Apple's Jony Ive collaborates with U2's Bono on gold EarPods for charity
Apple Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive has joined forces with fellow industrial designer Marc Newson and U2 frontman Bono's Product Red to create several one-of-a-kind pieces for an auction to benefit The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Among the more than 40 items up for bid at the event ? dubbed the (RED) Auction ? is a a pair of 18-karat solid rose gold Apple EarPods customized by Ive and Newson. Other notable items on the block include a custom Leica Digital Rangefinder camera designed entirely by the duo, which Sotheby's describes as "a feat of extraordinary engineering," along with a Steinway & Sons Parlor Grand Piano, a Range Rover, and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos "561" clock which have all received attention from the designers.
Ive and Newsom - close friends who are widely regarded as two of the best industrial designers in the world - were more than willing to lend their services to the cause. The pair are "humbled to make this contribution to such an important and worthy cause," said Ive, while Newson added that the process had been a "thrilling journey".
Apple and Bono have a long history of collaboration - U2 was featured in one of the most well-known commercials of the iPod + iTunes "silhouette" advertising campaign, while Apple has offered Product Red Special Edition iPods and accessories since 2006. Cupertino donates fifty percent of the profits earned from Product Red Special Edition merchandise to the charity.
Among the more than 40 items up for bid at the event ? dubbed the (RED) Auction ? is a a pair of 18-karat solid rose gold Apple EarPods customized by Ive and Newson. Other notable items on the block include a custom Leica Digital Rangefinder camera designed entirely by the duo, which Sotheby's describes as "a feat of extraordinary engineering," along with a Steinway & Sons Parlor Grand Piano, a Range Rover, and a Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos "561" clock which have all received attention from the designers.
Ive and Newsom - close friends who are widely regarded as two of the best industrial designers in the world - were more than willing to lend their services to the cause. The pair are "humbled to make this contribution to such an important and worthy cause," said Ive, while Newson added that the process had been a "thrilling journey".
Apple and Bono have a long history of collaboration - U2 was featured in one of the most well-known commercials of the iPod + iTunes "silhouette" advertising campaign, while Apple has offered Product Red Special Edition iPods and accessories since 2006. Cupertino donates fifty percent of the profits earned from Product Red Special Edition merchandise to the charity.
Comments
Whoa, whoa, where's this camera that Jonathan Ive helped design? Need to see that.
Wonder where Marc Newson pays his taxes? :-)
Why do they need Bono or Marc Newsom for that?
Seeing as this collaboration with Bono is the only confirmation of Jonathan Ive caring about gold at all…
Seeing as this collaboration with Bono is the only confirmation of Jonathan Ive caring about gold at all…
Lighten up, I mean that new champagne gold finish on the iPhone 5S.
Lighten up, I mean that new champagne gold finish on the iPhone 5S.
I think he was pulling your (gold) chain
Marc Newson looks thrilled to be Bono's armrest.
Marc Newson looks thrilled to be Bono's armrest.
Right?! Who does that?
Lighten up, I mean that new champagne gold finish on the iPhone 5S.
Yeah? We have proof of that, do we? Please. Don't accept rumor as fact.
Proves yet again that besides being just a horrible human being, Bono still has no taste.
The ugliest iPod ever made, and now the tackiest earbuds.
The ugliest iPod ever made, and now the tackiest earbuds.
You'd think he would at least want them to MATCH his iPod.
I can almost hear the photographer giving them instructions (in a British accent, of course) -
"Okay, here's your motivation: look relaxed, but really intense...great, now look concerned, but the kind of concerned where you don't really give a shit...perfect! Okay, now pretend you are best friends who hate is each other...Perfect! Okay people, that's a wrap!"
Why do they need Jony Ive to coat current earbuds with gold?
They're solid gold earbuds, not coated (if I'm reading this correctly).
Proves yet again that besides being just a horrible human being, Bono still has no taste.
The ugliest iPod ever made, and now the tackiest earbuds.
A "horrible human being"? How about you put your money where your mouth is and attempt to do half the humanitarian work he's done.
Yeah, we're smirking because we care so much.
You'd think he would at least want them to MATCH his iPod.
We'll see soon enough.