptable than ever now. I'm genuinely curious to see what happens now the old guard is gone (well, Tim's the last, no?)

 

[nouveau_redneck]

Steve would have never allowed this. He would have made Ive an offer, he couldn’t refuse. He would have locked the main gate and would have told him, that he can take the keys out of his cold dead hands.

Another fail for Bozo Cook.

When a person gets tired of a job, that means burnout. It happens - and once it does, no one can hold that person back from moving. It is what it is. Many, including myself think it's a good thing to get fresh people on board when someone is no longer contributing in a positive way.

As for Tim Cook, he is doing an excellent job. I hope he stays long term.

 

[teejaysplace24]

...some employees are also said to be concerned that the re-organization is another sign that Apple is less design-focused and becoming more of an operations company.

Apple became an operations company the day their Chief Operating Officer became CEO. Nearly every move they've made since has been about increasing short-term revenue with only superficial nods toward their design and innovation legacy.

It's interesting to note Ive's decreasing involvement, though. IMO, Apple's last great design was the Apple Watch. I'm new to the platform, but experiencing it for the first time really reminded me of what it was like to buy a Mac 15 years ago. There was so much attention to detail in every single aspect. Opening up a new Mac today is like opening up a really expensive PC, where you bust out your check list of everything that might not work. Even the packaging feels less magical (although I'd gladly trade a fully functional computer for fancy packaging.) With the exception of the watch, Apple's basically been recycling the same fundamental designs since 2007, shaving off both thickness and quality wherever they can.

The one hope here is maybe with an apathetic Jonny gone, some ambitious young designers will step up and try to push the envelope in new and exciting directions. It would be nice to see Apple try, even if the efforts don't always land. Whether Apple (read: Tim Cook) will actually allow them to is an entirely different story. My guess is that as soon as the innovations comes attached to a dollar sign, the answer is going to be "Nice try."
[doublepost=1561832572][/doublepost]Also, on an unrelated note, anyone notice from the images attached to these stories that, despite being a noted fitness nut, Jonny seems to have aged like the President since Steve died? Lord, I he enjoys his new gig. He's certainly earned it.

 

[nouveau_redneck]

...(although I'd gladly trade a fully functional computer for fancy packaging.)...

I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone mention that. Was that sentence a mistake?

 

[ipponrg]

As for Tim Cook, he is doing an excellent job. I hope he stays long term.

Agreed. I hope Tim Cook stays longer to help Apple's shares fluctuate as much as they do for fast profits.
[doublepost=1561839293][/doublepost]

This is nothing but a meme at this point in time.

Not sure what you mean by that.

 

[I7guy]

...
Not sure what you mean by that.

A ceo responsibility in part is revenue and profits.

 

[Kram Sacul]

Hopefully this means no more notch in future iPhones, or ugly flat design in iOS.

So basically something from 10 years ago. No thanks.

 

[swingerofbirch]

It's crazy they did so much to get him to stay yet fired Forstall over a problem that should have been evident to Tim Cook and was evident to all the iOS beta testers the summer before Maps' release. I think their hubris over needing have an alternative to Google Maps was so great that someone at the top insisted it be done despite it being impossible to scale something up that fast. They wouldn't have made Ive make a public apology for a failure—he never even had to speak on stage.

If they're desperate for his design aesthetic, open an IKEA catalogue.

 

[Rogifan]

It's crazy they did so much to get him to stay yet fired Forstall over a problem that should have been evident to Tim Cook and was evident to all the iOS beta testers the summer before Maps' release. I think their hubris over needing have an alternative to Google Maps was so great that someone at the top insisted it be done despite it being impossible to scale something up that fast. They wouldn't have made Ive make a public apology for a failure—he never even had to speak on stage.

If they're desperate for his design aesthetic, open an IKEA catalogue.

Forstall wasn’t really fired over maps. Tim Cook never said why he was let go. The only thing we got from stories after his ouster were that the rest of the executive team didn’t get along with him. Bob Mansfield refused to attend meetings with him if Tim Cook wasn’t present. Phil Schiller was annoyed because Forstall wouldn’t tell him about iOS changes until very late in the process.

Incidentally according to the twitter account @eli_schiff, Ive wasn’t involved in the design of the butterfly keyboard. Don’t know how he knows this/who his sources are.

https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1144630438805331969?s=21
https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1144634358877364224?s=21

 

[swingerofbirch]

Forstall wasn’t really fired over maps. Tim Cook never said why he was let go. The only thing we got from stories after his ouster were that the rest of the executive team didn’t get along with him. Bob Mansfield refused to attend meetings with him if Tim Cook wasn’t present. Phil Schiller was annoyed because Forstall wouldn’t tell him about iOS changes until very late in the process.

Incidentally according to the twitter account @eli_schiff, Ive wasn’t involved in the design of the butterfly keyboard. Don’t know how he knows this/who his sources are.

https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1144630438805331969?s=21
https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1144634358877364224?s=21

I didn't know that about why he was fired—I guess I still don't know why he was, but I was under the mistaken impression it was over Maps.

And I never would have thought Ive was involved in the keyboard directly—indirectly in wanting it slimmer. I assumed he was more of a "how it looks" than "how it works" designer.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

This is a standard sort of thing for those handing over responsibilities. People seem to think he’s been pushed out but it could very well be he is eager for new challenges. I’m a designer too and work gets very boring remaining with the same company for many years. It’s nice to have a change every once in a while to challenge your own creativity.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

He made everything flat.