Apple designer Sir Jony Ive holding up iOS 7 development: Report Visionary designer Sir Jonathan Ive’s perfectionism could be holding back the development of the latest version of the software used on iPads and iPhones, according to a recent report. Famed as the head of Cupertino’s industrial design division, the knighted Essex lad was recently handed control of software design in a …
"Ive or Tim Cook?"
I was actually referring to Ive but now that you mention it, it might very well also apply to Cook. So that's a very good point right there. On the other hand, Jobs' position in Apple was kind of specifically tailored to Jobs and so anyone who took the job was going to be a poor fit at best. But it was necessary for someone to take his place - and Cook it was. Still, whether Cook is cut out to be any kind of CEO at all is a good question and time will tell.
But giving Jon Ive his new, expanded responsibilities does not seem to have been done as a result of the same type of iron necessity that forced the advancement of someone - anyone! - into the role formerly played by Jobs. So while the Peter Principle would apply in Ive's case, it might not really fit the "somebody had to replace Jobs and it might as well as have been Cook as anybody else" situation.
Hey at least we are willing to show our post history. What does that say about you also visiting this trashy tabloid IT website AC? El Reg has its flaws (cough LP human climate change denial propaganda, AO raging on freetards) but compared to the corporate PR release rehash site that is ZDNet etc its at least amusing.
"Say the guys slagging off complete strangers of a trashy tabloid IT website. Class act, the pair of you."
Don't worry your little head about it. Jony and Timmy are big boys now; they can take it. Didn't your mommy ever tell you "sticks and stones may break your bones but names will never hurt you"?
If she didn't, then she was a negligent mother. And it shows...
Indeed it is probably fair to assert that others (of late) copy the look'n'feel of apple. In and of itself, it does not follow that Apple's approach is better, perhaps it is just an indicator of the fact that the press (present organ excluded) wet their pants whenever apple release or copy something else If apple were original I might sympathise with the tone of your comment but to date all I see is apple claiming to have invented something and the press reporting it as fact without bothering (read:wanting) to double check
More abstracted graphical elements are potentially much easier to get trademark or design patent protection for. Skeuomorphic designs by definition have obvious precedent from real life.
If the company that design patented 'rounded corners' abstracts it's UI design its a near certainty they will do the same to every possible individual element of iOS7.
Just what the world needs, balkanised UIs all the way down to individual icons, graphical flourishes and basic control elements. I already struggle to remember WTF each Google icon means, having icons with shared meaning across all OS and GUI combinations would be a bloody good idea. Even better if it was an obvious meaning to most of us... a bit like skeuomorphic!
> I already struggle to remember WTF each Google icon means,
Too true... There is a Picasa icon and a Chome icon pinned to my start bar, and sometimes I click the wrong one. They are both multi-coloured circles!
They have a passing resemblance to the 'Consignia' logo, that was around during the ill-fated Post Office rebranding exercise. Private Eye had a section in which they showed a dozen existing logos that looked more or less identical.
the anti-skeumorphic brigade seem to have had very loud voices for the last year or so. it seems to have been a bandwagon that many have jumped on, probably just to get clickthroughs to their blog. i wonder how many of the same will be decrying the minimalist look not 5 minutes after it is shown?
The point is by making everything look realistic you lower their contrast and you also reduce the amount of possible appearances.
By making icons more abstract and allowed to have more variation you can improve their clarity. The original icons were simple pictures that were much easer to understand in some cases.
Just imagine how rubbish everything would look if we only used typewriter style fonts (which is a representation of a physical print).
More importantly, by using skeuomorphic designs you constrain yourself by the limitations of the physical design you're aping. Digital systems are capable of much richer interaction but you need to break free of old metaphors in order to take proper advantage.
iOS 7 will be late because it has the future of Apple riding on it.
Even the fanbois must admit that the rate of innovation --real, wow!-moment innovation-- has slowed to a crawl in the smartphone market. iOS 7 must innovate in UI design and more importantly provide adequate hooks for the next generation of iDevices, with whatever they come with. The stakes are tremendous.
