NEW YORKER JONY IVE PRO

For a while, Ive was occupied with Apple Park, obsessing over $1,200 chairs, but eventually returned to his leadership role, taking back responsibilities from Alan Dye and Richard Howarth.Īfter 20 years, the time had come for Ive to move on-but his influence at Apple was so pivotal to the company's success, and its design organization so powerful internally, that the company was terrified to let him actually leave.

There were other signals, too: the Apple photo book celebrating 20 years of Ive's designs and the fact that he didn't even head into the office much at all, anymore. In 2015, Apple announced that he was 'promoted' to the position of 'Chief Design Officer'-a move that sounded good on paper, but signaled he was on the way out, as Stratechery pointed out at the time: In my estimation, whether Ive intends it or not - and I think he likely does, for what it’s worth - this is the beginning of the end of his time at Apple. To give up “management” in exchange for “thinking freely” is, when it comes to business, akin to shifting from product-focused R&D to exploratory R&D.

NEW YORKER JONY IVE PRO

Jony Ive moved from the man who unveiled the latest, shiny Apple products at its events, narrating videos and opining about aluminum, to taking a backseat, and rarely appearing at allduring blockbuster hardware events (at the Mac Pro event it wasn't clear if he was even there, until a brief appearance in the press room at the end).

Apple's legendary designer, Jony Ive, is leaving the company-but you'd be forgiven for being surprised he was still there. If you read the tea leaves closely, there are plenty of signs that Ive checked out about four years ago, but it was hard to spot if not watching closely.

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