@Paxman - I was about to write something similar. I’m full of respect and admiration for everything he’s done. Every time I sit in front of my MacBook I admire its beautiful design - right down to the finest detail. When I use a plastic Lenovo laptop it just feels ugly and horrible like the company and people who made it just didn’t care.
But, design is hard. It’s a fragile creative process. I write software and I’m conscious that the quality and quantity is very dependent on many things: my mood, how much sleep I’ve had, whether I’m worried about anything (family, kids, aging relatives etc). The design that Jony Ive and his team do must be so much harder.
Every year they produce beautifully designed products products but there’s constant pressure to create something very similar but better next time. If Jony Ive stopped after the iPod nobody would have criticised or thought worse of him, yet he went on to do so much more.
Maybe he has burnt out - it’s not for us to judge, but maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe he feels he’s at the peak of his powers and wants to do more in the time he’s got. He wants to create designs to change the world and do more than Apple do. He’s no doubt left a fantastic team behind who are more than capable and his new design company will still work with Apple but he wants to do bigger things outside of Apple.
WSJ and Bloomberg always seem to have an axe to grind with Apple. NYT too. One would think the NYC financial sector doesn’t like Apple for not playing their games and refusing to manage to the stock price... That management style, of maximizing stockholder value, is aka The Dumbest Idea In the World:
...lots of speculation... Is a trusted foil of critical opinion difficult to quantify or understand ? Also I can't imagine the psychic (human) sense of loss and emotions to carry on given the passing of SJ... Batman and Robin comes to mind (silly I know) and yet...?
Unfortunately from this customer's perspective I've had mixed feelings about the macs I've bought since the 2011 mini that had discrete graphics, 2 standard drive bays, 2 standard ram slots and multiple ports... At the time almost everything about it was an true 'upgrade' - It just worked (and still does although even that design had me disappointed in the lack of a Kensington lock slot. Was this the new Apple? Would that have been so difficult to add somewhere ? Aftermarket locking options were a pain in the behind. This customer would find a lock slot most useful even today...
Indeed I have bought newer mac hardware hoping to 'upgrade', but in the end very regrettably sent it back. The ultimate irony being the only display I could not get working with a loaded 2016 macbook pro was an Apple 27" Cinema Display, despite multiple Apple sales/support opinions that the TB2>TB3 adapter should work. It seemed absurdly illogical. Really? I must buy a new monitor to use with a MBP ? Who decided to not support the TB3 standard for mDP ? Intuition in design in my experience is a funny thing, and some people just have it - can one can be excellent at creative thinking or form making, and yet there remains the question of macro judgement ? Here's to the future and some structural changes, and I hope we are all pleasantly surprised by good things and 'magic' for all ahead...
The WSJ talked to people and they said things. Not particularly flattering to Apple, but these things don't come outta nowhere. Certainly I would be a bit out of sorts if I had pressed my employer to make thousands of luxury gold watches that didn't get sold. It tends to invalidate your world view. The story totally let Ive off the hook though, repeatedly pointing to his desire to be with his aging father at home. I think it is pretty doggone humane of Apple to work with him on that score, even if the design of the latest phones suffered.
They haven’t. The X is cherished. Love it. Would never trade it for an older model.
If I had a nickel for every former Apple employee who told me the company started falling apart just before or after THEY left, I’d be doing well. But not as well as I’ve done by hanging on to my stock.
Well he's not exactly going to admit something like that is he..?
Ooh there’s the hater narrative we love and need. Errrnnt. Sorry, but as the CEO Cook is barred from lying to the public and investors. If he says no, it’s no.
Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal in 2007. that was when I stopped going to it for reliable reports.
Is your theory that Rupert Murdoch himself does all the news gathering and article writing, or that he personally dictates to each and every reporter what their stories should say?
Welp, if you’re gonna insist on expansive secrecy, you can’t be too surprised when speculation runs rampant. It’s just gonna happen and, unless they somehow prove otherwise, they won’t be able to stop it.
So your position is that companies should air the private affairs of their employees? Is that how it is at your job?
What’s absurd are the creatures that crawled out of the woodwork here when the original article appeared. They swallowed the hook, line, and sinker whole, then proceeded to bloviate, caterwaul, and spew complete nonsense in an attempt to confirm their own ridiculous theories and biases.
WSJ and Bloomberg always seem to have an axe to grind with Apple. NYT too. One would think the NYC financial sector doesn’t like Apple for not playing their games and refusing to manage to the stock price... That management style, of maximizing stockholder value, is aka The Dumbest Idea In the World:
Comments
But, design is hard. It’s a fragile creative process. I write software and I’m conscious that the quality and quantity is very dependent on many things: my mood, how much sleep I’ve had, whether I’m worried about anything (family, kids, aging relatives etc). The design that Jony Ive and his team do must be so much harder.
Every year they produce beautifully designed products products but there’s constant pressure to create something very similar but better next time. If Jony Ive stopped after the iPod nobody would have criticised or thought worse of him, yet he went on to do so much more.
Maybe he has burnt out - it’s not for us to judge, but maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe he feels he’s at the peak of his powers and wants to do more in the time he’s got. He wants to create designs to change the world and do more than Apple do. He’s no doubt left a fantastic team behind who are more than capable and his new design company will still work with Apple but he wants to do bigger things outside of Apple.
As others have said then Apple wouldn’t respond at all. Highly unusual for Tim Cook to respond to gossip.
What did Marc Newson do at Apple besides watch stuff?
Unfortunately from this customer's perspective I've had mixed feelings about the macs I've bought since the 2011 mini that had discrete graphics, 2 standard drive bays, 2 standard ram slots and multiple ports... At the time almost everything about it was an true 'upgrade' - It just worked (and still does
Indeed I have bought newer mac hardware hoping to 'upgrade', but in the end very regrettably sent it back. The ultimate irony being the only display I could not get working with a loaded 2016 macbook pro was an Apple 27" Cinema Display, despite multiple Apple sales/support opinions that the TB2>TB3 adapter should work. It seemed absurdly illogical. Really? I must buy a new monitor to use with a MBP ? Who decided to not support the TB3 standard for mDP ? Intuition in design in my experience is a funny thing, and some people just have it - can one can be excellent at creative thinking or form making, and yet there remains the question of macro judgement ? Here's to the future and some structural changes, and I hope we are all pleasantly surprised by good things and 'magic' for all ahead...
Ooh there’s the hater narrative we love and need. Errrnnt. Sorry, but as the CEO Cook is barred from lying to the public and investors. If he says no, it’s no.
You’re under the mistaken delusion that he owes you anything of the sort.
Youre high. MP, AirPods, iPhone, Watch, all incredible new versions. The others are already classics and imitated by many.
So your position is that companies should air the private affairs of their employees? Is that how it is at your job?