Jony Ive (left) with Apple CEO Tim Cook
APPLE Inc. said Friday that design chief Jony Ive is resuming oversight of the company’s industrial-design and user-interface teams, a role that he stepped away from during the development of Apple’s new headquarters.
In the past few years, as Mr. Ive focused on Apple’s campus, Richard Howarth, vice president of industrial design, and Alan Dye, vice president of user-interface design, reported directly to Chief Executive Tim Cook.
Employees started moving into the 2.8-million-square-foot, ring-shaped building in Cupertino, Calif., in the spring, and the company held its first event there in September.“With the completion of Apple Park, Apple’s design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design,” Apple said in a brief statement. It gave no further reason for the change and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate.
Mr. Ive returns at a time when Apple’s stock is at record levels and the company is projecting its best quarter ever behind strong sales of its new iPhone X. Still, the company has faced challenges with some products, including a delay in the release of its new smart speaker, the HomePod. Some analysts also have questioned the pace of Apple’s innovation, for which the design team’s work is critical.
Mr. Ive has led Apple’s design team since 1996, just before co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company. A close confidant of Mr. Jobs, he cemented his leadership role with the company by shepherding the design of the first iMac, the first major product in what became Apple’s revival. The small design team Mr. Ive oversaw went on to develop the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, a string of devices that helped him accrue more than 5,000 patents and establish his reputation as a pillar of Apple’s success.
Over the past couple of years, Mr. Ive has taken on more projects outside the design studio, including a Christmas tree installation last year in the lobby of Claridge’s, a London Hotel. He was deeply involved in the design and development of the company’s new campus and was named chancellor at London’s Royal College of Art. Mr. Ive was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 2013.
Apple announced that Mr. Ive would hand over managerial duties to Messrs. Howarth and Dye in 2015, when Mr. Ive was promoted to chief design officer, making him the company’s third chief-level executive at the time.
However, in a letter to staff at the time, Mr. Cook said Mr. Ive would “remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives.”
Mr. Howarth has been on the industrial-design team for more than two decades, and Mr. Dye began working on how people interact with Apple devices during the development of iOS 7 around 2013. Both men will stay in their current roles, but now will report to Mr. Ive.
On Friday, Apple removed them from the leadership page on its website in conjunction with the announcement. It also removed Denise Young Smith, its vice president of inclusion and diversity, who is leaving the company at the end of this year. - WSJ
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