Apple designer Jony Ive defends ditching home button, other tech in interview about iPhone...
In an interview published on Thursday, Apple chief design officer Jony Ive argued for the company's sometimes controversial decisions to abandon common technologies -- in the case of the iPhone X, foregoing a home button in favor of touchscreen gestures.
"I actually think the path of holding onto features that have been effective, the path of holding onto those whatever the cost, is a path that leads to failure," Ive explained to Time. "And in the short term, it's the path the feels less risky and it's the path that feels more secure.
"It's not necessarily the most comfortable place to be in when you believe there's a better way," he added. "[Because] that means moving on from something that has felt successful."
The original iMac was one of the first computers to skip floppy drives in favor of USB and CD-ROM. In 2016, Apple was widely criticized for dropping a 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7. Such jacks are still in wide use on headphones and many other electronics, and indeed even the iPhone 8 and X still come with Lightning-to-3.5mm adapters. Rival smartphone makers will sometimes tout a headphone jack as a competitive advantage.
Ive also defended the iPhone X's $999-plus pricetag, which is out of reach for many people.
"As you would expect, there's a financial consequence to integrating the sheer amount of processing power into such a small device," he said.
At last month's TechFest in New York City, Ive said that Apple had been working on the X's design -- including its edge-to-edge display -- for 5 years before its Sept. 2017 reveal. The company worked with oversized prototypes until it felt technology had caught up.
"And then at the same time, if you're going to do something new, that means that the reason it hasn't been done before is -- there are 55 reasons why it hasn't been done before," Ive commented during his talk. "And so you have to be so focused so resolute."
"I actually think the path of holding onto features that have been effective, the path of holding onto those whatever the cost, is a path that leads to failure," Ive explained to Time. "And in the short term, it's the path the feels less risky and it's the path that feels more secure.
"It's not necessarily the most comfortable place to be in when you believe there's a better way," he added. "[Because] that means moving on from something that has felt successful."
The original iMac was one of the first computers to skip floppy drives in favor of USB and CD-ROM. In 2016, Apple was widely criticized for dropping a 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7. Such jacks are still in wide use on headphones and many other electronics, and indeed even the iPhone 8 and X still come with Lightning-to-3.5mm adapters. Rival smartphone makers will sometimes tout a headphone jack as a competitive advantage.
Ive also defended the iPhone X's $999-plus pricetag, which is out of reach for many people.
"As you would expect, there's a financial consequence to integrating the sheer amount of processing power into such a small device," he said.
At last month's TechFest in New York City, Ive said that Apple had been working on the X's design -- including its edge-to-edge display -- for 5 years before its Sept. 2017 reveal. The company worked with oversized prototypes until it felt technology had caught up.
"And then at the same time, if you're going to do something new, that means that the reason it hasn't been done before is -- there are 55 reasons why it hasn't been done before," Ive commented during his talk. "And so you have to be so focused so resolute."
Comments
Nothing new or particularly insightful from that interview apparently. Most of us here could have mocked up this article if someone had asked us a week ago "What would an Apple exec say about the removal of the home button?" At least Apple is generally consistent in the message on most topics.
The fact is that product development requires compromises and Apple makes more than its share of controversial ones (and in the long run is almost always proven to have made an excellent or at least reasonable choice). I whined about the loss of MagSafe, but in retrospect it's not that big a deal and being able to plug in from either side more than makes up for it, for example.
"Under-Powered"? Yeah sure.
And you can upgrade it when the next version releases. Since Apple products retain value you can sell your old Mac for $300 less than you paid and get a whole new computer for $300 instead of buying new components for your old computer. Way better deal.
But MBPs have always been expensive. I think a lot of the bitching is that at present there actually isn’t really a genuine replacement for the balance of utility, performance, weight, battery life and price found in the last generations of MBA.
Also “Defends”? Ive talked about the process, didn’t seem defensive to me.
I can't think of any other company so committed to design excellence than Apple. I like the direction Apple is going in, iPhone X, AirPods, AppleWatch LTE all charged on the AirPower charger! It's brilliant.
I get the impression Jony would like the iPhone to eventually be 2 pieces of black glass, melded together with no buttons, ports, etc. Same with the iPads.
Best
P.S. I'm surprised the ATV is not a 'blob' of black glass w/ the pwr cable and HDMI in the back!
A Jony guitar probably would not have strings.
I do like OLED, Face ID and the better telephoto camera.
When do the iPhone X patent applications get released by the USPTO? Its quirks seem tailor-made to getting patents, even if the pluses and minuses are obvious.
Wish he could build a comment system that strips out these kind of stupid messages.
Removing the home button is a great step forward. An edge to edge screen is also great. But removing the Touch ID feature - which is clearly more convenient than Face ID for many people in many situations - is a design failure.
With a little more effort and a little less arrogance, Jony could have found a way to maintain the Touch ID capabilities while adding Face ID and created a device more suitable for more users - and even allowed the most security conscious users to require both a Face and a Finger to unlock their devices. I would have liked to see the Touch ID sensor enhanced to work from underneath the screen. I assume that’s where they were heading but the technology was just not quite ready yet. I also assume that we will see the Touch ID feature reappear in next years model of the X. As much as I’d like to have the edge to edge screen - I refuse to pay more money for a device that is markedly less convenient and arguably less-secure - so for myself and many of my friends - we’ll be sticking with the “+” models until the X lineup is at least equal in terms of convenience to their siblings. But then again - maybe they won’t care at all - because as long as they keep the “+” lineup going, we’ll still be purchasing new phones every year. It won’t be until they abandon Touch ID completely that some of us will abandon them completely.
From a design point of view this looks bad. The proportions just don't seem right. No graphic designer will use this kind of layout. Apples solution is much better. Look at the latest LG, looks like shit. The problem are the small chins, a bigger chin at the bottom will improve the design. LG home screen on the promo pics look like shit too, but that's another story.
I think Face ID is way more convenient. In a couple of years Touch ID will be distinct.