Sources: Apple ends its consulting agreement with Jony Ive that made Apple his firm's primary client and limited Ive from taking on work Apple found competitive
Three years after promising to work “long into the future” with the man behind its candy-colored computers, Apple and Mr. Ive are through.
New York TimesTripp Mickle
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s arrangement with Jony Ive followed his departure to form LoveFrom with Apple as its first client, preserving a formal connection after more than two decades inside the company. Related coverage also described Apple as having prepared for his exit as software and services grew in importance.
Ending that agreement closes the transitional structure: Apple no longer has LoveFrom as its primary-client design partner, while the restriction on work Apple deemed competitive no longer applies.
First-order effects
Apple loses the contractual consulting relationship that gave it priority access to Ive’s firm.
LoveFrom gains the freedom to pursue work that the prior agreement barred when Apple considered it competitive.
Second-order effects
Apple’s product teams must rely entirely on internal design leadership rather than an external arrangement with its former chief design officer.
Companies whose work previously conflicted with Apple’s interests become potential LoveFrom clients, widening the firm’s addressable design work.
The trend: Apple is unwinding the formal ties that softened the departure of a defining hardware-design leader as its organization operates beyond that transition.
What a legacy. What a complicated legacy, at least in its later years. (So much great work. But also overminimalization. And the silly gold watch. And overseeing software experiences—not his area of expertise, it turned out.) https://www.nytimes.com/... https://www.nytimes.com/..…
It had to end at some point, and it's hard to say how much influence he's really had since he left. I suspect not much at all. Still sad that it's officially over now. https://twitter.com/...
In light of the report that Apple has ended its partnership with Jony Ive, here is a Jony Ive interview published a few days ago: [Link to Wallpaper.com Prince Charles Jony Ive interview]
Major news that probably isn't all that major since Apple's industrial designers have been figuring things out mostly on their own without Jony Ive for the past few years https://www.nytimes.com/...
Good, everyone involved can drop this charade now. Apple's design team under Evans Hankey has done amazing work in the years since Jony checked out, and she deserves full credit without anyone thinking Jony's still influencing anything. https://twitter.com/...
When Jony Ive exited Apple in 2019, Tim Cook reassured customers that the man who gave the world candy-colored computers would work exclusively with the company for many years. Not anymore. https://www.nytimes.com/...