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

[matrix07]

No, it was Apple’s attempt to follow the trend Google popularized with their material design.

How can it follow Google material design when it announced a FULL year before?

 

[Classie]

It’s sad but not surprising. For a long time there has been reports about I’ve not being all to engaged. Introduction videos without his voice, even new products.

My biggest concern is if Apple can keep their love for design, like Ive clearly had (And before him Steve). The extraordinary speeches about details and story behind design choices aren’t nothing - it is a sign of truly caring about design.
If Apple design team manages and dares to value this, Apple will be just fine. Otherwise... yeah, lets not think about it

 

[oldmacs]

I don't understand what Ivy had to do with the butterfly mechanism. Wasn't that designed by the engineers? I was under the impression, please correct me if wrong, Ivy and his team dealt with the aesthetics, not the engineering.

I think the idea is that Ive was a major proponent of the 'Thinner at all costs' idea. They redesigned the keyboard mechanism to be thinner to allow that.

 

[citysnaps]

Sound like a lot of people here are jealous of Ive’s success and money.

That doesn't surprise me.

What they don't realize is a huge part of Apple's success is largely due to Ive's brilliance and designs. Designs that most other companies have ripped off. Much easier to moan-n-whine about the past being stuck in the good old days.

 

[richman555]

Jony Ives has lived the dream. He is likely financially set for life and can probably afford to do his own thing. Hopefully he remains available as an Apple icon such as Woz.

 

[chineseguy38]

No more polish stainless stain products. Hooray... No more easy scratch scratch.

 

[citysnaps]

I've not been a fan of the flat design since Day 1.

There's no way I would go back to the bubble button days. That was fine years ago getting users used to GUI elements on a screen, but so unnecessary now.

 

[IPPlanMan]

"Thinnest violin", that's rich.

You like that? Seemed fitting.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Speak for yourself, I am a big fan of the direction their hardware is heading (thin, USB-C, I love the butterfly keyboards if they weren‘t so prone to breaking).

I don‘t want a thick Macbook Pro or iPhone. Hope they don‘t do a gigantic U-turn in terms of product design under the new leadership.

He was. His comment was almost entirely about his feelings.

 

[oldmacs]

I really do think Jony Ive has been responsible for some fantastic designs at Apple. I just think it is a shame that in recent times the pursuit for thinness has hampered some products, making them have shorter usable lifespans, less functional and less environmentally friendly.

Having said that, he really did set the bar for what people expect from laptops (MacBook Pro Unibody) then his MacBook Air design basically started the whole ultrabook craze. The iPad designed defined the tablet market as did the iPhone to the smartphone market. Everyone has been copying Apple designs for years.

 

[navier]

For the Mac Pro there wasn’t any meeting at all I suppose...

 

[sunapple]

I like Jony, but I think this is a good thing. Remember, under his direction we have unrepairable devices that are partially glued together with soldered parts that used to be swappable. This helps Apple's bottom line but is horrible for the consumer. Thinner is not always better. I like battery life and ports, don't you? Many in the industry have copied Apple's philosophy and there are lots of Windows laptops out there with similar designs. Thank god some companies are still making laptops and desktops that are still expandable and have ports.

I'm not completely against holding Ive accountable for the direction of product design that Apple has taken, but do you really think it will change with his 'departure'?

And by the way, my XR is thicker than my 5 was back in 2012. And that's for the sake of features like wireless charging and, yes, battery life. Unrepairable and not-expandable Apple products go as far back as the 1984 Macintosh, that's in Apple's DNA and comes from the mind of Steve Jobs himself.

 

[x-evil-x]

Like I said yesterday in that story ives has been asleep at Apple since Steve.

 

[jerryk]

Sounds like the classic signs of job burn out. He probably should have left years ago. Wishing him the best in his next chapter.

 

[simonmet]

I think any designer wants to make the best possible product first, with economic factors and profits/margins coming second, perhaps even a distant second if at all.

Profitability obviously has to be a factor for any business, but I think Apple’s focus has moved too far away from principles of best possible design to one of maximising (wide) profit margins at the expense of design.

I also think Apple’s obsession with thinness and its failures around the butterfly keyboard (and other consumer-hostile choices) have their roots in profit-motivated thinking rather than design, because true design-led thinking and practice wouldn’t have allowed it—the keyboard especially.

I’m honestly surprised Ive stayed at Apple this long, though I’m sure they made it difficult for him to leave, with heavy incentives offered. As this article suggests, I thought the writing was on the wall four years ago.

 

[x-evil-x]

Ooooh poor thing...the money bag was too heavy I guess. And what exactly made him tired? The years and years of same design for the iPhone and Mac lineup? Or changing the colour theme in iOS? Without someone like Steve Jobs pushing him he's just overrated as hell right now.

Give a designer one thing to do for the rest of their life and watch them break down.
Designers want to build different things not one area. I’m sure Ives likes designing electronics and that’s why he’s staying on with Apple as a client. But he wants to expand his talent while he still can. Can’t blame him.

 

[Moonjumper]

The flat iOS design was Ive's and Cook's middle finger to Scott Forstall because he wouldn't take the fall for the Apple Maps debacle.

I do hope it wasn't just spite, that kind of shenanigans is the downfall of a company.

Skeuomorphic design had it's problems (the green baize look of Game Center being one of the worst), but usability went do in the change to flat design, and has dropped further since then.

 

[stevie grant]

I'm so tired, tired, tired of my job and the constant childish politics but can't leave because I have bills to pay. Wish I could be tired like Ive and not come to work whenever the eff I want to and complain all day for presenting the same damn designs for years on end while keeping millions of dollars to myself.

Talented people have more professional options.

 

[Viper2005]

Let us now hope the era of overly thin designs has come to an end.

 

[Royksöpp]

The reputation of the MacBook Pro has been tainted. iPhones are bland. iOS and Mac OS hasn’t seen a significant change in over 5 years. The iPad and Mac Pro were finally redesigned after 5 and 6 years. The poor iMac has also been neglected. Something obviously happened behind the scenes. Tim is all about money. Ives and Jobs combined art and commerce to create a winning combination. If someone needs to go it’s Tim.

 

[BroTim52]

I think Tim Cook and the new environment make jony quit... and the apple culture (it used to be) is long gone

 

[Ubuntu]

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.

Oh, come on. I'm happy to criticise Apple but "Innovation has been absent"? What about the Apple Watch, Air Pods, and iPhone X? And you make it sound like the Jobs era was just hit-after-hit of products when it really wasn't.

 

[BroTim52]

Apple needs a new CEO!!

 

[citysnaps]

I think any designer wants to make the best product possible first, with economic factors and profits/margins coming second, perhaps even a distant second if even at all.

Obviously profitability has to be a factor for any business, but I think Apple’s focus has moved too far away from principles of best possible design to one of maximising (wide) profit margins at the expense of design.

I’m honestly surprised Ive stayed at Apple this long, though I’m sure they made it difficult for him to leave (heavy incentives etc). As this article suggests, I thought the writing was on the wall four years ago.

For sure on that. I remember some of the past tories. And the transition of his responsibilities to give him more personal time.

It's a real shame to see him go, recognizing his brilliant designs coveted by so many competitors and Apple customers alike. And with that Apple's amazing success.

 

[ChrisMoBro]

The flat iOS design was Ive's and Cook's middle finger to Scott Forstall because he wouldn't take the fall for the Apple Maps debacle.

Or it was a push for function over form. Instead of more processor intensive looking graphics, they opted for a cleaner visual language that was easier to understand. iOS is better for it.