No matter how hard one tries, everything eventually becomes Windows.
Yes, entropy. Only by direct intervention by truly exceptional individuals can mediocrity be avoided. Cook is a closet Windows man. He will retire soon but there is no visionary now to carry the Apple flame.
I will be holding on to my M1 MacBook Air. In 20 years' time, I think it will be regarded as the absolute pinnacle of Apple laptop design.
As a singular focal point of Apple leadership, Steve needed Jony’s inspiration and design talent to march forward with innovative new products.
By all appearance Tim Cook manages by group consensus. Tim, and his leadership team, recognize that design is important. But it’s not Tim’s passion like it was to Steve.
Steve was an iconoclast, a maverick, and rule breaker. But he is gone and there’s no re-creating him. Apple’s leadership team have no choice but to run Apple with the skills and passions that they have available to them. The Steve and Jony show, great as it was, is a bygone era for Apple that can never return.
So, a toast to what was, and a second toast to better things to come for both Apple and Jony.
Well said! This is so true. There is no point at crying over Steve and the times gone by. This is what it is now.
There is so much childish bs in these comment sections about both Ive and Apple. Apple still makes amazing products and hope they still make them years to come. Hope Ive is happy too in his own endeavors.
His early stuff wasn't awful. Everything he's touched for the last 15+ years has been.
Eh, the unibody MacBook/Air/Pro were released during that time period and I’d say those were probably the biggest revolution in laptop design of the last 20 years. Every manufacturer on the planet tried to copy those designs. Intel created a design program and tech specification to help manufacturers clone the MacBook Air.
You mean the genius design where replacing a damaged keyboard requires taking everything out of the topcase, a long, delicate and tedious process? Where the battery is glued? Some genius.
iOS 7 and subsequent releases are trash from a UI stance. Bring back Scott Forstall.
Lol. I like the ios7+ experience far more than the Forstall approach. The Forstall approach was ok in the 200x years.
So does most of the world. Thats why the ios7 design stuck with some minor changes along the way.
At the time ios7 came out, the world was sick of the skeuomorphic look of the old is and thought it was outdated. People were even calling Android the superior UI and UX.
IOS7 came out snd that all changed. iPhone was back at the top in a big way.
It’s a more authentic and clean design snd makes lots of sense.
people who complain about flat design or a streamlined os are Luddite’s who can’t let go of the distant past.
Flat is a Android - Windows Ribbons design philosophy a Geek boy aesthetic of bad design (example Apple Music, iTunes Store or App Store programs and many others scrolling information off the screen into nowhere on the right side, pop up requesters within programs doing the same thing utterly bad flat dumb design).
I mean who doesn't just love Jony Ive designs...He's done a few good things, but a lot of his designs were form over function instead of the other way around. His obsessiveness with making products thin with no I/O were just horrible designs and really limited Apple and its customers. Yes, they sold but Apple got a lot of flack for it and their marketing department was working overtime and then some to sell these bad designs.
How often do you need to charge it once in 6-12 months? No problem….
I mean who doesn't just love Jony Ive designs...He's done a few good things, but a lot of his designs were form over function instead of the other way around. His obsessiveness with making products thin with no I/O were just horrible designs and really limited Apple and its customers. Yes, they sold but Apple got a lot of flack for it and their marketing department was working overtime and then some to sell these bad designs.
How often do you need to charge it once in 6-12 months? No problem….
That's not the point...the point is you can't use it while charging. Stop being an Apple apologist. This is exactly the type of response one would give. I've had more than a few times when I've had to charge in the middle of the day and have to use the touchpad on my Mac instead of the mouse.
His early stuff wasn't awful. Everything he's touched for the last 15+ years has been.
Yeah... all that junk he touched that resulted in the fastest and highest AAPL. Right? All those countless Apple customers for the past 15+ years buying all those products when they shouldn't have.
Keep doing your revisionist stuff. Maybe someday someone will believe you.
I think you’re missing the point of his post. Jony was clearly a talented designer. However, he’s an example of what happens when the designer has too much authority and is not kept in check.