If anyone needs another reminder, recall that Apple just issued billions of dollars worth of debt with 30 year terms. They are essentially claiming that they can stay relevant and profitable for several technology lifetimes. One hell of a bet.
If iOS7 shows up with a significant flaw, Cook is gone.
>If anyone needs another reminder, recall that Apple just issued billions of dollars worth of debt with 30 year terms. They are essentially claiming that they can stay relevant and profitable for several technology lifetimes.
According to the financial papers, that is because most of their cash is outside the US, and bonds are the most tax-efficient way of returning $100 billion to share-holders.
> According to the financial papers, that is because most of their cash is outside the US, and bonds are the most tax-efficient way of returning $100 billion to share-holders.
Sure, but you're still assuming that they have that pile of cash in 30 years time when the bonds vest. Still a gamble.
But "Visionary designer Sir Jonathan Ive’s perfectionism could be holding back the development of the latest version of the software used on iPads and iPhones, according to a recent report." i do believe in releasing software when its ready. The new iOS will be interesting but with all software and games, if you leave punters waiting saying "this is going to be awesome" when it comes to the release day and the software falls short of perfection. Punters will look elsewhere, take Diablo 3 for example 10 years or so development 4-5 years of pre release hype, the biggest backlash from customers in the gaming industry. iOS 7 will be very interesting.
Apple lost that several years ago.. Every since the 6 monthly iPhone refresh that offered nothing new that wasn't already in Android.
I smell another Apple Maps, so going to be stocking up on LOTS of popcorn before WDC, where you can bet much of the talk will again be dissing Android rather than talking about what Apple have to offer...
Apple doesn't need another cock-up like the iOS 6 / Apple Maps débacle. Having someone who actually cares about creating good product, even if it takes a little while longer, in the driving seat is a good thing.
With hardware production, you have to pre-purchase components, reserve whole factories in advance, tool the casework machines, configure hardware pick-and-place component assemblers and gear up a production line. Delays cost fortunes, because the factory will still be charging you for the time the plant isn't making money elsewhere. If software is a little late, it's a lot less expensive. Production lines are much more generic and can be working on other products until the "gold master" is ready to press. If you're delivering electronically - which is far cheaper still - delays cost nearly nothing. Essentially, the costs of software delay are mainly deferred revenues.
Well done, Jony - seriously. Make it a good 'un, and let's see what Apple can do when its innovators are given the chance.
They will always be king of the laptop/notebook world for me until a manufacture can make a decent laptop! High res screens everywhere, on phones, tablets, and everything else and the only people who put one on a laptop are apple! Its not rocket science. Samsung and likes need to get the finger out!
Pixel Chromebook aside, I concede that MBPs have the highest resolution screens but that has only been the case since summer last year. Prior to that the MBPs had relatively low resolution and poor graphics.
To suggest that any given firm has the "best" anything all of the time is silly. When I got my Vaio Z11 in March 2000 it blew the 13" MBP out of the water (and continued to do so for 2 years).
Well I don’t understand how they have poor graphics? My Macbook Pro has 512MB ATI card in it. Very good graphics card by all accounts. Plays games on the native resolution on the 1440x900, the screen is also of higher quality to many of the manufactures that churn out windows PC's. Quite aggressive MATE screen but still nice.
Im not debating that 13 years ago your laptop was better! Im talking about now. God back then I was only 10 years old! The fact is right now I don’t think there is a machine that rivals the build quality or the screens on the Macbook line. They really are great notebooks.
The stupidity and ignorance of some people is hard to credit. I venture to say, there must be hardly a single genius in any field who would not acknowledge the influence of the work and ideas of others, whether a good teacher or the proponent of a good theory or design or even a bad one!
Your comment displays not just copying others but also the inability to build on it to create a new one.
The mail and calender apps are hardly uncompetitive. The core weaknesses with iOS that make it worse at some things than Android (inter app communications and sharing, for example) aren't going any time soon. On its own strengths, iOS is competitive enough. I doubt Apple will lose many sales if, for example, the 5s comes out before iOS 7.
