Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg:
Ive, 50, was named Apple's chief design officer in 2015 and subsequently handed off some day-to-day management responsibility while the iPhone maker was building its new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. "With the completion of Apple Park, Apple's design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design," Amy Bessette, a company spokeswoman, said Friday in a statement.
John Gruber, writing for Daring Fireball:
I can't decide if this is actually news. It was public knowledge that Ive was spending a lot (most?) of his time on Apple Park and other architectural projects (retail), but that obviously wasn't going to last forever.
In news in so far as Apple's official reporting structure changed to allow Ive the time to focus on Apple Park while Alan Dye and Richard Howarth handled Human Interface (HI) and Industrial Design (ID) handled day-to-day management of their respective departments. And now it's changed back.
Other than that, I'd be surprised if most people inside Apple saw this as news at all. Other than Ive being busy with Apple Park, he was still part of reviews and presentations and still had a hand — and eye — on many of the features that have shipped over the last couple of years.
I should note, a lot of re-blogs of this news took the opportunity to bring up things like the Smart Battery Case, Apple Pencil's ability to charge from iPad Pro, and other recent design decisions that they claimed showed something was wrong with Apple in the interim.
That's adorable. The same people who complain Apple often puts form over function, when faced with decisions that emphasize function over form, find it utterly bewildering.
Just ask a pro — someone, anyone, who uses the products day in, day out. Who gets great battery efficiency without sacrificing signal quality or who can top up at a coffee shop or meeting and keep working whenever they need to.
Meanwhile, congrats to everyone involved on shipping Apple Park.