The fundamental design of many of his products are great. However, there are countless examples where he let function follow form. He had an obsession with symmetry for example which led to the removal of important ports. Thankfully, some of this has been reversed in recent products. Then, there was the butterfly keyboard with his obsession for thinness, etc. Seriously, Jony deserves equal amounts of praise and criticism. If you can’t objectively see his obvious faults then you’re not being honest with yourself.
Actually you missed his point. You were presented with facts that contradict your opinion that was pretty much the end of discussion right there.
Ive created amazing products that worked perfectly and looked as great as they functioned. Apple became a raging success as a result.
He had the right amount of authority a leader should have and was the reason apple products were so awesome.
Such bad comedy how some point to one troubled product - butterfly keyboard - and next thing you know the best industrial designer in history known for his care and balance in knowing intrinsically when to say “no” is retconned into a runaway lunatic who does whatever he feels like on a given day.
There is a fine line bestween innovative risk and paradigm shifts in function. Ive somehow managed that on the regular. If one thing in a long history of extraordinary successes goes wrong, that’s nothing.
Jony is owed only thanks and gratitude. Hee a legend and has shown the world how todo great things well.
It’s pathetic how quickly people forget and choose to take a dump on someone who defied all odds, made the best product on the planet and made them not only must haves, but a joy to live with.
Thank you Jony Ive. If you read this, Please ignore the nutcases that lurk here. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
Jony was out for a long time. To be provocative: When was the last time Apple made some big mistake that's largely due to design and product thinness. The 2016 Macbook. That design was probably fixed a year before (2015), since then Ive is (mentally) elsewhere.
Since then Apple stopped risking things in product design. Which I think is bad. If you don't risk you no longer impress. That's what happened at Apple. They no longer push the envelope further. The latest (totally boring looking) Air is proof of that. I think that is sad and will damage Apple in the long term bigger than any design flaw did in the past.
Yes we probably won't see another 'innovation' like the butterfly keyboard. But we probably won't see innovation, like the Unibody Laptop designs, flat panel all in one computer (started by Spartacus) etc either. New innovations will probably come from the bean counters: 'Let's make it cheaper to manufacture, looks are not important'. I would rather like to see Apple fail once in a while to over-design, than to bore people to death with 'things as usual'.
Tim knows that himself: While Steve always lead up to the new designs and generated excitement in his keynotes. Tim shows the 'product' up front and continues with lot's of techno bubble and costs. While Steve concentrated on 'how this will imrpove your live', Tim concentrates on lists and numbers.
The company will execute well based on the momentum generated by Jony and Steve (at that time Apple was always ahead of the curve), but no momentum has come after that. So enjoy it while it lasts.
Well said. I’ve took risks because that’s what it takes to lead. This is especially true in such a cutthroat industry. And in an era of throwaway design, Ive’s designs are enduring. Says so much on its own.
Take the “failure of the 2016 MBP. WHAT WAS THE FAILURE? THe thin design? Actually, that was what everyone raved about. Even today, many say it looks better compared to the newest MBPs (which themselves are a copy of older Ive designs).
The Touch Bar? Great idea, but Craig’s software team did nothing with it - the blame rests with Craig, not Jony. The ports? Boardroom decision. They all wanted that sleek notebook. So a bold decision was made to revolutionize the ports with a single standard - every port did everything! Paradigm shift - set to take over the entire industry - except the got cold feet and kept the status quo on all other products.
You can fault Tim for both signing off on the ports as well as being afraid to go all in - either way. He’s not a risk taker or a maverick. He’s a top supply chain guy. The keyboard - amazing idea and ballsy move. But the hardware team couldn’t get it right. That’s not on Jony. And it may just never work fundamentally.
But Ive isn’t the engineer who brought the concept to life. That blame goes on the hardware team. Sure, jony was pushing everyone to make things that fit into Apples vision of the sleekest and coolest looking computers around, but that’s a good thing.
