terug
Inventor of Imac and Ipod
His goal was to make it simple to use and a joy to look at. | ||
| Briton behind Apple success story gives a rare interview to David Derbyshire | ||
| THERE are two things you need to | speaks quietly and thoughtfully with | |
| know about Jonathan Ive, inventor of | the slightest touch of a south eastern | |
| the iPod music player and the iMac | English accent. Next to being the | |
| computer. First, he is the most | world’s most influential designer he is | |
| important British industrial designer of | also the senior vice president of one of | |
| our time. He changed the way millions | the worId’s biggest computer | |
| listen to music and helped liberate | companies. He obviously believes he | |
| computers from dull beige boxes. | has the best job in the world. | |
| Second, he is rather shy. He may | Ive talks down his key role in | |
| be one of Britain’s hottest exports, but | ‘inventing’ the iPod and iMac, stressing | |
| he does not usually do interviews. | the contribution of the manufacturing, | |
 | software, hardware, and electronic | |
| teams in his charge. “Our goals are | ||
| simple. We genuinely try to make the | ||
| very best product that we can. We | ||
| have a belief that we can solve our | ||
| problems and make products better | ||
| and better. It’s a simple goal to | ||
| articulate, but a difficult one to [id:57151] .” | ||
| Apple’s philosophy is that their | ||
| computers and music players should | ||
| be simple to use and beautiful to look | ||
| at. The fans say each product just | ||
| seems [id:57152] . The latest Apple range | ||
| included the ‘impossibly small’ iPod | ||
| Nano, the first video iPod and a new | ||
| iMac – a powerful computer and home | ||
| entertainment system crammed into | ||
| the casing of a flat screen television. | ||
| Put Ive in front of one of his iMac | ||
| babies and his [id:57153] is infectious. | ||
| “Look at this. When you put it to sleep | ||
| – suddenly there’s a small white light | ||
| that appears on the front. But you only | ||
| see that there’s a light there when it’s | ||
| switched on. If it’s not switched on, | ||
| there’s no need to see it. The aim,” he | ||
| “Don’t ask any personal questions,” the |  | |
| marketing man from Apple warned. | ||
| “He doesn’t like personal profiles. Talk | ||
| about design, but stay away from | ||
| questions about [id:57146]. ” | ||
| It is all a bit odd really. It is the sort | ||
| of instruction normally given before an | ||
| audience with the Pope, or even the | ||
| Prime Minister, rather than a chat with | ||
| a designer at a computer company. | ||
| But then Ive is no ordinary designer | ||
| and Apple is no ordinary company. The | ||
| Essex emigrant is responsible for | ||
| some of the most revolutionary | ||
| gadgets of the last decade. | ||
| In 1998, as head of design at | ||
| Apple in San Francisco, he | ||
| revolutionised computer design, and | ||
| helped reverse the company’s failing | ||
| fortunes, with the original iMac - a | says, “is to create gadgets that can be | |
| computer placed inside a coloured | used without looking at the instruction | |
| translucent television. It was followed | book.” | |
| by increasingly clever updates - an | So why is so much stuff out there | |
| iMac that looked like an angle poise | so badly designed? Why is it so hard | |
| lamp and one that looked like a flat | to programme a video or change the | |
| LCD television screen. | clock on the microwave oven? “It’s sad | |
| And then came the iPod. At the | and frustrating that we are surrounded | |
| turn of the millennium Ive and his team | by products that seem to testify to a | |
| of designers realised they could fit a | complete lack of care. That’s an | |
| computer hard drive into a box the size | interesting thing about an object. One | |
| of a deck of playing cards and use it to | object speaks volumes about the | |
| store thousands of songs. For the first | company that produced it and its | |
| time it was possible to carry your | values and priorities.” | |
| music collection in your pocket. Its | Ive may not be a household name, | |
| success was not just down to clever | but he is not quite the unsung hero of | |
| electronics. Critics said it looked | British design. In the last few years he | |
| fantastic and was ridiculously easy to | has won a host of awards. You can | |
| use. Much copied, but never bettered, | sense that he is delighted – if a little | |
| there are 30million iPods out there | bemused – by the plaudits and praise. | |
| today. | But what gives him his greatest kick is | |
| [id:57150] all the pre-interview | when people give him their iPod | |
| warnings, it is a bit of a shock to meet | stories – when they tell him that his | |
| Jonathan Ive in the flesh. He is a | invention has let them rediscover lost | |
| pleasant, charming and relaxed figure | music of their youth, or when it has let | |
| in his late 30s (actually he is 38 but | them fall in love with music again. | |
| don’t tell the Apple PR people) with | ||
| cropped black hair, jeans and a quietly | ||
| fashionable jacket and open shirt. He | ||