Apple Design Chief Jony Ive to Depart -- Update
June 27 2019 - 6:53PM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle
Apple Inc. said design chief Jony Ive will leave the company
later this year to form his own independent design company, marking
the end of an era at the iPhone maker as it shifts from an emphasis
on product development to services.
Mr. Ive's departure announcement Thursday comes after several
years in which he has become less involved in the day-to-day
business and design work at Apple, people close to the designer
said. It nevertheless means the removal of Apple's most prominent
leader after Chief Executive Tim Cook, and the person who most
embodies the design wizardry achieved by Apple under its late chief
Steve Jobs.
The announcement is sure to raise new questions about the
company's ability to develop and launch new products. It comes as
sales have largely plateaued for the iPhone -- which Mr. Ive helped
design and which fueled Apple's surging sales and profit for most
of a decade.
Apple is seeking new avenues for growth, largely from the sale
of app software, entertainment content, financial tools and other
services. In April, it reported its first back-to-back drop in
quarterly sales and profit in more than two years, after saying in
January that those two measures had fallen in the holiday quarter
for the first time ever.
Mr. Ive's planned new company will count Apple among its primary
clients, and he will continue to work closely on projects with
Apple, the company said. It said the design team Mr. Ive now
manages will be headed by two vice presidents who will report to
Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams -- effectively demoting the
team. Mr. Ive, whose title is chief design officer, reports
directly to Mr. Cook.
"After so many years working closely together, I'm happy that
our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working
with Jony long into the future," Mr. Cook said in a statement.
Apple shares, which have been rising in recent weeks but remain
well below their all-time high, fell by around 1% in after-hours
trading Thursday following the announcement.
A close acolyte of Mr. Jobs, Mr. Ive was critical to Apple's
revival from near bankruptcy in the 1990s, working alongside the
Apple co-founder to design a string of product hits, including the
iPod, iPhone and iPad, that transformed Apple into one of the
world's most valuable companies.
But, despite his prominence in Apple's management, Mr. Ive has
been less engaged in the day-to-day business at the company since
he helped spearhead the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015, people
close to the designer said.
Mr. Ive's departure seemed inevitable as the company
transitioned to being focused on selling services from its long
history of selling devices, said one of the people close to the
designer. "It's not a product and design company any more," this
person said.
Mr. Ive, in Apple's announcement, said the design team today "is
stronger, more vibrant and more talented than at any point in
Apple's history."
Mr. Cook, whose expertise is in operations, seldom visited the
design studio, and Mr. Williams, also an operations expert, cut his
teeth product teeth by working on the smartwatch that the company
launched in 2015.
Mr. Ive's frequent absence in recent years coincided with
questions from analysts and former employees about Apple's ability
to innovate. While sales of the watch have grown in recent years,
Apple hasn't had another massive hardware hit since the iPad in
2010. Mr. Ive's reduced presence also has contributed to a series
of recent departures from the close-knit team, which had four of
its designers leave over the past year.
After the watch's launch, Mr. Ive spent about two years working
on Apple's new headquarters, which was billed as a homage to Mr.
Jobs, who died in 2011. Mr. Ive returned to lead the design team in
late 2017. He continued to split time between the U.S. and U.K.
during that period, partly because his father has been ill, people
close to the designer said.
Mr. Ive and his wife want to spend more time in the U.K., where
he and his wife want to raise their children, people close to the
designer said.
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 27, 2019 18:38 ET (22:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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