When you see Apple’s products, you are looking at Jonathan Ive’s designs. Ive has been at Apple for many, many years and we expect that all good things must come to an end, right? Recently the New Yorker did an in-depth profile on Ive and based on some of the things Ive said during the story has led some to believe that it could be a Hint that the Apple Watch could very well be Ive’s last project at Apple.
For starters what clued some in as to Ive’s possible departure is how he started to list members of the team that had helped him with the Apple Watch. This isn’t something that has typically been done at Apple, and it also sounds like what one might say during a farewell speech. Alternatively it could simply be that the Apple Watch is such a huge endeavor for Apple and Ive that he felt it was only appropriate to thank the team members who contributed to it.
The profile also talks about how the Apple Watch and Ive’s involvement in software (like with the redesign of iOS 7) were “handcuffs” that was tying him to the company and preventing him from leaving, although Apple’s CEO begged to differ as he stated that Ive loved being at Apple and loved their products.
While Ive himself discouraged the idea that Marc Newson’s hiring could pave the way to his eventual departure, Laurene Powell Jobs wondered if “there might be a way where there’s a slightly different structure that’s a little more sustainable and sustaining,” with regards to Ive recently contracting pneumonia due to the “most difficult” 2014 he’s ever had since 2014.
In any case the profile is a pretty good read for anyone who’s interested in design or Apple, but whether or not Ive is actually leaving is just speculation for now, but what do you guys think? Would Apple be the same should Ive ever leave, and more importantly do you think that he will?
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