Audio and Transcript: Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive speaks at The New Yorker's TechF...

AppleInsider

In a conversation at The New Yorker's TechFest conference in Manhattan on Friday, Apple chief designer Jony Ive gave a small glimpse into the development of the upcoming iPhone X, and the time that it takes for technology to catch up to ideas -- and AppleInsider was there.

Update: Per the request of The New Yorker, the full transcript and audio from the 2017 TechFest event have been removed. Full text coverage can be found below:

A reflective Jony Ive recalls the joy of joining Apple, the magic of making products that change people's lives

Jony Ive on iPhone X and Apple's future products: Design and ideas must wait for technology to catch up

Jony Ive recalls how Steve Jobs taught him to say no, especially when it hurts to do it

dcj0001

The title says "Audio and Transcript."

I see the transcript. Where is the audio?

jsnively

DCJ0001 said:

The title says "Audio and Transcript."

I see the transcript. Where is the audio?

Sometimes embeds don't always come through properly on the forums.
https://soundcloud.com/appleinsider-com/special-event-jony-ive-at-the-new-yorkers-techfest-2017

mike wuerthele

DCJ0001 said:

The title says "Audio and Transcript."

I see the transcript. Where is the audio?

As a general rule, if there's a spot for media, either YouTube or other source like Scribd for a PDF, you need to view it from the main page.

jdw

This man played a major role in bringing Apple to where it is today, but primarily because Steve Jobs held his minimalism in check.  That remains true even though Jobs was a fan of minimalism.  Steve has been gone 6 years and it shows.  Ive is the man responsible for gutting the MacBook Pro of pro features (e.g., built-in functionality that allows us to live a happy MBP lifestyle without endless dongles and card readers), and Ive is responsible for touting a new iPhone with an unsightly Notch as being something "lovely to behold."  I therefore could not care less what Ive thinks these days.  I used to think Apple made brilliant things because of Ive.  I no longer feel that way today.

Just because someone has done great things doesn't mean they always will.  And Ive has been monetarily compensated for his work far more than any of us would be compensated even if we worked through 4 life spans.  Ive therefore needs no special thanks or worship from us, the Apple faithful.

Steve Jobs once said, "It's rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able to really contribute something."  Steve was obviously talking about people other than himself because he contributed in a powerful way until the day of his death.  But Ive has just been coasting on the memory of Steve since 2011.  It's time to get some young blood into Apple to not merely "surround" Ive (with ideas) but rather to "replace" Ive.  Apple started as a company with kids in their 20's.  They had a youthful fire that rocketed them to greatness through Steve Jobs.  Look at who gets on the Apple stage these days.  They are mostly aging men with gray hair and very little fire in their eyes.  I say this as a man of 46.  Despite my age, I know the importance of youthful ideas to keep a company alive and kicking.  It's time for Ive to go.  He's run a great race, no question.  But it's time he pass the baton to someone better than himself.

kent909

When Jony says “And or there's just a flippancy and just this general sense of, "Well, we just have to get it done," and this, sort of, sense of inevitability.”. That statement to me confirms what the loss of Steve Jobs means. Apple cannot be the same without Steve Jobs and has to become something else. No one, no matter how much they want or try to, will  be able to keep Apple being the Apple we knew. Not anyone there now or that may join the company regardless of their age. Steve Jobs did’nt make Apple what it was because he was young, but because he was who he was. There will forever only be one Steve Jobs. We can all see the things that Apple is doing that we can be pretty sure Steve would never have done or allowed. The best example of this is the plethoria of different iPhones you can buy today. Eight, count them. When Steve died you could only buy one the 4S announced the day before he died. When Steve came back to Apple one of the first things he did was eliminate the complex product line. Today I have the same problem as people did then. I want a certain feature in my phone but it only comes in the “plus version” but I don’t want a phone that big. So I go without. So the iPhone has become like BBQ sauce where there are too many choices on the shelf in front of you to make the choice obvious or without sacrifice. So I guess this says that Jony is back to doing what he did before Steve came back. Being “ineffective”.

edited October 2017

arie

I am current,y reading the (very) good book by Ken Segall “insanely simple, the obsession that drives Apple’s success”. It a must read book to get a thourough understanding as to why Apple without Steve Jobs is not the same (in my humble opinion). 

concentricity

Does no one know the difference between "ascetic" and "aesthetic"?

redrogers

Ive is narcissistic and stale, and passed his sell-by date 5-6 years ago.

Apple keeps iterating on the same design philosophy of reductio ad absurdum. iOS hardware and user interface have merged into an arcane mess of self-indulgent complexity littered with tiny widgets and hidden tricks. After 20 years of frustration and high cost, I ditched the Mac platform over a decade ago for hackintoshes and will never buy their hardware again. As soon as a truly secure open platform alternative comes to the phone market, I'll dump iOS and be rid of them for good.

napoleon_phoneapart

DCJ0001 said:

The title says "Audio and Transcript."

I see the transcript. Where is the audio?

Read it aloud. There's your audio.

jdw

arie said:

I am current,y reading the (very) good book by Ken Segall “insanely simple, the obsession that drives Apple’s success”. It a must read book to get a thourough understanding as to why Apple without Steve Jobs is not the same (in my humble opinion). 

I have read pretty much every book on Steve Jobs and Apple except for that one.  Hopefully it does a better job covering the positives of the man than the highly praised “Becoming Steve Jobs.”  My review of that book is found on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/0385347405/R2RTN46SWYBPHP

bestkeptsecret

Pretty fucking sad when Ive draws as much negativity as Cue on this forum.

