At this point there can be no overstating Jony Ive’s importance to Apple both in the hardware and software that it ships. Having previously been labelled as a Senior VP of Design, Ive is now Apple’s first ever Chief Design Officer. More details on the news and the memo which Tim Cook sent to his team regarding this can be found right here.
While the overall role is likely to be relatively similar, Ive himself says that it should free him up to do more design rather than having to manage people. To that end Alan Dye will be answerable for user interfaces and Richard Howarth for industrial design come July 1st.
Jony Ive has long been the focal point for Apple’s design process, with software having only recently become part of his job description following the redesign of iOS 7. Ive is rumoured to have wanted out of Apple on a couple of occasions over the last few years, but as this new title perhaps shows the man is still very much behind everything that is going on inside the Cupertino helm. In fact, he even has his fingers in the construction of Apple’s new, larger campus which probably left the project’s own architects overjoyed!
For all intents and purposes it is likely that Apple itself will continue to function in much the same way that it has since Jony Ive’s rise first started way back then. The title of Apple’s first ever Chief Design Officer is one that Ive should rightly be proud of and has us wondering just who, if anyone, will be able to fill Ive’s boots when the time comes.
The full memo by Tim Cook sent to the team at Apple – as revealed by 9to5Mac – is as following:
With the Apple Watch out the door and the new MacBook also having been recently released we suspect Ive is hard at work on new iPhones and iPads for the second half of this year. Or at least that’s what we are hoping for, even if a new Mac Pro is equally wished for amongst those who are looking to buy one.
Remember folks, good things come to those who wait.
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