Apple ends design consulting agreement with Jony Ive

In late June 2019, Apple announced that Jony Ive, Apple’s then chief design officer, would officially depart the company as an employee later that year to form an independent design company which would count Apple among its primary clients. Apple said at the time that Ive would continue to “work closely and on a range of projects with Apple.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the time of the announcement, “I look forward to working with Jony long into the future.”
In July 2022, not so long into the future, Apple has ended design consulting agreement with Jony Ive, 55, and his independent design company, LoveFrom.
Jonathan Ive
Tripp Mickle for The New York Times:

Mr. Ive and Apple have agreed to stop working together, according to two people with knowledge of their contractual agreement, ending a three-decade run during which the designer helped define every rounded corner of an iPhone and guided development of its only new product category in recent years, the Apple Watch.
When Mr. Ive left Apple in 2019 to start his own design firm, LoveFrom, the iPhone maker signed a multiyear contract with him valued at more than $100 million. That made Apple his firm’s primary client, people with knowledge of the agreement said.
The deal restricted Mr. Ive from taking on work that Apple found competitive and ensured that the designer would inform the development of future products, such as an augmented-reality headset that it is expected to ship next year, the people said.
In recent weeks, with the contract coming up for renewal, the parties agreed not to extend it. Some Apple executives had questioned how much the company was paying Mr. Ive and had grown frustrated after several of its designers left to join Mr. Ive’s firm. And Mr. Ive wanted the freedom to take on clients without needing Apple’s clearance, these people said…
Before leaving Apple in June 2019, Mr. Ive had grown disillusioned as Mr. Cook made the increasingly enormous company focused more on operations than on big design leaps, according to more than a dozen people who worked closely with Mr. Ive. The designer shifted to a part-time role as Mr. Cook focused on selling more software and services.

MacDailyNews Take: Well, we called it. Yet again. The final phase in the “Ease Jony Out Without AAPL Disruption” plan has now been executed.
This is the gentlest easing out possible for someone as pivotal to Apple as Jony Ive. – MacDailyNews, June 27, 2019
Clearly the whole “Apple will continue to work with Jony as one of his new firm’s primary clients” spiel did exactly what it was designed to do, soften the blow of the news to a mere whisper. – MacDailyNews, June 28, 2019
The fact of the matter is that if Jony Ive were fully engaged and intellectually challenged, he’d still be an Apple employee.
That the muse lasted this long without his master is actually rather amazing.
Let’s move on to the next phase, shall we? – MacDailyNews, July 1, 2019
In closing:
Cook would do well to remember how Steve Jobs structured Apple upon his return, especially the subservient role of operations – and all else – to design and the unparalleled success that structure engendered. Above all, design – hardware and software – is what built Apple into what is is today. – MacDailyNews, June 28, 2019
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.

The post Apple ends design consulting agreement with Jony Ive appeared first on MacDailyNews.