Jony Ive 'proud' of Apple Watch, explains design team's late Apple Park move
Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive believes the Apple Watch is more than a timepiece and is "truly proud" of the wearable device, according to a recent interview covering the design team's move into Apple Park, and the responsibility the company has to examine how its products impact the world.
Despite initial slow sales of the Apple Watch, the wearable device has become the most popular smartwatch brand in the world, and is still a project dear to Ive. Noting the continued move for Apple to market the Apple Watch's health credentials, Ive suggests there "will be a more marked tipping point in understanding and adoption" of the product with the latest incarnation, a previously mentioned phrase by the design chief.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Ive was questioned if the Apple Watch is really a watch, but responded suggesting it is more than a timepiece. "I think that this is a very powerful computer, with a range of very sophisticated sensors, that is strapped to my wrist," said Ive, adding "That's neither very descriptive nor very helpful."
Citing its similar challenge in describing the iPhone at its launch, Ive suggests "Clearly the capability of the iPhone extends way beyond the function of what we would traditionally call a phone."
"If I compare my watch to this glass," Ive suggested while drinking wine, "the effort necessary to make this glass could be the product of one person, but the effort, expertise and collaboration to make this watch is daunting. It is an achievement that we are truly proud of: that you can work with an expert in sapphire crystals and figure out a way to create a form which has never been created before in sapphire crystal."
"There is a responsibility to try and predict as many of the consequences as possible and I think you have a moral responsibility to try to understand, try to mitigate those that you didn't predict. If you genuinely have a concern for humanity, you will be preoccupied with trying to understand the implications, the consequences of creating something that hasn't existed before. "
Ive suggests "part of the culture at Apple" is to believer there is a responsibility that "doesn't end when you ship a product." To emphasize this, Ive admits it keeps him awake at night.
"When you're moving 9,000 people, you don't do it in one day. We're one of the last groups. It's a loaded and significant event because it meant leaving a studio that has decades of history, where we designed and built first prototypes," said Ive. "This is the studio I went back to on the day that Steve died. And it's the place where we figured out the iPhone and the iPod."
The interview follows a recent discussion with the designer where he claims he still foresees a future with Apple for another 25 years, citing the "energy and vitality and sense of opportunity" of doing so.
AppleInsider will be at the fall "There's more in the making" event, where we expect new iPad Pros, and maybe even new Macs! Keep up with our coverage by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Despite initial slow sales of the Apple Watch, the wearable device has become the most popular smartwatch brand in the world, and is still a project dear to Ive. Noting the continued move for Apple to market the Apple Watch's health credentials, Ive suggests there "will be a more marked tipping point in understanding and adoption" of the product with the latest incarnation, a previously mentioned phrase by the design chief.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Ive was questioned if the Apple Watch is really a watch, but responded suggesting it is more than a timepiece. "I think that this is a very powerful computer, with a range of very sophisticated sensors, that is strapped to my wrist," said Ive, adding "That's neither very descriptive nor very helpful."
Citing its similar challenge in describing the iPhone at its launch, Ive suggests "Clearly the capability of the iPhone extends way beyond the function of what we would traditionally call a phone."
"If I compare my watch to this glass," Ive suggested while drinking wine, "the effort necessary to make this glass could be the product of one person, but the effort, expertise and collaboration to make this watch is daunting. It is an achievement that we are truly proud of: that you can work with an expert in sapphire crystals and figure out a way to create a form which has never been created before in sapphire crystal."
Apple's responsibility to society
Ive also expresses an awareness that products like the iPhone have so much of an impact on society, and that sometimes that impact cannot be anticipated. "Very often, so much of what a product ends up being able to do isn't what you initially thought," the design chief advises. "If you're creating something new, it is inevitable there will be consequences that were not foreseen -- some that will be great, and then there are those that aren't as positive.""There is a responsibility to try and predict as many of the consequences as possible and I think you have a moral responsibility to try to understand, try to mitigate those that you didn't predict. If you genuinely have a concern for humanity, you will be preoccupied with trying to understand the implications, the consequences of creating something that hasn't existed before. "
Ive suggests "part of the culture at Apple" is to believer there is a responsibility that "doesn't end when you ship a product." To emphasize this, Ive admits it keeps him awake at night.
Last to arrive at Apple Park
The interview also touches upon the completion of Apple Park, and of his design team's eventual move into the new building, something Ive insists was not "late" as it was scheduled that way."When you're moving 9,000 people, you don't do it in one day. We're one of the last groups. It's a loaded and significant event because it meant leaving a studio that has decades of history, where we designed and built first prototypes," said Ive. "This is the studio I went back to on the day that Steve died. And it's the place where we figured out the iPhone and the iPod."
The interview follows a recent discussion with the designer where he claims he still foresees a future with Apple for another 25 years, citing the "energy and vitality and sense of opportunity" of doing so.
AppleInsider will be at the fall "There's more in the making" event, where we expect new iPad Pros, and maybe even new Macs! Keep up with our coverage by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
I don't think that's ever truly been the case. Apple's strength typically has been taking an idea or product to new heights so that we can't live without this thing of a level of refinement no one else had reached.
Now we're at a near saturation point of ideas and products. Even if Apple brought out a hover board, it wouldn't be something we never thought of. It would just be something we eventually need but never knew it. But it would be amazing.
'And the best hover board we've ever built.'
I’m loving my AppleWatch Series 4. It does everything I want it to and will do more once the EKG sensor is active! I can’t wait to see where the technology will be year after year and what new products they will be releasing!
I recently walked into an AT&T store to move an account from an iPhone 4s to an iPhone 6 Plus, i.e., micro SIM to nano SIM. A couple of weeks after AT&T installed a “free” SIM into the 6 Plus I get a bill for $33 and see my monthly payment is $60 higher. W.T.F? The In-store AT&T rep is suddenly no longer answering his phone. Finally got the charges backed out but not until escalating the thing up through AT&T billing department.
The sad thing is I knew beforehand that AT&T would F this up. They always do, it’s baked into their DNA, so I tried to do the SIM swap through Apple. The Apple rep walked through the whole process with me to do the SIM swap as a courtesy but at the very last step realized that Apple does not stock SIM cards in the Apple Store. If they did I never would have had to deal with AT&T at all. Sure enough, AT&T lived up to their reputation of incompetence and failed miserably.
In any case, Apple is doing itself a great disservice by having dependencies in its awesome products like AW4 LTE to incompetent morons like AT&T. I suspect the other carriers are not much better, but AT&T is a festering wound on Apple's otherwise stellar reputation. I wish Apple could kick these guys to the curb.