This could with a bit of luck spell the end of skeuomorphism at apple.
Apple’s Minimalist Ive Assumes Jobs’s Role for Design – Businessweek:
Apple’s Minimalist Ive Assumes Jobs’s Role for Design
By Peter Burrows and Adam Satariano on November 02, 2012As Jony Ive worked on early iPhone designs before and since its 2007 introduction, he regularly held meetings in his design studio to get input from top Apple Inc. (AAPL ) executives — except one: Scott Forstall.
Even as Forstall oversaw the group responsible for the software that would run the iPhone, he didn’t participate in the meetings, according to people with knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity because the meetings were private. Ive and Forstall were rarely in the same room, the people said.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook made a choice between the two men this week, forcing out Forstall and leaving Ive in charge of the look and function of the software running everything from the iPod Touch to the top-of-the-line Mac. Ive will now be free to impart his minimalist aesthetic on familiar services such as the iPhone operating system while making commands more compatible from one product to the next. He will probably move away from using icons that look like real-world products, such as Post-It Notes and leather-bound contact books.
Still, with a background mainly in hardware, Ive could also struggle to adapt to the demands of managing software interfaces, which are typically revamped once a year and undergo many smaller changes in between, said former colleagues such as Brett Halle.
“This makes a lot of sense, in terms of getting consistency of the user experience,” said Halle, a 21-year Apple veteran who worked on operating systems before his departure in March. “I’m concerned only as to whether he has enough experience to understand the complexity of the software side of this.”
Human Interface
Clashes between Forstall and other senior managers since Jobs’s death a year ago had made it harder for teams to work together, threatening Apple’s ability to keep producing the kinds of electronics that made it the most valuable company.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was able to keep the executives’ long-simmering tension under control. Cook made the final decision to revamp management after Forstall refused to sign a public apology for the mishandling of mapping software, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Forstall and Ive didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Ive, 45, takes on the role Jobs held of setting Apple’s design vision, with responsibility for a group within Apple called Human Interface, which had been run by Forstall before he was pushed out. Ive shares the attention to detail and perfectionistic zeal that characterized both Jobs and Forstall.
‘Collaborative Process’
Yet he contrasts with Forstall in key ways. Forstall was a polished presenter who enjoyed the limelight at Apple keynotes. Ive made rare appearances, preferring instead to appear in videos about the making of the product of the day.
Forstall was also the most divisive member of Apple’s executive team, people who worked with him told Bloomberg Businessweek last year.
Supporters admire Forstall’s ability to manage massive technical complexity while pushing his team to innovate. Critics said he was overly concerned with empire building and pushing through favored features while blocking other teams’ ideas. British-born Ive is known for his deliberate, careful choice of words, and for crediting members of his team while minimizing his own role in development of products.
“Jonathan understands that design is a collaborative process,” said William Parkhurst, a former designer at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) who has known Jobs and Forstall since they all worked together at NeXT Computer Inc. “A design manager would not try to exert his influence too much, because they know the goodness that comes out of collaboration. You shouldn’t have an idea at the beginning of what a product is supposed to be.”
Software Void
Effective as both executives are, Ive and Forstall didn’t get along, said former Apple employees. Just as Forstall didn’t go to Ive’s product-review meetings, neither did Ive attend Forstall’s, one of these people said. While that hardware- software divide has long been the norm at Apple, Cook is trying to create more collaboration with Ive’s promotion.
Forstall’s departure creates a void in Apple’s software capabilities. He was an early advocate for creating the iOS mobile software platform, and has overseen an engineering team that is among the largest and most prolific at Apple, with an annual release cycle that includes hundreds of new features.
Ive’s industrial design group works differently. With fewer than 20 members, it works out of view of the rest of the company in a design studio, perfecting hardware that is often updated annually or less frequently.