Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Jony Ive Named Chief Design Officer at Apple, Alan Dye and Richard Howarth Take Over Day-to-Day Design Management
Apple today announced the appointment of Jony Ive to a newly created position of Chief Design Officer, allowing him to continue overseeing design aspects of numerous projects within the company while turning over the day-to-day management of the design teams to Richard Howarth and Alan Dye, who have both been elevated to vice president positions. Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the changes today in a company-wide email.
Alan Dye, Jony Ive, and Richard Howarth (Gabriela Hasbun for The Telegraph)
Stephen Fry, Tim Cook, and Jony Ive at Apple Campus 2 (Gabriela Hasbun for The Telegraph)
Team,Alongside the announcement, Stephen Fry has published an exclusive interview with Cook and Ive at The Telegraph that addresses the legacy of Steve Jobs at Apple and Ive's continually expanding role with the company, among other topics. That expansion of Ive's duties, which has seen him add user interface design and increase emphasis on retail store and Campus 2 design leadership to his previous position as head of industrial design over the last several years, has led to today's restructuring that will free up some of Ive's time.
I have exciting news to share with you today. I am happy to announce that Jony Ive is being promoted to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer at Apple.
Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5000 design and utility patents to his name. His new role is a reflection of the scope of work he has been doing at Apple for some time. Jony’s design responsibilities have expanded from hardware and, more recently, software UI to the look and feel of Apple retail stores, our new campus in Cupertino, product packaging and many other parts of our company.
Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design.
Richard, Alan and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.
Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.
Tim
When I catch up with Ive alone, I ask him why he has seemingly relinquished the two departments that had been so successfully under his control. “Well, I’m still in charge of both,” he says, “I am called Chief Design Officer. Having Alan and Richard in place frees me up from some of the administrative and management work which isn’t … which isn’t …”Apple's design team is a small, tight-knit group, many of whom have been working at Apple for many years. Last October, it was revealed Ive's close friend Marc Newson had been officially hired part-time for the design team at Apple, but Newson is not publicly taking on any expanded role in the latest shuffling of responsibilities.
“Which isn’t what you were put on this planet to do?”
“Exactly. Those two are as good as it gets.
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56 months ago
"...Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.
Tim
Sent from my Surface Pro 3"
Tim
Sent from my Surface Pro 3"
56 months ago
I guess this means that Apple isn't happy with the direction iOS 7 and Yosemite went.
No idea how you got that from this news.
56 months ago
pretty sure this is a start of an retirement strategy. he's tired, he wants to spend more time with family.
56 months ago
I guess there's no end to negative posters, even for generally innocuous and slightly upbeat news stories.
56 months ago
Whatever this means - whatever Jony has planned, I think some thanks are in order.
Thank you Jony for all the years of dedication to your craft. Through your passion for industrial design, the world of technology has become a more connected, prettier, and well thought out place.
You've even challenged those who never cared about design into stepping up their own game - and have you have won, Jony. Every tech firm cares about design now - it's their top priority!
Thank you, on behalf of all of the Apple Fan community :) :apple::apple:
Thank you Jony for all the years of dedication to your craft. Through your passion for industrial design, the world of technology has become a more connected, prettier, and well thought out place.
You've even challenged those who never cared about design into stepping up their own game - and have you have won, Jony. Every tech firm cares about design now - it's their top priority!
Thank you, on behalf of all of the Apple Fan community :) :apple::apple:
56 months ago
I don't get how that's better than having been knighted. Apple should have made him Design King.
56 months ago
So basically he's now got Steve Jobs' job.
Jobs didn't handle the operational or managerial functions of the company. He handled overall product vision, aesthetics, etc. Tim Cook handled all the unsexy stuff--and he was the best person in the world to do it.
They couldn't just ram Ive into this new role following Jobs' passing--though he was likely already doing much of it. The company had to be left in the hands of a single, well-known and capable manager. Now that Cook has kept it together and profits have continued to soar, it's ok to start showing the big picture.
The titles may be different, but at this point, Ive is doing what Jobs used to do (and likely did even when Jobs was there) and Cook is doing what he always did behind the scenes. It'll be interesting to see if this means that Ive takes a more public role at keynotes. Training for that part of the role could have been done and might make sense.
Jobs didn't handle the operational or managerial functions of the company. He handled overall product vision, aesthetics, etc. Tim Cook handled all the unsexy stuff--and he was the best person in the world to do it.
They couldn't just ram Ive into this new role following Jobs' passing--though he was likely already doing much of it. The company had to be left in the hands of a single, well-known and capable manager. Now that Cook has kept it together and profits have continued to soar, it's ok to start showing the big picture.
The titles may be different, but at this point, Ive is doing what Jobs used to do (and likely did even when Jobs was there) and Cook is doing what he always did behind the scenes. It'll be interesting to see if this means that Ive takes a more public role at keynotes. Training for that part of the role could have been done and might make sense.
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