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Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

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Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#281

Post by steve19 »

Bud wrote: post #197
PunksATawnyFill wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about decisions like removing the headphone jacks from the company's most popular music players, the very devices with which people are supposed consume the media-centric services that Tim Cook and analysts say are the future of Apple? For Apple's and consumers' sake, I hope NOT.

This decision was promptly copied by every other major phone manufacturer, for the same reasons Apple made the decision. The 3.5mm jack is obsolete and getting rid of it enables a better, tougher device which is more waterproof.

Its not obselete when 100s of millions of people use it everyday and the replacement is expensive, needs replacing because the batteries die and has poorer sound quality.

No phone is more waterproof with it than without (they all have complex data ports with many connection vs three or four in a jack). No phone has a bigger battery. No phone is tougher.

It allows Apple and others to sell expensice Bluetooth ear buds.

And yes, I do own a pair of airpods.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#282

Post by sprafa »

thinkling wrote: post #164
jkw wrote: post #93

He’s making more money at Apple than he will leading his own design agency. This makes me think that he no longer finds his work compelling at Apple. Or Apple decided it’s time for a new leader, but wants things to have a soft landing.

Since he was the Chief Design Officer at Apple, responsible for all design, I imagine his role came with a lot of management overhead. I'd wager a guess that maybe he wanted to ditch the corporate overhead (and spend more time directly working on design), and as a bonus he'll get to take on a wider range of projects. Also possible that he wanted to go back to the UK and that his firm will be located there.

From Daring Fireball speculation his move to Chief Design Officer was already a move for him to be distanced from day to day design. Sort of a soft firing already, but by moving him up.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#283

Post by sytelus »

atombender wrote: post #219
mrkstu wrote: post #70

Hopefully this signals the end of the designers tyranny at Apple. While physical design has been of paramount importance in Apple's rise to the top, it has been more and more detrimental as Jony and his group wandered into worshipping at the altar of luxury and Platonic idealism. When combined with /not/ ignoring other than luxury market segments and usability that was fine. But when Jony's star was completely ascend…

I don't like that phrase, "tyranny of design". It implies design is just one side of a product. But design is everything . It is both form and function. A product that has great visual design is still a failure if the functional design is bad. A great designer is holistic and will be able to bring form and function into harmony.. While I don't have the inside scoop on how Jonathan Ive works, my impression is that he'…

The iPhone has one of the most slippery surfaces of almost all objects I own. It looks great in photos and ad videos but completely incompatible to the goal of safely holding it in the human hand. Things have became so bad with iPhone XS that I have never seen anyone using it without some ugly sleeve. If anyone has dared not using case/sleeve, they would experience heart wrenching drop out of hand within their first week of use.

Do you think this is good design? Why do you think this would happen at design-first company like Apple?

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#284

Post by mbell »

bradknowles wrote: post #145
jedberg wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing wrong with USB-C and the big trackpad is fine too, and I would love to have touchID on my 2015MBP. But getting rid of mag power and the USB-A ports, HDMI port, and SD card slot was a big step back. Maybe you don't ever need to present anything from your laptop, but if you talk to anyone who does, they will tell you how awful it is to not have an HDMI port. The USB-C to HDMI is the worst adapter I've ever seen…

So, on the power side of the equation, I have come to understand why they chose to go the direction they did. With the previous generation of MagSafe/MagSafe II power supplies, if the cable gets frayed, you have to replace the entire power supply. If the MagSafe connector gets hosed, you have to replace the entire power supply. Basically, if anything goes wrong beyond the AC input side, you have to replace the whole…

I was annoyed by the MagSafe removal but I've had 5 of these [0] since the change and I have zero complaints. My Neato has eaten them multiple times and they are still kicking and if they ever die, it's just a cheap cable rather than a new power supply. I went through multiple of the old magsafe power supplies despite ample application of Sugru [1]. Overall I think moving the magnetic disconnect to the cable is a good move.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079NJM3VS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

