Jony Ive, who was linked to Apple as a consultant, finally ended his association with the Cupertino companyas reported New York Times. Thus, a relationship that lasted for three years ends after the Briton left his position as Senior Vice President of Design.
It was on June 27, 2019 that Jony Ive announced his departure from Apple after nearly three decades. In fact, for a good part of his tenure he was Apple’s chief design officer. Products like the iPod, the iPhone, the iMac and the iPad, to name a few, went through his mind. The news obviously shook the entire tech industry; Mainly because there were no rumors about a possible departure and because he was a key player in the present and future of the company.
That same day, Jony Ive himself mentioned that he would continue to work with Apple through his new design firm: LoveFrom. Today, almost three years later, they conclude their work together.
It is important to mention, however, that Neither Apple nor Jony Ive ever mentioned what projects they were collaborating on. Although there is no official information about it, and surely there will be no statement from the two parties in the short term, it is not difficult to guess what he was involved in.
“There are products that I have been working on for many years, I am excited to continue with them, as well as new projects in which I will be able to contribute and contribute”, were the words that Jony Ive expressed when leaving the ranks of Apple during 2019. In that then, let us remember well, there were already rumors about the augmented reality glasses of the Apple.
Reality glasses could be Jony Ive’s last job at Apple
Interestingly, in June of that same year, a report from Bloomberg Business Week uncovered that the design of the glasses had a significant change after the intervention of Jony Ive. The problem, however, is that Mike Rockwell, leader of Apple’s AR/VR team, would not have welcomed the changes. While Rockwell was betting on a powerful device that relied on an external module to explore its full potential, Jony Ive preferred to sacrifice performance for usability and aesthetics. Apparently Tim Cook would have endorsed Ive.
But the discrepancies were not only in a hardware design issue, but also in the functional proposal of the glasses. As revealed Information just last May the AR/VR area intended to create a virtual reality device, but the design team opposed the idea. Why? They believed that virtual reality alienated users from other people by isolating them from the outside world, made users look old-fashioned, and lacked practical uses.
In the end, they would have come to understand each other when it was proposed to integrate external cameras so that the user could see what is happening outside. In addition, the glasses would have an external screen so that others could see the facial expressions of the wearer of the device. It is unknown if this idea is still in progress…
Mobility, the next step for Jony Ive?
Now that Apple and Jony Ive have gone their separate ways for good, the creative will be able to focus on his next work experience at Ferrari. Yes, the Italian firm of super sports cars signed Ive in September 2021.
“As Ferrari owners and collectors, we couldn’t be more excited to be collaborating with this extraordinary company and in particular the design team led by Flavio Manzoni. We see some unique and exciting opportunities working together that we believe will produce important work and valuable,” Jony Ive’s statement said.
In this case, there is also no concrete information on what they are going to work on. Nevertheless, all eyes point to a fully electric Ferrari and whose launch is scheduled for 2025.