A new report says that Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, feels “a big change in design is needed,” heralding a change that could bring design boldness to an unprecedented level. Since Jony Ive’s departure in 2019– or earlier.
Not long ago, electronic devices were collectible toys for adults. People have fetishized Apple products for their visual and tactile aesthetics as well as their utility, and they’ve done so with complete shamelessness. It was British actor/writer/commentator Stephen Fry He writes about them in the Guardian In 2007, months after the iPhone was released:
“The diabolical, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping smart devices our world can now gift us with are no good if they don’t bring a smile to our face, make us want to rub, touch, caress, fiddle, hum, purr and kiss. Interacting with a digital device should be like interacting with a baby.”
That sentiment is mostly gone these days. Sure, we may look at our devices more than our kids now, but not because of the addictive content they serve up and the tasks they allow us to give up on them, but because we like them. After a week-long honeymoon period after getting new smartphones, most of us don’t find them any more interesting than the prosaic dishes we use to eat delicious food.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark GurmanThe restructuring within Apple following the departure of the legendary Jony Ive was, in retrospect, a design disaster. Jeff Williams, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer at the time, stepped into the void previously filled by Ive. “Apple has replaced one of history’s most influential designers with the company’s top supply chain executive,” sums up Gurman.
As Apple bleeds designers in 2019, Gizmodo’s Adam Clark Estes wrote:
“Are these seasoned Apple designers leaving because they’re bored? It’s not clear. Are they leaving because they don’t see a great future for industrial design at Apple? It’s hard to know. Was his role on Space Shuttle Campus Jony Ive’s last big success? Time will tell.”
Seven years later, Jony Ive is a distant memory at Apple. Despite some breaks in the general monotony—notably the Vision Pro and iPhone Air—the eye-catching design seems to profit less from plain old ingenuity, as well as consumer inertia.
John Ternus is now the chief of staff, and before that he was an engineer focusing on monitors. He is not primarily an aesthete, but his took over the design last year It was a signal of intent to Apple’s followers—clearly, it was positioning itself for a big breakthrough.
When Ternus became CEO in September, Gurman denied that Ternus should “prioritize making Apple products cool again,” focusing on mastery of the world-conquering supply chain, following the Cook era.
Gurman apparently watched the proceedings of a meeting where Ternus was addressing the staff about the design, and it’s not clear that Ternus plans to revolutionize much of anything. In fact, his emphasis seems to have been on sustainability. The company “will continue to focus on design because design is at the heart of what we do at Apple,” Ternus said.Apparently, “Apple has brought truly incredible design to more people than any other company in history,” and “will make sure it stays that way.”