I agree. If you compare the Mail apps for iOS and Android, I'd say they are about the same; and both do their job just fine. I've never had a problem with the Calendar App on iOS, I'd say it is slightly better than the Samsung one on my Android but it is a close call. I don't have the stock Android Calendar App so can't comment on that.
But the book case, actually there's three of them, for iBooks, iTunesU and Newspapers; they need to go. The Podcasts app needs to go. The Maps app is probably OK from a UI perspective, it is the underlying data that is the problem there, and that isn't Ive's department.
I disagree about the Maps app. I've not seen a content error in quite a while, but there are things I want to be able to do, such as look at alternative routes, or switch transport mode, that just don't work very well.
Agree that the bookcase apps are especially rubbish.
I agree, the mail and calendar apps fulfill their basic purposes just fine. The main thing I'd like to see is an active standby screen. Instead of just notifications and the time, it would be good to pin things like train departures and transport status so you can check them out easily!
Apple stock has dropped back because everyone is waiting for the next iThingy.
Apple buys back lots of stock... Because the price is low.
Apple keeps dropping the stock by holding back products.
Its not like they really need the sales right now, theyve got plenty cash.
At the crucial moment.. 'TaDa!' New iThing released. Much hooray from the analysts. Stock price goes up.
Apple makes money on its own money.
Shows how little you know about markets. Apple is actually making well over a billion dollars from this buyback, even if the stock price never moves at all. How? Because they're currently paying about a 3% dividend, but borrowing money at about 2% to buy back stock. Every share they buy back is one they no longer have to pay dividends to. The whole thing is in essence no different than if you had a 3% mortgage and refinanced it at 2%. You'd be an idiot not to take that deal, so why shouldn't Apple?
The fact that that they might save money on taxes by not bringing overseas money into the US (if the tax laws are changed or a new "tax holiday" happens) is potential icing on the cake. Who knows what the odds are but just about every large company in the US with any significant overseas earnings is playing the same game, that's why US corporations have record holdings of over $2 trillion in cash these days
One can of course argue that this is unfair, immortal, etc. or that "everyone is doing it" is not an excuse, but the way US securities laws work, if a company like Apple brought in $100 billion in overseas cash, paid ~$25 billion in taxes on it, and then next year another corporate tax holiday was passed taxing repatriated money at only 10%, meaning Apple threw away $25 billion by not waiting a year, they'd be subject to shareholder lawsuits for breach of fiduciary duty. The suits may not be successful, but a CFO/CEO wouldn't want to take a chance on that. Passing that first corporate tax holiday was a huge mistake, because companies will wait forever hoping for another bite of the apple (small 'a')
Can't help thinking that there is (a little) trouble-at-mill, but you are not going to be able to replace a Jobs-like character in a hurry - so you need to change things and do things in another manner... very similar to Riker when Picard is captured by the BORG in the Best of both worlds.
Saying that - Jobs would never have allowed Maps to go out in the state it did so kudos to Ive for correcting that balance up front.
Joba also though had Apples divisions "compartmentalised" for a reason. Letting an aesthetic designer (albeit a very lauded one) own both hardware and software, and aesthetic - is a landmine and symptomatic of a weak leader (Cook) wanting to offload the responsibility of managing them all - again, something Jobs wouldn't have done. Si, if that is that case then the very real worry that Apple is now very much a one trick design pony and if Ive decides to leave... well - I probabaly don't need to expand.
Other than that... I think the Apple and media community needs to be more realistic in its expectations of IOS7 and what it will be - there won't be any "gamechangers" or "killer apps" and also realise that it'll just be an iteration of what has come before with a few updated *shiny* *shiny* bits to distract the ADHD community from that fact that its just another IOS release - end of.
As the doom mongers - Apple as a company will still be trading many years after IOS7 does release so keep the noise down over there will you...
>aesthetic designer
Which Ive isn't. In Dieter Ram's term, he is a 'Form Engineer', a more holistic thing that takes into account everything including manufacturing, functionality, ergonomics and yes, aesthetics. UI design has been taught on Product Design BSc (and to a lesser extent Industrial Design BA) courses since the late 1990s.