And the fact that he pushed to leave no stone unturned is also a good thing. The fact that the board got cold feet on ports or that the hardware team couldn’t deliver on keyboard durability is not on Jony Ive. Some due diligence testing was obviously not done on the keyboard. The touchbar was left to languish by Federighi. And the ports were left that way for half a decade. And really out of those three, the only actual failure was the keyboard.
Performance is another issue as the laptops ran hot - but that’s due to intel failing to produce what they promised to apple who’d already designed around the expectation.
So what some bloggers like to point to as Ive’s big failure was a stream of missteps by Apple as a whole and a third party that was so bad that apple is making its own chips now.
Ive is an industrial designer who ensures that form follows function. It’s always been this way.
So let’s get this straight:
you want to crucify the guy who brought Apple back from the dead with:
the iMac (and related computers and accessories following that theme)
iPod
iphone
ipad
Titanium/aluminum notebooks
earbuds/airpods
the magic/mighty mouse
The freaking Apple Park headquarters
And so much more
and you want to shut him down because one product had a problem…
hopefully none of you are ever in a position to hire/fire mission critical talent.
Jobs was Apples heart. Ive it’s soul. And now it’s going to take some kind of miracle to capture that moving forward.
Giving 3 billion dollars to the NFL will do the trick…..
LOL
thats some perspective eh?
Happily pay 3 BILLION to get a decreasinglypopular NFL on Apples decent Apple TV+ platform, but cry over 100 million for the best industrial design in the business - which provides apple the enormous capital to pursue ventures like an Apple TV+ platform.
Last time Apple spent 3 billion they got … beats.
Let’s see - jony ive or beats… jony ive or a streaming show.
I know which one Jobs would pick, which one makes business sense, and which one benefit the company more while costing far less…
iOS 7 and subsequent releases are trash from a UI stance. Bring back Scott Forstall.
Lol. I like the ios7+ experience far more than the Forstall approach. The Forstall approach was ok in the 200x years.
So does most of the world. Thats why the ios7 design stuck with some minor changes along the way.
At the time ios7 came out, the world was sick of the skeuomorphic look of the old is and thought it was outdated. People were even calling Android the superior UI and UX.
IOS7 came out snd that all changed. iPhone was back at the top in a big way.
It’s a more authentic and clean design snd makes lots of sense.
people who complain about flat design or a streamlined os are Luddite’s who can’t let go of the distant past.
Flat is a Android - Windows Ribbons design philosophy a Geek boy aesthetic of bad design (example Apple Music, iTunes Store or App Store programs and many others scrolling information off the screen into nowhere on the right side, pop up requesters within programs doing the same thing utterly bad flat dumb design).
Somebody doesn’t seem to understand design or where certain styles originate.
Curious, if that’s indicative of Apples future design.
She worked with Ive and shared his design sense. That’s great news for Apple.
The new Air design is sweet because of what it retains from Ive, but also from the uniform thickness.
I think she’s super bright and will not be afraid to both:
a) keep what works from Ive and respect the fact that his designs won’t need to change much.
And
b) express her unique insights when that needs to happen.
She has an impossible job, but she will succeed. I’m both excited for her true all new designs but also keeping her in my prayers as creating amazing products on tight deadlines is a miracle workers job.
Ive is going to make some more dents in the universe but I feel like this bright woman is also going to do her thing. She will need room to fail and take risks. It’s difficult to come in after an icon, but if she takes a breath, she has an opportunity to become one herself.
His early stuff wasn't awful. Everything he's touched for the last 15+ years has been.
Yeah... all that junk he touched that resulted in the fastest and highest AAPL. Right? All those countless Apple customers for the past 15+ years buying all those products when they shouldn't have.
Keep doing your revisionist stuff. Maybe someday someone will believe you.
I think you’re missing the point of his post. Jony was clearly a talented designer. However, he’s an example of what happens when the designer has too much authority and is not kept in check.
The fundamental design of many of his products are great. However, there are countless examples where he let function follow form. He had an obsession with symmetry for example which led to the removal of important ports. Thankfully, some of this has been reversed in recent products. Then, there was the butterfly keyboard with his obsession for thinness, etc. Seriously, Jony deserves equal amounts of praise and criticism. If you can’t objectively see his obvious faults then you’re not being honest with yourself.