Everyone's a fucking critic.

edited October 2017

jdw

bestkeptsecret said:

Pretty fucking sad when Ive draws as much negativity as Cue on this forum.

Everyone's a fucking critic.

Including yourself, critical of us, your fellow Apple fans. Our discussion was actually going along pretty well, with all of us in agreement, until you posted.   But on the whole, I would say that Eddy Cue is much less favored than Johnny Ive. 

But as I said previously, I recognize Johnny Ive’s past contributions to Apple are significant and worthy of praise. Even so, his early contributions don’t dictate that all his future contributions will be just as important or perfect. Signs in recent products show that he is failing to contribute in the same ways he did in the past, especially in those significant years when he was under the direct guidance of Steve Jobs.  

Steve Jobs indeed taught Johnny Ive how to say no, but Steve Jobs also said no often to Johnny Ive.  Now that Scott Forstall is gone, there’s really no one at Apple now who says “no” very often to Johnny Ive. 

So what we are discussing, unlike you, are observations about Apple products and the man primarily responsible for their design, not merely us writing criticism for the sake of criticism.  

Give praise to Apple when praise is due, but give critical analysis when it is due. 

talexy

jdw said:

bestkeptsecret said:

Pretty fucking sad when Ive draws as much negativity as Cue on this forum.

Everyone's a fucking critic.

Including yourself, critical of us, your fellow Apple fans. Our discussion was actually going along pretty well, with all of us in agreement, until you posted.   But on the whole, I would say that Eddy Cue is much less favored than Johnny Ive. 

But as I said previously, I recognize Johnny Ive’s past contributions to Apple are significant and worthy of praise. Even so, his early contributions don’t dictate that all his future contributions will be just as important or perfect. Signs in recent products show that he is failing to contribute in the same ways he did in the past, especially in those significant years when he was under the direct guidance of Steve Jobs.  

Steve Jobs indeed taught Johnny Ive how to say no, but Steve Jobs also said no often to Johnny Ive.  Now that Scott Forstall is gone, there’s really no one at Apple now who says “no” very often to Johnny Ive. 

So what we are discussing, unlike you, are observations about Apple products and the man primarily responsible for their design, not merely us writing criticism for the sake of criticism.  

Give praise to Apple when praise is due, but give critical analysis when it is due. 

Sorry, but yours and other comments are as much „critical analysis“ as fans watching a football game, always knowing better what moves should have been played instead of what the actual players decided to do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if 10 people on the sideline agree on one thing its not necessarily the truth. 

jdw

talexy said:

Sorry, but yours and other comments are as much „critical analysis“ as fans watching a football game, always knowing better what moves should have been played instead of what the actual players decided to do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but if 10 people on the sideline agree on one thing its not necessarily the truth. 

 Interestingly, you give no direct analysis or support or criticism on Johnny Ive or the article article at all, but instead, like the previous poster, you merely criticize us, your fellow Apple fans. 

Either provide a reasoned defensive Mr. Ive or critique of him, but please refrain from clogging this discussion further with unnecessary criticism of other forum members who are trying to stay on topic.

ai_lias

What's certain is Ive needs a counterweight that's no longer there, which was Jobs. So what you get now is a mixed bag from him, and some crap that does not make sense (if the iPhone was thicker to hide the camera bump, and make battery bigger less people would use it because it would not be thin enough) I agree that he should move on, maybe take care of architecture and interior design.

strangedays

RedRogers said:

Ive is narcissistic and stale, and passed his sell-by date 5-6 years ago.

Apple keeps iterating on the same design philosophy of reductio ad absurdum. iOS hardware and user interface have merged into an arcane mess of self-indulgent complexity littered with tiny widgets and hidden tricks. After 20 years of frustration and high cost, I ditched the Mac platform over a decade ago for hackintoshes and will never buy their hardware again. As soon as a truly secure open platform alternative comes to the phone market, I'll dump iOS and be rid of them for good.

Cool story bro. But what are you waiting for — start a new company in your garage and provide the world with this obvious value that is now lacking. 

strangedays

AI_lias said:

What's certain is Ive needs a counterweight that's no longer there, which was Jobs. So what you get now is a mixed bag from him, and some crap that does not make sense (if the iPhone was thicker to hide the camera bump, and make battery bigger less people would use it because it would not be thin enough) I agree that he should move on, maybe take care of architecture and interior design.

Prove it. You’ve claimed things as fact but they are not fact. Who is in the design lab designing products every day? Who are their managers? What are their preferences and personalities like? How much daily involvement does Ive have?

Having the phone thinner despite a meaningless camera ring is fine. Millions and millions of buyers don’t give a shit because we don’t have OCD. In addition all the other flagships have them too...so what does they tell ya?

robin huber

The quality of the audio is so poor that it’s not worth listening to—about 50% intelligible. You’re better off just reading the transcript. 

suddenly newton

robin huber said:

The quality of the audio is so poor that it’s not worth listening to—about 50% intelligible. You’re better off just reading the transcript. 

Agreed. I listened to it with headphones and while that made the speech more understandable, I found all the fidgeting and other noises from the person handling the microphone to be a constant distraction. You're better off reading the transcript.

appletim

Shame on The New Yorker for not allowing the content to be shared. It would be great to watch the full, unedited video, read the full transcript, or listen to the audio. What an elitist organization.