Letter from Steve Jobs on August 24, 2011 can not be denied as a hottest topic discussed in various parts of the world. Man, who identified as the icon from Cupertino tech giant decided to resign from the company that has the highest value in the world. In a brief letter, Jobs suggested COO Tim Cook as his replacement.
Yet some doubt the decision since the background of Cook who is not a production person. Bloomberg, for example, stated one of the considerable competitor for Cook as the number one at Apple Inc. is Jonathan Ive (44 years old). No one doubts Job’s contribution in raising Apple, the company which was started in the garage until it becomes the most valuable technology company. But not widely known that in internal Apple the role of designer Jonathan Ive services is crucial.
Ive who came from England, help Jobs brought Apple out of the ruin by the legendary design of the iMac computer. iMac colorful design makes the computer gets a lot of compliments when other brands still used pale color. Ive was involved in the design of Apple’s masterpiece products such as iPod, iPhone, and of course the iPad. Ive, who is known by his friends with nickname "Jony” led Apple's design team since the mid-1990s. Working closely with Jobs, Ive successfully build on Apple's stature with the typical design of products that thin, rounded corners, with few buttons, and the sweep of aluminum on the surface of a thin glass.
People who have worked with Ive portray him as a humble, sweet, quiet, and shy, but also confident, hardworking and brilliant. Paola Antonelli a senior curator for the Museum of Modern Art in New York says that he rarely know the person who so admired and liked by many people like Ive. Ive started his career far from Cupertino. He grew up outside London and studied design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) at Newcastle. After finished his school he founded the design company called Tangerine in London. Through Tangerine, he got his first contact with Apple. In 1992 when Steve Jobs was still on the expulsion from Apple, the company's main designer Robert Brunner employed Ive as a senior designer.
While Jony Ive is a superstar today at Apple, it wasn't always like that. When he was first brought on, he actually lived out his beginning years in the basement designing and experimenting with products with which current Apple heads paid little or no attention. Leander Kahney says, ‘Apple took him out to California and told him things would be great. But the company was tanking and he ended up working on his own in a basement office. He was cranking out weird stuff and filled the space with hundreds of prototypes. None of them were getting made and no one was paying any attention to him or to his work. He was very frustrated.
Things changed when Steven Jobs was brought back into the company he started to turn it around. Jobs got rid of most people and did a complete restructure. At one point, he finally reached Ive's cave. ‘Jobs comes in, looks at all Ive’s amazing prototypes and says, “My God, what have we got here?”’ says Kahney. Jobs swiftly brought Ive in from the cold, moving the designers into a building on campus and investing in the latest rapid-prototyping equipment. He also beefed up Apple’s security, locking down the design studio to prevent leaks and installing a private kitchen so designers wouldn’t talk shop in public. Ive responded by delivering the iMac, a curvy, semi-transparent desktop computer that looked utterly different from anything else on the market. Although it was an immediate hit with users, Ive’s iMac did not quite meet Jobs’ standards of perfection. Its translucent mouse was clumsy and the choice of new USB connection technology caused problems. ‘Jonathan took his share of beatings early on,’ reveals Valarie Sobolewski, a software engineer who worked at Apple for over a decade. ‘To be in Steve’s world, you’ve got to be willing to take a buffeting.’ But by the time the first iPod music player launched in 2001, Ive and Jobs had finally clicked and the sleek, minimalist Apple vibe of today was born.
Ive and Jobs worked together and in some ways contributed to the success of each other. Ive always contact the Jobs and speak the same language with Jobs. It was clear they had strong chemistry. Is Apple going to follow the Job’s advice to appoint Tim Cook as the number one at Apple or whether they will encourage Ive to maintain the design that will be a hit? No one knows about it because until now Apple has not mentioned the company's plans related to withdrawal of Jobs. One rumour said, Ive is also going to leave Apple after Jobs left.
