A look at Jony Ive's evolving responsibilities and frustrations at Apple that eventually led to his June 2019 resignation, adapted from the book “After Steve”
AFTER STEVE: HOW APPLE BECAME A TRILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY AND LOST ITS SOUL Nehal Malik / iPhone in Canada Blog : How Apple's ‘Corporate Bloat’ Forced Jony Ive to Depart, Details Upcoming Book Eric Slivka / MacRumors : ‘After Steve’ Examines the Tensions That Led to Jony Ive's Departure From Apple Clay Shirky / New York Times : Apple Inc., ‘After Steve’ José Adorno / 9to5Mac : The final years of Jony Ive at Apple: relationship with Tim Cook, Apple Watch vision, and burnout to come Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Philip Elmer‑DeWitt : Why Jony Ive left Apple Tweets: Michael Gartenberg / @gartenberg : I have read that Apple has lost its soul under Tim Cook. How should it get it back? Wrong answers only. PowerMac G4 Cube Adam Lashinsky / @adamlashinsky : @Apple obsessives will gulp down the fine new book by @trippmickle, which he casts as @tim_cook versus Jony Ive. Here's my review at @airmailweekly https://airmail.news/... Parker Ortolani / @parkerortolani : The main thing you'll take away from #AfterSteve is that Apple is a completely different company than it was before Steve passed away. Completely different. Ravi / @ravi_711 : @owasow The Apple Watch as a fashion accessory was a miserable idea. You would think they could have found an example where Ive was actually right to use for the excerpt of the book. Steve Silberman / @stevesilberman : Fascinating article about Jony Ive's disillusionment and departure from @Apple from a new book by @trippmickle. I knew Jony slightly as an interview subject and regular at my favorite SF cafe. I liked him a lot; very sweet and humble guy. https://www.nytimes.com/... Parker Ortolani / @parkerortolani : I've got to say, it really is disgusting and indicative of where Apple's identity crisis stood at the time that they spent $25M on a temporary building that stood for a day Omar Wasow / @owasow : @Ravi_711 Agree completely. I never understood their $10,000 luxe Apple Watch for a device that would be obsolete in months. Clearly the rationale was fashion marketing but, in retrospect, likely muddied public's understanding of what watch is actually good for, eg exercise tracking. @aapltree : @CaffeineAndHate “At least when JONY made that RIDICULOUS and SELF-INDULGENT coffee table BOOK about the IPHONE that SAVED APPLE it had SOUL.” Omar Wasow / @owasow : Excerpt from new book on Apple argues “technocrats” won and company “lost its soul.” A good example of myth trumping evidence. Ive's obsession with thin products and clean lines made iPhones and Macs worse in recent years and both are better since he left. https://www.nytimes.com/... Amjad Masad / @amasad : This shows the fragility of maker cultures: Without a strong-willed builder-leader at the helm, it will slowly erode. https://www.nytimes.com/... @counternotions : Which is the worst? a) Draymond Green flagrantin' and getting thrown out in playoffs yet again b) Stephen A. Smith explaining why he should stay in the game c) $17K Apple Watch Gold Edition Michael Gartenberg / @gartenberg : As a shareholder I'm perfectly OK with Apple losing it's “soul” but keeping the market cap and share price @tim_cook brought us. Andy Ihnatko / @ihnatko : Hmm. Historically, I've found the take “Apple has lost its soul since Steve died” to be glib and wholly unconvincing. But I've pre-ordered the book and will read it with an open mind. https://www.nytimes.com/... via @GoogleNews Ernie Smith / @shortformernie : There were a lot of significant design failures on Ive's watch that this article does not discuss at all. Basically, it's as if the last thing he did was the Apple Watch ... even though the Butterfly Keyboard is on his watch, too. https://www.nytimes.com/... Brian Collins / @briancollins1 : Oh, please. Ive defined design at Apple (and gave us candy-colored computers) before he left. What does that mean for the future? As many great designers are there, including many former colleagues (happily, too) I have hope and can't wait for what's next. https://www.nytimes.com/... Kieran Healy / @kjhealy : Nah. Ive seems to have become almost a malign force at Apple without Jobs to counterbalance him. He lacked interest in how products are used, preferring sheer purity of form. Jobs liked purity but he also wanted to make things people would love to use. https://www.nytimes.com/... Tripp Mickle / @trippmickle : Why Jony Ive Left Apple to ‘The Accountants’ - Come for Apple's $25 million debate over a tent. - Go inside its design studio for a rare Tim Cook visit. - Stay for the screening of the film “Yesterday.” An excerpt of After Steve, which pubs May 3 (!) https://www.nytimes.com/... @newsycombinator : Technocrats triumphed at Apple https://www.nytimes.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Related coverage had already situated Ive’s exit in Apple’s shift toward software and services: the company was reportedly preparing for his departure during the Watch launch period. The excerpt gives that transition a management and design-culture account rather than treating the resignation as an isolated personnel event.
The contrast matters because Cook’s operational approach coincided with sharply higher revenue and profit in later coverage, while Ive’s product legacy was also tied to design choices that made devices harder to repair. The story therefore joins a broader debate over what Apple prioritized as it scaled.
First-order effects
- Apple’s 2019 loss of Ive removed its best-known design leader after a transition the company had reportedly been planning for years.
- The account strengthens the criticism, attributed to reactions around "After Steve," that Apple’s operating model under Tim Cook left less room for the design culture associated with Ive.
Second-order effects
- Apple’s leadership narrative becomes more closely tied to the trade-off between Cook’s supply-chain-led growth and the design autonomy represented by Ive, rather than to a simple executive succession.
- The repairability critique attached to Ive’s legacy complicates any clean contrast between product design and operations: Apple’s hardware priorities had consequences for consumers and the wider consumer-tech market as well.
Third-order effects
- If software, services, and operational scale continue to outweigh hardware-led leadership inside major device makers, industrial design will increasingly be organized as one function within a broader platform business rather than its defining center.
- The Ive episode points to a lasting governance question for scaled technology companies: how to retain distinct product judgment when financial and operational systems become the dominant source of organizational power.
The trend: Apple’s post-Ive arc is one instance of mature device companies rebalancing from founder-era product design toward services, operations, and platform-scale management.