Apple design chief Jony Ive isn’t retiring – not even completely from Apple. He’s starting his own design firm, called LoveFrom, and Apple will be the new firm’s first client.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, okay.
Hey, whatever it takes to keep AAPL from melting down irrationally yet again!
Jonathan IveLoveFrom? Sort of an odd name on first hearing, right? Well, there’s a story there. The name comes from this Steve Jobs quote, paraphrased by Ives in a Financial Times piece today.
“There was an employee meeting a number of years ago and Steve [Jobs] was talking… He [said] that one of the fundamental motivations was that when you make something with love and with care, even though you probably will never meet… the people that you’re making it for, and you’ll never shake their hand, by making something with care, you are expressing your gratitude to humanity, to the species.”
“I so identified with that motivation and was moved by his description. So my new company is called ‘LoveFrom.’ It succinctly speaks to why I do what I do.”
MacDailyNews Take: The name is being misreported all over the place as “LoveForm” which is actually a better name for a design firm than the saccharine “LoveFrom,” which sounds like a greeting card company.
glad for him, disappointed for us that he wasn’t chosen to be the CEO. While Tim Cook makes money by opening into new markets, quality had dramaticly suffered, apple support has become argumentative and unbearable to deal with, and innovation…well is a thing of the past with them.
Being a CEO requires a very specialized skill set that very few people possess. My sense is that if Jony Ive was a CEO Apple would’ve lost a great designer and had a mediocre CEO. It would have been disastrous for the company IMHO. I think it’s great that he will remain close to the company and be able to advise on all things design.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Interestingly way back MDN were bleating about him taking over as CEO totally unaware it seems of the very point you have so succinctly made. Now I note they tend to praise him with feint praise… almost through gritted teeth it seems and though they won’t admit it opening secretly glad he is going. Good job we didn’t ‘iCal’ them.
In truth his his mind has been elsewhere for a long time there is only so much time you can spend reworking product sets and stay fresh and enthused, he certainly lasted a lot longer than most designers manage. Clearly he stayed in recent years purely because he felt allegiance to Steve to make sure the Flying Saucer was completed as he (both) wanted and because he had the freedom to get involved in creativity beyond the usual product design. Now he is free to apply his skillset to new creative challenges from those no doubt queuing up to exploit it and for the most part well away from what he has been used to doing at Apple no doubt even in his less constrained latter period. Good luck to him it might dictate his lasting legacy now that he has an open book to play with more akin to artist than Industrial designer I suspect.
As for Apple my main concern is as to whether Cook is gradually creating cabal of his own making, effectively ‘Yes Men’ because one thing you know about bureaucratic dictators is that responsibility for Operational and Managerial inadequacies rarely lie at his own door in their own mind. An Apple run on Steve Ballmer like principles where the grey and methodical replace innovation and risk taking doesn’t give one much confidence for the future of the Company. The next 5 years will tell us a lot about if this is the road ahead because I have no idea who is powerful enough to replace Ive as a creative powerhouse to challenge that way of working.
I think he is leaving precisely because he has had enough designing tech products like he has for Apple. He only stayed as long as he has while sinking into the background because he was free to expand into other areas, a learning curve he will no doubt exploit to good measure in his new company. It will be interesting perhaps to see what he comes up with should he ever branch into a product that directly competes with Apple products.
Either way, I support Jony’s decision and wish him the best in making more “things” I would want to buy.
MDN
You forgot to say “ Interns… tap the kegs”
LoveFrom, pure genius 🤪🤓
What’s product that LoveFrom is doing, anyone knows?.
At first I thought it said “LoveForm.” I sat there thinking this guy will never not prefer form over function.
glad for him, disappointed for us that he wasn’t chosen to be the CEO. While Tim Cook makes money by opening into new markets, quality had dramaticly suffered, apple support has become argumentative and unbearable to deal with, and innovation…well is a thing of the past with them.
Being a CEO requires a very specialized skill set that very few people possess. My sense is that if Jony Ive was a CEO Apple would’ve lost a great designer and had a mediocre CEO. It would have been disastrous for the company IMHO. I think it’s great that he will remain close to the company and be able to advise on all things design.
Couldn’t agree with you more. Interestingly way back MDN were bleating about him taking over as CEO totally unaware it seems of the very point you have so succinctly made. Now I note they tend to praise him with feint praise… almost through gritted teeth it seems and though they won’t admit it opening secretly glad he is going. Good job we didn’t ‘iCal’ them.
In truth his his mind has been elsewhere for a long time there is only so much time you can spend reworking product sets and stay fresh and enthused, he certainly lasted a lot longer than most designers manage. Clearly he stayed in recent years purely because he felt allegiance to Steve to make sure the Flying Saucer was completed as he (both) wanted and because he had the freedom to get involved in creativity beyond the usual product design. Now he is free to apply his skillset to new creative challenges from those no doubt queuing up to exploit it and for the most part well away from what he has been used to doing at Apple no doubt even in his less constrained latter period. Good luck to him it might dictate his lasting legacy now that he has an open book to play with more akin to artist than Industrial designer I suspect.
As for Apple my main concern is as to whether Cook is gradually creating cabal of his own making, effectively ‘Yes Men’ because one thing you know about bureaucratic dictators is that responsibility for Operational and Managerial inadequacies rarely lie at his own door in their own mind. An Apple run on Steve Ballmer like principles where the grey and methodical replace innovation and risk taking doesn’t give one much confidence for the future of the Company. The next 5 years will tell us a lot about if this is the road ahead because I have no idea who is powerful enough to replace Ive as a creative powerhouse to challenge that way of working.
Apple needs new blood so this is a good thing he’s moving on – as for LoveFrom… I prefer LoveFarm.
“…the saccharine “LoveFrom,” which sounds like a greeting card company.”
Yeh, if only he could have chosen a really tech-appropriate and professional sounding name like “Apple”.
So he’s Designing Tech Products for other companies including Apple now
I think he is leaving precisely because he has had enough designing tech products like he has for Apple. He only stayed as long as he has while sinking into the background because he was free to expand into other areas, a learning curve he will no doubt exploit to good measure in his new company. It will be interesting perhaps to see what he comes up with should he ever branch into a product that directly competes with Apple products.
‘Lovefrom’ backwards is mor(ph) evol(ution)
Well at least his email signature will make a change from …regards;
LoveFrom
Jony