Jony Ive has been working at Apple for decades and has decided that it would be better if he worked on Apple projects from his outfit which is called LoveFrom. That way he can branch out into exciting shapes that no-one else has thunk of such as the rounded triangle or even a Kumquat shaped PC.
The Tame Apple Press is tearing its hair and smacking its rabbit over the news. Apple is doing its best to make sure that everyone is reassured that it is not going to start making PCs which look like grey boxes.
Apple’s supreme ruler and profit, Tim Cook, said that Apple will continue to benefit from Ive’s talents by working directly with him on private projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built.
Ive began leading Apple’s design team in 1996, before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company as it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Ive’s designs included the original iMac desktop computer in 1998, the iPod in 2001 and the iPad in 2010.
Two existing Apple designers have been chosen to sit in Ive's mighty turquoise desk with Newton's cradle desk toy and the picture of the Steve Jobs on the minimalist surface.
Apple has named them as Evans Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will report to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, the company said. It is not clear who is doing the lines and who will design the curves yet.
Dye and Hankey have played key leadership roles in Apple’s design team for many years. They were among executives who took over day-to-day management of the team when Ive stepped away to focus on Apple's spaceship headquarters in Cupertino, California.
Jeff Williams gave the world the Apple Watch and he can have it back any time he wants. He has promised to spend more time working with the design team in their studio. Perhaps he might come up with a way that you don’t need to attach a device the size of a dinner plate to your wrist and recharge the thing every day.
Sabih Khan, a 24-year company veteran, will be senior vice president of operations. In recent years, Khan has inherited more responsibility for global supply chain operations that churn out hundreds of millions of devices per year—tasks once handled by Williams. Khan runs day-to-day manufacturing of the iPhone, as well as other devices, and his team has gotten involved increasingly early in the design process, which is why that is all working so well.
