New Yorker reporter Ian Parker spoke to Jony Ive and other ranking Apple employees about Ive’s contribution to the company since he joined in 1992. The lengthy profile details Jony Ive’s life at Apple and includes a rare trip into Apple’s design studio on the company’s Infinite Loop campus. Much of the profile focuses on the upcoming Apple Watch and the design considerations that went into creating the wristwatch device.
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“For the watch, it was a year before Ive settled on straps that clicked into slots. Ive later tested watchbands by wearing them outside the studio with other watches. The shape of the body, meanwhile, barely changed: a rectangle with rounded corners. “When a huge part of the function is lists”—of names, or appointments—“a circle doesn’t make any sense,” Ive said. Its final form resembles one of Newson’s watches, and the Cartier Santos, from 1904.”
Apple decided a wearable notification device should be worn on the wrist and began to work on the Watch several years ago, right before the passing of Steve Jobs. At the same time Apple was beginning its Watch, Google began its journey on its Glass eyeglasses. Speaking about Google Glass, Ive comments that the face is the wrong place for such a device as it impairs face-to-face conversation between two people.
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“To Ive, then unaware of Google’s plans, “the obvious and right place” for such a thing was the wrist. When he later saw Google Glass, Ive said, it was evident to him that the face “was the wrong place.” Cook said, “We always thought that glasses were not a smart move, from a point of view that people would not really want to wear them. They were intrusive, instead of pushing technology to the background, as we’ve always believed.” He went on, “We always thought it would flop, and, you know, so far it has.” He looked at the Apple Watch on his wrist. “This isn’t obnoxious. This isn’t building a barrier between you and me.” He continued, “If I get a notification here, it will tap my wrist”—with silent vibrations. “I can casually look and see what’s going on.” ”
You can read more about Ive in the New Yorker profile. It’s a long piece, but worth a read as it is one of the most comprehensive profiles of Apple’s illustrious industrial designer. I have ever read.
