Time Magazine Spotlights Jonathan Ive As "The Shape Of Things To Come"

by , 8:00 AM EST, February 17th, 2003

What name comes to mind when you think of an influential industrial designer? In an article called "The Shape Of Things To Come," Time magazine mentions none other than Apple's Jonathan Ive. The article briefly describes Ive's rise to vice president of industrial design for Apple, and how he manages to design devices that make people sit up and say oooh and ahhh. From Time:

Given the buzz attached to his name in the hallowed halls of Apple, Jonathan Ive might be expected to be something of an egomaniac. In fact, this shaved-headed, soft-spoken Brit is anything but. The only time you'll hear him use the word "I" is when he's naming some of the products he helped make famous: iMac, iBook, iPod.

Yet for all Ive's attempts to give away the credit to a design team he assembled, his fingerprints are all over Apple's five-year-long radical shift in hardware design. When the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker hired Ive in 1992, it was still cranking out beige-box desktops and creaky black plastic PowerBooks. When Steve Jobs appointed Ive vice president of industrial design in 1997, everything changed.

You can read the rest of the article at Time's Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Jonathan Ive has gotten an enormous amount of press since the introduction of the iMac in 1998. There's little doubt that he's gotten a tasty job offer or two along the way. Fortunately, he's made his home at Apple.

While this exposure is great for Mr. Ive's resume, it's also very good for Apple and the Mac platform. To have Mr. Ive noted for his industrial design by a mainstream publication (again) lends legitimacy and credibility to what Apple is doing with its products. That works out nicely, no?

Time