Actually you missed his point. You were presented with facts that contradict your opinion that was pretty much the end of discussion right there.
Such as? Example?? You make a bold claim without the ability to demonstrate how that is so.
Ive created amazing products that worked perfectly and looked as great as they functioned. Apple became a raging success as a result.
He had the right amount of authority a leader should have and was the reason apple products were so awesome.
Jony designed beautiful products. Unfortunately, with each of his designs, form followed function. His obsession for "simplicity" and "thinness" led to poor design decisions that left products without the appropriate ports, small batteries and mice that can't be used while being charged, etc. Beautiful products indeed, but functionally poor designs.
Such bad comedy how some point to one troubled product - butterfly keyboard - and next thing you know the best industrial designer in history known for his care and balance in knowing intrinsically when to say “no” is retconned into a runaway lunatic who does whatever he feels like on a given day.
There is a fine line bestween innovative risk and paradigm shifts in function. Ive somehow managed that on the regular. If one thing in a long history of extraordinary successes goes wrong, that’s nothing.
Such a bad comedy how you are so blinded that you're only able to see his successes and not also see his failures. Jonny was indeed a talented designer. However, his designs were also flawed. This is true for MOST of his designs. To that end, it is undeniable that Apple's product designs have started to improve AFTER Jony left. As an example, we wouldn't have the ports that we have on MacBook Pros if Jony was still running the show.
Jony is owed only thanks and gratitude. Hee a legend and has shown the world how todo great things well.
It’s pathetic how quickly people forget and choose to take a dump on someone who defied all odds, made the best product on the planet and made them not only must haves, but a joy to live with.
Thank you Jony Ive. If you read this, Please ignore the nutcases that lurk here. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
It's also pathetic how blinded some people are that they cannot actually view someone's work from a neutral perspective and acknowledge both successes and failures. Jony was a great designer. He made mistakes. It doesn't seem that he's learned from those mistakes. Products have clearly improved after he left.
Jony, if you read this, please ignore the helpless sycophants that are not objective enough to provide you with objective criticism. Nobody learns or improves without such critical feedback.
His early stuff wasn't awful. Everything he's touched for the last 15+ years has been.
Yeah... all that junk he touched that resulted in the fastest and highest AAPL. Right? All those countless Apple customers for the past 15+ years buying all those products when they shouldn't have.
Keep doing your revisionist stuff. Maybe someday someone will believe you.
I think you’re missing the point of his post. Jony was clearly a talented designer. However, he’s an example of what happens when the designer has too much authority and is not kept in check.
The fundamental design of many of his products are great. However, there are countless examples where he let function follow form. He had an obsession with symmetry for example which led to the removal of important ports. Thankfully, some of this has been reversed in recent products. Then, there was the butterfly keyboard with his obsession for thinness, etc. Seriously, Jony deserves equal amounts of praise and criticism. If you can’t objectively see his obvious faults then you’re not being honest with yourself.
Actually you missed his point. You were presented with facts that contradict your opinion that was pretty much the end of discussion right there.
Such as? Example?? You make a bold claim without the ability to demonstrate how that is so.
Ive created amazing products that worked perfectly and looked as great as they functioned. Apple became a raging success as a result.
He had the right amount of authority a leader should have and was the reason apple products were so awesome.
Jony designed beautiful products. Unfortunately, with each of his designs, form followed function. His obsession for "simplicity" and "thinness" led to poor design decisions that left products without the appropriate ports, small batteries and mice that can't be used while being charged, etc. Beautiful products indeed, but functionally poor designs.
Such bad comedy how some point to one troubled product - butterfly keyboard - and next thing you know the best industrial designer in history known for his care and balance in knowing intrinsically when to say “no” is retconned into a runaway lunatic who does whatever he feels like on a given day.
There is a fine line bestween innovative risk and paradigm shifts in function. Ive somehow managed that on the regular. If one thing in a long history of extraordinary successes goes wrong, that’s nothing.
