Apple and Jony Ive end collaboration
More than three years ago, Jony Ive resigned as Apple's head of design. Lest the shock be too great (and the stock price not plunge too far), Apple emphasized that Ive would remain involved with future products. The two parties entered into a consultancy agreement so that Ive could still get involved in future products from the sidelines. But that is now coming to an end, the New York Times reports. Apple and Jony Ive have officially ended their partnership.
Ive's departure was imminent. A book recently revealed that Ive has been out of place since the introduction of the Apple Watch. He encountered resistance when he wanted to position the Apple Watch as an ultra-luxury watch and then became less and less involved in new products. When the construction of the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino was completed, Ive left in June 2019 and founded his own design firm called LoveFrom. He confirmed at the time that he would still continue to work for Apple.
It would be a consultancy contract of more than $100 million, which immediately made Apple LoveFrom's most important customer. Actually, the contract was supposed to be extended, but that did not happen, say two sources closely involved in the contracts. Apple's last product in which Ive was officially involved was the 2019 Mac Pro. During his time at Apple, Ive regularly recorded promotional videos in which he spoke in a sweet voice about his inspiration for a new Apple product and the challenges it faced. had to be overcome. During keynotes, Ive was almost never seen on stage. After his departure it was unknown which products Ive had worked on. An interview with composer Hans Zimmer shows that Ive still had a hand in the AirPods Max from 2020.
It's an important moment for both Apple and Ive. For over 30 years, Ive designed major products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and the brick-and-mortar Apple Stores. Many products became iconic, but Ive also made a few blunders. His urge for an ever thinner MacBook, for example, was so great that the keyboard started to malfunction. Since Ive left, Apple often opts for a somewhat thicker design.
Want to know more about Ive? There is a Jony Ive biography in Dutch or English, but it dates back to 2013 and mainly tells about the early years. How things went wrong after that can be read in the book After Steve.
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