Jony Ive will leave Apple later this year to devote himself to his LoveFrom company, the announcement came like a bolt a few days ago, but it seems that the decision was expected and that the real divorce between Ive and the Cupertino house had already begun a few years ago.
To give us some interesting background on the story we have a new report from The Wall Street Journal: a former member of Apple Design group – obviously kept anonymous – has revealed several aspects of the causes that led Ive to separate from the society in which he has worked for the last 20 years, and has helped make it one of the most important in the world thanks to his role in developing some of the most famous designs in the industry.
Everything started with another far more significant and irreversible departure, namely the leaving of Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011. Under the presidency of Jobs, the whole team responsible for design lived the continuous challenge represented by the periodic meetings with the CEO and this led the whole group to work more intensely and creatively, obviously under the guidance of Ive.
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Jobs death marked the end of this constant stimulus to the search for inspired and functional designs, which generated a sense of dissatisfaction. Under Cook, in fact, Apple has begun to evaluate more the financial aspect of the company, coming to compromise with the design. A scenario previously unthinkable, which led Ive to feel less and less involved in the fate of the company.
With the company in Cook’s hands, the periodic meetings with the design team had also disappeared and this caused a further detachment by Ive. The new CEO had great respect for Ive and his work; in fact he reportedly pay Ive far more than any other Apple executives and facilitates his working from home more but that did not seem to be enough.
According to the same sources, the idea of Ive working from home was to help him recharge after years of intense working on products like the iMac and the iPhone.
Throughout 2017 the situation did not improve; his constant absence and what could be defined as a form of disaffection with the company have led to the result we know. The relationship with Apple has not been completely interrupted since the collaboration between the two will continue in the future, but at that point, it will be clear that its influence can no longer be decisive in the creation of the next products.