Such a bad comedy how you are so blinded that you're only able to see his successes and not also see his failures. Jonny was indeed a talented designer. However, his designs were also flawed. This is true for MOST of his designs. To that end, it is undeniable that Apple's product designs have started to improve AFTER Jony left. As an example, we wouldn't have the ports that we have on MacBook Pros if Jony was still running the show.
Jony is owed only thanks and gratitude. Hee a legend and has shown the world how todo great things well.
It’s pathetic how quickly people forget and choose to take a dump on someone who defied all odds, made the best product on the planet and made them not only must haves, but a joy to live with.
Thank you Jony Ive. If you read this, Please ignore the nutcases that lurk here. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
It's also pathetic how blinded some people are that they cannot actually view someone's work from a neutral perspective and acknowledge both successes and failures. Jony was a great designer. He made mistakes. It doesn't seem that he's learned from those mistakes. Products have clearly improved after he left.
Jony, if you read this, please ignore the helpless sycophants that are not objective enough to provide you with objective criticism. Nobody learns or improves without such critical feedback.
I agree with you. He did some things well and other things not so well. Some things were flat out bad too and yes, things did tip more into form over function.
No first year designer would get a pass by placing an SD slot on the rear of a machine but there you have Jony doing just that, but why? To keep things visually 'clean'. No. It's the absolute worst place for the slot.
Then people waffle on about attention to the most minute of details, only to overlook glaring cases where the exact opposite was true. How about the spring loaded CD tray on iMacs. Clackety clack and our she pops but then we get told that they spent something like 18 months to get the plastic injection molding just right on the flower power and dalmatian iMacs.
But at the same time, there is something beautiful about the 'arse' of CRT iMacs although of course that's form again and not function (unless you spend half your time stroking it! LOL!).
Comments
oh, and midnight blue because her dad was a Geologist.
I will be holding on to my M1 MacBook Air. In 20 years' time, I think it will be regarded as the absolute pinnacle of Apple laptop design.
Move along people!
Flat is a Android - Windows Ribbons design philosophy a Geek boy aesthetic of bad design (example Apple Music, iTunes Store or App Store programs and many others scrolling information off the screen into nowhere on the right side, pop up requesters within programs doing the same thing utterly bad flat dumb design).
How often do you need to charge it once in 6-12 months? No problem….
thats some perspective eh?
crazy.
a) keep what works from Ive and respect the fact that his designs won’t need to change much.
b) express her unique insights when that needs to happen.
Jony designed beautiful products. Unfortunately, with each of his designs, form followed function. His obsession for "simplicity" and "thinness" led to poor design decisions that left products without the appropriate ports, small batteries and mice that can't be used while being charged, etc. Beautiful products indeed, but functionally poor designs.
Such a bad comedy how you are so blinded that you're only able to see his successes and not also see his failures. Jonny was indeed a talented designer. However, his designs were also flawed. This is true for MOST of his designs. To that end, it is undeniable that Apple's product designs have started to improve AFTER Jony left. As an example, we wouldn't have the ports that we have on MacBook Pros if Jony was still running the show.
It's also pathetic how blinded some people are that they cannot actually view someone's work from a neutral perspective and acknowledge both successes and failures. Jony was a great designer. He made mistakes. It doesn't seem that he's learned from those mistakes. Products have clearly improved after he left. Jony, if you read this, please ignore the helpless sycophants that are not objective enough to provide you with objective criticism. Nobody learns or improves without such critical feedback.
No first year designer would get a pass by placing an SD slot on the rear of a machine but there you have Jony doing just that, but why? To keep things visually 'clean'. No. It's the absolute worst place for the slot.
Then people waffle on about attention to the most minute of details, only to overlook glaring cases where the exact opposite was true. How about the spring loaded CD tray on iMacs. Clackety clack and our she pops but then we get told that they spent something like 18 months to get the plastic injection molding just right on the flower power and dalmatian iMacs.
But at the same time, there is something beautiful about the 'arse' of CRT iMacs although of course that's form again and not function (unless you spend half your time stroking it! LOL!).
So a mixed bag.