[1] https://sugru.com/

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#285

Post by pier25 »

atombender wrote: post #219
mrkstu wrote: post #70

Hopefully this signals the end of the designers tyranny at Apple. While physical design has been of paramount importance in Apple's rise to the top, it has been more and more detrimental as Jony and his group wandered into worshipping at the altar of luxury and Platonic idealism. When combined with /not/ ignoring other than luxury market segments and usability that was fine. But when Jony's star was completely ascend…

I don't like that phrase, "tyranny of design". It implies design is just one side of a product. But design is everything . It is both form and function. A product that has great visual design is still a failure if the functional design is bad. A great designer is holistic and will be able to bring form and function into harmony.. While I don't have the inside scoop on how Jonathan Ive works, my impression is that he'…

I guess parent poster actually meant the tyranny of aesthetics.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#286

Post by enneff »

fnord77 wrote: post #108
valine wrote: post #31

With the iPhone X Apple put serious R&D into a display that folds back on itself for the sole reason that a phone is more ascetically pleasing when the boarders are symmetrical. Even after a year and a half every phone except the iPhone has an asymmetrical chin. Will Apple still be able to make decisions like that without Ive in a leadership position? For Apple's sake I really hope so.

given their recent focus on being a services/media company, it wouldn't surprise me if they moved out of hardware entirely at some point in the future.

They became the most valuable company in the world by selling hardware. What on earth would possess them to get out of that incredibly lucrative market in which they have an unparalleled privileged position??

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#287

Post by pedalpete »

mrkstu wrote: post #70

Hopefully this signals the end of the designers tyranny at Apple. While physical design has been of paramount importance in Apple's rise to the top, it has been more and more detrimental as Jony and his group wandered into worshipping at the altar of luxury and Platonic idealism. When combined with /not/ ignoring other than luxury market segments and usability that was fine. But when Jony's star was completely ascend…

Actually, the tyranny of design at Apple existed long before Jonny Ive. It began with Donald Norman who regularly discusses his Philip Starck juicer which "not meant to squeeze lemons, it is meant to start conversations."

I can't find the quote, but Donald Norman said something along the lines of "create something beautiful and people will say it's wonderful and easy to use".

This has always been the Apple way, and I don't see that changing. At Apple, form has always had priority over function.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#288

Post by saagarjha »

mattigames wrote: post #273
saagarjha wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I'd put a lot of credibility in the reviews on apple.com. Especially for a device like a display adapter which is frequently connected to a finicky and/or cheap device like a projector or display.

Then why so many have 5 stars on Amazon? Are people that buy apple products more likely to connect them to finicky or cheap devices?

No, I think that people who have had bad experiences with their adapter are more likely to go the manufacturer's website and post comments about how it didn't work for them. If Amazon wasn't a wasteland of fake reviews, I might actually trust it more than Apple's website.

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#289

Post by steve19 »

freehunter wrote: post #170
ericzawo wrote: post #3

A fitting name for Ive's new firm. Now perhaps Apple can get back to work on fixing the function part of their laptops, like, say, the keyboard.

I actually didn't see the name of the new company in the linked article. Turns out it's called LoveFrom. https://www.wired.com/story/jony-ive-leaves-apple/

Well we knew it wasn't going to be called LoveFunction

Re: Jony Ive to form independent design company with Apple as client

#290

Post by zoom6628 »

thinkling wrote: post #154
bradknowles wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, on the power side of the equation, I have come to understand why they chose to go the direction they did. With the previous generation of MagSafe/MagSafe II power supplies, if the cable gets frayed, you have to replace the entire power supply. If the MagSafe connector gets hosed, you have to replace the entire power supply. Basically, if anything goes wrong beyond the AC input side, you have to replace the whole…

> if the cable gets frayed, you have to replace the entire power supply This is true for the existing design but it would have been easy to redesign the power supply to avoid it. Just look at the other end: the wall-plug end has long been replaceable; it slides out so you can put on a different plug or a longer cable. This could be true on the MagSafe side as well -- then any Mac power supply could be used with any g…

Common sense and good design will not rule over sales generation thru designed in obsolescence. I had to buy new adapter with mag-safe for my 2013 Air. Got a new MBP at work a few days later and the replaceable cable makes so much sense. Now just needs a cable maker to produce a USB-C to MagSafe cable.
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