For years, since Steve Jobs himself disappeared, one of the most representative faces of Apple has been that of Jony Ive. This fantastic designer has led the way in the company's products for almost three decades., and we're talking about the Apple that released the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, MacBooks, iMacs, and AirPods.
Obviously much of the success of these products is based on their designs, copied and imitated by practically all manufacturers to a greater or lesser extent. That is why the announcement that he is leaving Apple has had a great impact on the technological world, with the typical "prophets" who again announce the definitive decline of the company. But this has not been a matter of days, nor weeks, nor months. It has been a gestated abandonment for four years, and we tell you the details below.
Fundamental in today's Apple
Since Steve Jobs, the genius who created Apple and rescued it from bankruptcy, passed away in 2011, there are many who say that Jony Ive has been ultimately responsible for what products were launched, how they worked and what their design would be. His work within the company went beyond his role as a designer, and company sources placed him on the same level as Tim Cook. in terms of making decisions about the company's products.
However, in recent years it seems that the role of Jony Ive has been in the background. It all started with the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015, from that moment Ive began to give up responsibilities, according to what he tells us Bloomberg citing sources very close to the company. From supervising the work of the entire team on a daily basis, Ive went on to barely visit his office a couple of times a week.
In 2015 it all started
Precisely around that time, in an interview with The New Yorker, he admitted to being "deeply tired", assuring that the year before the launch of the Apple Watch had been the most complicated since it arrived at Apple. After those words, many began to assure that Ive's role in the company would begin to be less relevant. Just three months later Jony Ive was appointed "Chief Design Officer", leaving the supervisory role of the hardware and software design teams to two executives, Alan Dye and Richard Howarth. Two years later Ive returned to assume part of the responsibilities that he had given up.
Yet I've continued visiting the Cupertino offices just a couple of times a week, and many of the meetings were held in San Francisco to avoid having to move from his home to Cupertino. Occasionally they even met at their employees' homes, hotels or other facilities, even setting up an office in San Francisco to do much of their work at Apple. This "separation" of his responsibilities at Apple caused him to miss the launch of any of the company's products, something unthinkable in another era.
It has been something that has been happening over a long period of time. YOU HAVE been with Apple for about 25 years, and it has been a very stressful job during that time, it is time for everyone to take it easy.
And from now?
At first there will not be much change in the company, since Ive's role in Apple in recent years has been less relevant, according to a company source assures Bloomberg. But uncertainty continues to be generated in an aspect that the company has taken care of since its inception and that has always characterized it: design. Now that Jony I've gone Evans Hankey will lead the hardware design group. Hankey is a great leader, but she's not a designer, and it is the reason that doubts are generated about their role in the company. You will report directly to Jeff Williams, the company's chief operating officer.
What many fear is that without a "designer" head and with the design team under the direction of two "business" people a barrier can be placed to innovation that did not exist before. Before, Jony Ive responded directly to Tim Cook, and previously he responded directly to Steve Jobs. It was common to see the two walking around the company's facilities making decisions.
Knowing that this exit would generate uncertainty regarding the future of the company and its next products, Tim Cook himself made it clear yesterday in his press release that "Jony Ive was going to continue collaborating with Apple from his new studio."