The+Designers

Who is the real genius of Apple's Ipad2?


 Steve Jobs, born February 1955, is the CEO of Apple Computer, a leader in the field of personal computing which he co-founded in 1976, and Pixar, the Academy Award winning animation studio he co-founded in 1986. While in high school, Jobs was hired as a summer employee for Hewlett-Packard where he met a engineering whiz Stephen Wozniak. In 1972 Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Los Altos, California and registered at Reed College in Portland Oregon. Dropping out of the baccalaureate program after one semester, Jobs went to work for Atari where he designed games but only for a short time. He was not really interested in crea ting electronics, his business sense for the marketability of these products was what he had a passion for. He asked his engineering friend Wozniak to help him build a personal computer.

Beginning work in Job's family garage they managed to make their first big sale when the Byte Shop in Mountain View bought their first fifty fully assembled computers. On this basis the Apple Corporation was founded. The name is allegedly based on Job's favorite fruit and the logo chosen to play on both the company name and the word byte. Steve Job's is a true visionary who created the first truly personal computer. Sales of Apple II computers in the late 19070's totaled $139 million after three years, growing by 700 percent. In 1985, Steve Jobs resigned from Apple after years of internal political turmoil and power struggles. Others say he was fired.

On July 9, 1997, Jobs returned from exile and took Apple's reins from ousted CEO Gilbert Amelio. Jonathan Ive, who joined the company in 1992, nearly did not survive the initial turmoil as Jobs quickly set out to remake the company. Jobs axed all but four of Apple's sixty-odd products and scoured the globe for true design superstars. As Jonathan Ive was dusting off his resume, Jobs, with a tremendous eye for talent, recognized that he already had what he needed. And as Jobs imposed his own design standards, Ive became the beneficiary and unleashed Ive to make it happen. Since it began nine years ago, the "Steve & Jony Show" has cranked out a stream of iconic products, from the candy-colored IMac to the Ipad2. Apple has put the design of great customer experiences on the map, not just as a means to win creative kudos but as a way to earn billions of dollars and revolutionize industries. Apple's big contribution is showing that you can become a billionaire by selling emotions, that design can be a valid business model (Gadi Amit).

There is no doubt that jobs himself is Apple's most unique weapon when it comes to innovation. "Apple is the most design-savvy company in the world, and it's because of Steve Jobs", says Ray Riley, a former Apple Designer who now runs Nike's Innovation Division.

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
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Quote: //"The personal computer was created by the hardware revolution of the 1970s. The next change will come from a software revolution."// (Biography)

 Jonathan "Jony" Ive, the man who, after Jobs, is most responsible for Apple's amazing ability to dazzle and delight with its famous products. He likes to talk about the process-what he calls the "craft of design". He speaks passionately about his small team and how they work together. They focus on only what is important and limiting the number of projects. He has a deep understanding of how a product is made: it's materials, its tooling, its purpose. While jobs sets the direction and provides the inspiration, Ive melds Apple's unique creativity with the nuts and bolts required to make beautiful things. Apple's innovation success is due greatly to this alchemy between chief designer and powerful boss. Ive knows how to complete or even exceed Job's vision, and do it time and time again. He states that he and his boss speak at least once a day. In fact, their lives are very much part of the same fabric. Despite great fame and fortune, both manage to guard their privacy. Ive lives with his wife and their young twins "with not a hint of "ostentation" says Clive Grinyer, Ive's first business partner. Jobs, for all his self-promoting skills, lives a relatively quiet life as well. He owns no vacation houses and wears sneakers, the T-shirts, and turtlenecks.

But if Jobs is the public keeper of Apple's design zeitgeist, then Ive is the private leader of its talented design team. "Apple is a cult, and Apple's design team is an even more intense version of a cult." notes Riley. They rarely attend industry events or awards ceremonies. They don't require outside recognition, because there isn't any higher authority on design excellence than each other. Most of Ive's team live in San Francisco. They work together in a large open studio with little personal space but great privacy. Many Apple employees aren't allowed in, for fear they'd catch a glimpse of some upcoming product. A massive sound system pumps up the music. And his design process revolves around intense iteration - making and remaking models to visualize new concepts. Ive said, "One of the hallmarks of the team I think is this sense of looking to be wrong." It's the inquisitiveness, the sense of exploration. It's about being excited to be wrong because then you've discovered something new.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ive had his own ideas from the start. Born in a middle-class London neighborhood, he was consumed with the mystery of how things are made by his early teens. His talent and drive quickly became obvious. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By the time he graduated from a design program at Newcastle Polytechnic in 1095, Ive was already something of a legend in British design circles. In 1992, Ive headed west to find a new life with Apple. With Jobs departure, Apple was experiencing lean years. Not only was Apple hemorrhaging money and market share, it was also the whipping boy of Wall Street. In 1996, Apple was in deep trouble. Ive, then only 29 years old, struggled t fight off the cost-cutters as best he could. When Jobs returned to Apple, the synergy between Jobs and Ive set off an explosion of great Apple products. And it all started with the first IMac.