Full video of Jony Ive's Vanity Fair interview posted online

Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2014
Vanity Fair on Friday posted to YouTube the full 25-minute video of an interview with Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive, who discussed a range of topics at the publication's New Establishment Summit, including his beginnings at Apple and "copycat" devices.




The video was filmed during Ive's panel last week, which had the design guru sit down for a rare one-on-one interview with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

As previously reported, much of the talk revolved around Ive's time at Apple, including how the company chose him to design early PowerBook models, how he conducts day-to-day operations and his thoughts on cofounder Steve Jobs.

Also discussed were Apple's recent product unveilings, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and the Apple Watch. Ive said that he's always been interested in the history of watches, seeing the wrist as prime real estate for technology as it keeps vital information available at a glance.

During a question and answer session following the formal interview, Ive was asked if he felt flattered that Chinese phone maker Xiaomi's handset designs are aesthetically similar to certain iPhone models. At the time, much was made of Ive's response, with some publications reporting that he "slammed" the firm's design tactics. But the full video reveals otherwise.

"I'll sound a little bit harsh, and perhaps a little bit bitter, because I don't see it as flattery," Ive said. "I'm just talking about this issue in general -- I see it as theft."



In a subsequent interview, The Economic Times asked Xiaomi CEO Hugo Barra for his thoughts on Ive's comments, shortening the quote to, "I don't see it as flattery. I see it as theft." Barra said that, although he had not seen the Vanity Fair talk and is aware of the design language comparisons, he doubted Ive would make such a pointed remark.

"I would expect Jony to be even more aggressive than he was in answering this question," Barra said. "Jony is one of the classiest people in the industry. I would bet you anything that he did not say the word Xiaomi in his answer. He is speaking generally about how he feels which is what I would expect from any world-class designer."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 60
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I'm not sure this is the full interview is it? It doesn't include some of the earlier clips we've seen such as the one about Steve calling him vain.

    Brilliant interview though, a really enjoyable watch.
  • Reply 2 of 60
    wdowellwdowell Posts: 226member

    VF  are certainly milking this. They really should just release the entire video, but oh no.. clicks equal money do they not?

  • Reply 3 of 60
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    It's interesting to hear Jony talk about why Apple didn't do a large screen before.  Apparently they weren't able to get a larger screened phone to be thin, lightweight, and have a small bezel.  He's obviously happy with the balance that was found with the iPhone 6 and 6+.  I wonder what changed that enabled them to overcome that hurdle.

  • Reply 4 of 60
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Loved his answer to the Xiaomi question. :D Now I see Xiamoi has fired back saying the iPhone 6 takes design cues from things HTC was doing 5 years ago. Hmm...I'd love to know what exactly they're referring to.
  • Reply 5 of 60
    I hope the full interview will stimulate lot of interesting discussion on a variety of topics, but who am I kidding? It's going to be about one thing. And we all know what that is.
  • Reply 6 of 60
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    Loved his answer to the Xiaomi question. image Now I see Xiamoi has fired back saying the iPhone 6 takes design cues from things HTC was doing 5 years ago. Hmm...I'd love to know what exactly they're referring to.



    The "fired back" crap is rather irrelevant. The only things that really matter are both what Jony said about service to the customer by way of making products designed to "just work", thereby being truly beautiful and desirable, and the facts of people recognizing that quality and value to the point of happily paying for them in volume.

  • Reply 7 of 60
    shevshev Posts: 84member

    It's certainly an insight into why he will never be the CEO, he's clearly an extremely passionate designer but it seems to come with a little artistic eccentricity. Coupled with the fact that he seems to go off on slight tangents and is a little nervous while speaking you can see why he wouldn't be a great fit for a CEO.

     

    Tomato

  • Reply 8 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    I hope the full interview will stimulate lot of interesting discussion on a variety of topics, but who am I kidding? It's going to be about one thing. And we all know what that is.

     

     

    ????

     

    Every comment is about something different so far.

     

    Any clues...

  • Reply 9 of 60
    shev wrote: »
    It's certainly an insight into why he will never be the CEO, he's clearly an extremely passionate designer but it seems to come with a little artistic eccentricity. Coupled with the fact that he seems to go off on slight tangents and is a little nervous while speaking you can see why he wouldn't be a great fit for a CEO.

    Tomato

    Jony has no interest in being CEO. That's why Tim is there. I don't think it even crossed Steve's mind that Jony should run the company. That's not to say Jony didn't want control of the software asthetics(thank goodness), but control of the company is another thing.



