Renowned Jony Ive stepped down as Apple’s chief designer in 2019 after more than 20 years with the company. Ive started his own design firm, but remained an Apple consultant nonetheless. However, it seems that this partnership has come to an end.
In a new report in The New York Times, journalist and writer Tripp Mickle revealed that Jony Ive is no longer an Apple consultant. Citing two sources familiar with the contract, the journalist claims that the consulting services agreement between Apple and Jony Ive has ended, which means that Ive no longer plays a role – even a small one – in the development of Apple products.
The agreement, which was signed immediately after Ive left Apple, has expired in the past few weeks. Both Ive and Apple agreed not to renew it. According to sources in The New York Times, some Apple executives were “disappointed” with how much the company was paying Ive at a time when the designer was hiring several Apple talent for his own firm.
Ive and Apple declined to comment.
Jony Ive’s LoveBy Company
When Jony Ive left Apple in 2019, Apple said in a press release that the company would be a client of Ive’s new design firm called LoveForm. Since then, despite the partnership, Apple has never disclosed what projects Jony Ive was involved in. The last Apple product signed by Ive was the 2019 Mac Pro.
However, this does not mean that Ive did not cooperate with Apple before the deal was completed. In an interview with Zane Lowe’s Apple Music show, composer Hans Zimmer revealed that Jony Ive helped Apple develop the AirPods Max wireless headphones, which were released in late 2020.
Jony Ive has worked on iconic Apple products such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. His designs are well known for their minimalist style, which certainly helped Apple achieve the status it has today. Previous reports have shown that in his last years at Apple, Ive was “overwhelmed” by leading the company’s design team for decades.
Last year, Jony Quince LoveForm announced a multi-year partnership with major companies such as Ferrari and Airbnb.
As for the Apple design team, it is currently led by Alan Dye (VP of User Interface Design) and Evans Hankey (VP of Industrial Design), both of whom have worked at Apple for years under Ive.
Some argue that Apple products have gotten a lot better since Jony Ive left the company. For example, the MacBook Pro is thicker again to accommodate more ports, and Jony Ive is an ultra-thin MacBook with a single USB-C port.
At this point, it’s unclear if the end of the partnership between Apple and Jony Ive will have a huge impact on the design of future products, such as the company’s rumored mixed reality headset.
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