To many, Jony Ives announced departure from Apple last week felt very sudden. But a narrative is forming to suggest that hes been slowly exiting for years as the company shifted priorities from product design to operations. The Wall Street Journals Tripp Mickle just published a new list of brutalities that paints a picture of discontent inside Apple, thats responsible for “eroding the product magic” created by the union of Apples genius CEO and genius designer.
The WSJ report follows a similar piece published by Bloomberg last week. Both reports describe an Apple design team, led by Jony Ive, increasingly frustrated by his absence after the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015. They tell the story of a company that once put design at the forefront, progressively being led by operational concerns. Ives absence was “straining the cohesion central to product development,” according to the WSJ, causing several key design team members to leave Apple over the last few years.
Here are some of the highlights from The Wall Street Journal piece thats well worth a read in full:
- Ive was “dispirited” by Tim Cook who “showed little interest in the product development process,” according to sources speaking to the WSJ. This helps explain why Cook sometimes appears to be seeing products for the first time in the hands-on area after Apple events (like the photo at the top of this article).
- Ive grew increasingly frustrated as Apples board was populated by directors with backgrounds unrelated to the companys core business.
- Apple will pay Ives new firm LoveFrom “millio