    Anyway, a good interview.
  • Reply 10 of 60
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    shev wrote: »
    It's certainly an insight into why he will never be the CEO, he's clearly an extremely passionate designer but it seems to come with a little artistic eccentricity. Coupled with the fact that he seems to go off on slight tangents and is a little nervous while speaking you can see why he wouldn't be a great fit for a CEO.

    Tomato

    According to the book Leander Kahney wrote about I've, he is dyslexic. Clearly public speaking is not his forte. It's a shame that he's so nervous when speaking in public because I do think he's fascinating to listen to. You can tell he's so passionate about what he does and what he believes.
  • Reply 11 of 60
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    droidftw wrote: »
    It's interesting to hear Jony talk about why Apple didn't do a large screen before.  Apparently they weren't able to get a larger screened phone to be thin, lightweight, and have a small bezel.  He's obviously happy with the balance that was found with the iPhone 6 and 6+.  I wonder what changed that enabled them to overcome that hurdle.

    Two guesses: a more capable processor, and adequate LTPS display supply in larger sizes and densities. Neither was possible before 2014.
  • Reply 12 of 60
    rogifan wrote: »
    Loved his answer to the Xiaomi question. :D Now I see Xiamoi has fired back saying the iPhone 6 takes design cues from things HTC was doing 5 years ago. Hmm...I'd love to know what exactly they're referring to.

    To paraphrase Steve Jobs, Hugo Barra should hate himself for taking the CEO position in a company that is utterly bereft of originality. Good thing he left Google also. They couldn't use even one more executive with no taste or vision.
  • Reply 13 of 60
    rogifan wrote: »
    According to the book Leander Kahney wrote about I've, he is dyslexic. Clearly public speaking is not his forte. It's a shame that he's so nervous when speaking in public because I do think he's fascinating to listen to. You can tell he's so passionate about what he does and what he believes.

    Public speaking is a larger fear than dying for the majority of people, so he's not alone in his nervousness.
  • Reply 14 of 60

    I wonder what Jony thought of the cheesy stage set he was sitting in. A brown cardboard backdrop with frayed bent edges that did not line up. The antithesis of what he is about.

  • Reply 15 of 60
    kent909 wrote: »
    I wonder what Jony thought of the cheesy stage set he was sitting in. A brown cardboard backdrop with frayed bent edges that did not line up. The antithesis of what he is about.

    Perhaps a better explanation for the nerves.
  • Reply 16 of 60
    I enjoyed listening to him speak, there's a bit of a muse to his speech as he's constantly trying to pick better words or to give process to his thoughts. I think it translates well into what he actually does at work.

    He'll never be CEO, I don't think he wants to be CEO, it would totally ruin his abilities as a designer. Imagine going into work and having to deal with all the shit of stock prices and stuff. He wants his workbench, not spreadsheets.
  • Reply 17 of 60
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    I hope the full interview will stimulate lot of interesting discussion on a variety of topics, but who am I kidding? It's going to be about one thing. And we all know what that is.

    Pink unicorns? Is there anything else on your mind?
  • Reply 18 of 60
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wdowell View Post

     

    VF  are certainly milking this. They really should just release the entire video, but oh no.. clicks equal money do they not?




    We live in a time when the overwhelming majority of people refuse to pay to read articles or view content provided by people who do it for a living.  Those naive souls who thought "data should be free" think they've won.      But the true price we've paid is obnoxious, invasive advertising, click bait, SPAM and invasions of privacy.    What do you expect?    They should be congratulated for surviving and thanked for providing the video at all.

     

    If this site decided to stop all advertising and provided full privacy but started charging just $5 a month, would you pay it?    I didn't think so.

  • Reply 19 of 60
    zoetmb wrote: »

    We live in a time when the overwhelming majority of people refuse to pay to read articles or view content provided by people who do it for a living.  Those naive souls who thought "data should be free" think they've won.      But the true price we've paid is obnoxious, invasive advertising, click bait, SPAM and invasions of privacy.    What do you expect?    They should be congratulated for surviving and thanked for providing the video at all.

    If this site decided to stop all advertising and provided full privacy but started charging just $5 a month, would you pay it?    I didn't think so.

    I am not sure I can agree with you. If you subscribe and pay for a newspaper don't you get on a Sunday morning about 2 lbs of useless advertising stuck in the middle of your newspaper? I pay a cable company to watch TV and I have to either watch ads or fast forward through them As I drive down the street which I pay taxes to use, I get to look at billboards advertising things that I don't have an interest in. So how is the Internet different?
  • Reply 20 of 60
    flaneur wrote: »
    Pink unicorns? Is there anything else on your mind?

    Yellow ones.
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