The original iPod was shiny- but an important part of its function was that it slipped into a pocket easily, like cigarette cases have done for decades. So it happened to look like a cigarette case.
>Under Jobs, Ive worked as the head of product design, churning out game-changing products like the iPod, iMac and iPhone.
The iMac - the original Boni Blue model, with colour options - was certainly an Ive classic.
The iPod was famously invented by someone else. Ive slapped a reworked design from the 60s on it. The iTunes software to run it was bought in.
Macs - well, yes. But not so much OS X, so far as anyone can tell.
The problem for Ive is that although he's good at visible design, I doubt he has much of a clue about APIs and code. Changing iOS isn't just about making the icons brightly coloured and wibbly-wobbly, it's about creating high quality frameworks so devs can use them to do cool things.
That's not really an Ive strong point. And Forstall, who used to be good at it, has gone.
So who's doing it now?
I had to do a double take. Head of user interfaces, head of interface design, etc... maybe but head of software design? Next someone will spill all and say they do UI prototypes in Visual Basic then when the boss says it's okay, hastily knock up something behind it which more-or-less works.
@Dan 55. But its his job to say 'make it so'. He doesn't need to know about API's, scheduling, or any software at all. He designs, software monkeys code. It's the monkeys who need to know about API's, and if necessary tell him what he wants isn't possible,. Then implement it anyway.
In many ways designers should NOT know about the underlying tech, as it will pollute the design process. It's their job to design, not implement.
I'll try and explain it again. The UI and how people interact with programs is a component of OS X, OS X isn't a component of the UI. Better to have someone from a technical background saying "make it so" for the UI features than a design background saying "make it so" for the technical features. Not everything is a black-and-white case, there are trade offs to be made over how different parts of the OS interact with each other and if we end up with OS X being driven by how a user interacts with it then everything behind the scenes and OS X Server is by default given a lower priority.
Ten minutes to go, before presenting the new iPhone 4 to the Apple board... as he walks down a Cupertino corridor, suddenly, Mr Ive realises... "I haven't designed the casing for my new wonder gadget"
"You, lend me your shiny Macbook"... Apple minion hands it over
"Where's the CAD software?"
"I'm a beancounter... I don't have any"
"Damn... err.... Excel... right.... Insert, autoshapes, umm, rectangle, no... rounded rectangle"
And thus, the beautifully designed iPhone 4 was born.
Also in the series "The iPhone as a modern design classic"... "The Emperors New Clothes"
I'm perfectly happy with the current design. Works fine. I am not a teenager who needs his icons to look different every 5 minutes. In fact I think it was a mistake to allow people to change the wallpaper for the app launcher, since now I see people with iPhones with such horribly garish backgrounds that I don't know how they can see the app icons.
The "notification center" does need a redesign though, since its current design and functionality don't square with anything else in the OS.
I don't trust him. Apple is a thorn in the side of the elite by providing the unwashed masses with advanced technology the blue bloods would rather they not have. Now a "knighted' by blue blood individual is in charge of the project? I expect this is going to result in many more problems for Apple to get anything out the door because of it. This, like the move by Sony to put Sir Harry Stringer in charge of operations of the Corp directly in Japan, is likely not to work out well for them. I hope I'm wrong. Like or hate Apple, it is they who forced the hand held device and mobe development forward into the 21st century, without out Apple to keep moving the football down the field we may find ourselves once again in technological stagnation.
It's disconcerting to read all those Ives, like the writer has the worst grammar in the world:-
Ive will be keen to avoid the drama
Ive has pulled the team so far behind deadline
Ive was given responsibility for the look and feel of software
Ive has finished talking rubbish now. Bye! :)
Please please DON'T copy MS with the world's most boring, least data dense crap flat interfaces. Shockingly I LIKE the skeumorphic stuff, at least it follows some reasonable design principles giving cues as to what to touch/not touch and it's far nicer on the eyes than the flat boring (yes I said it again) metro crap.
Why a whole screen is required for a messenger (MS) I don't know but the flat look deserves to be quite short lived, at least in the forms I've seen so far. If Apple follow it, I'll do everything I can to avoid updates. Yuck.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
