Jony Ive has officially taken up his new role as “Chief Design Officer” at Apple, six weeks after his promotion from Senior Vice President of Industrial Design was announced. Ive’s title on Apple’s leadership page has been updated to reflect the change, and new faces have been added.
“Jony Ive is Apple’s Chief Design Office, reporting to CEO Tim Cook,” reads Ive’s biography. “Jony is responsible for all design at Apple, including the look and feel of Apple hardware, user interface, packaging, major architectural projects such as Apple Campus 2 and Apple’s retail stores, as well as new ideas and future initiatives.”
Ive is now Apple’s third C-level executive, alongside CEO Tim Cook, and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri.
As a result of his promotion, day-to-day management of Apple’s hardware and software design teams has been passed on to Alan Dye and Richard Howarth, who have become Vice President of User Interface Design and Vice President of Industrial Design respectively.
“Having Alan and Richard in place frees me up from some of the administration and management work,” Ive told Stephen Fry for a piece in The Telegraph last month. However, Ive insists he is still “in charge” of both user interface and industrial design at Apple.
Some see Ive’s promotion as a way for him to scale back his responsibilities at Apple and free up more time to spend with his family, and back in London. However, others feel it’s quite the opposite, and that Ive will now have more control over design at Apple than ever before.
[via MacRumors]