Why Jony Ive left Apple for ‘accountants’

The new arrangement freed Mr. Ive from the regular commute to the company’s offices in Cupertino. He shifted from almost daily product reviews to an erratic schedule when weeks went by without weighing in. Sometimes news spread in the studio that he was coming to the office unexpectedly. Employees compared the moments with old footage of the stock market crash of the 1920s with papers tossed in the air and people running around in a furious crowd to prepare for their arrival.

In early 2017 as anticipation of the 10th anniversary iPhone hit Wall Street, Mr. Ive called the company’s top software designers to San Francisco for a product offering. review, A team of about 20 people arrived at The Battery, the city’s exclusive social club, and began spreading 11-by-17-inch printouts of the design ideas in the club’s penthouse. Many of the features on the first iPhone with a full-screen display required Mr. Ive’s approval.

They waited for Mr. Ive that day for about three hours. When he finally came, he didn’t apologize. He reviewed their printouts and offered feedback. Then he left without making a final decision, As his work came to a halt, many wondered, How did this happen?

In Mr. Ive’s absence, Mr. Cook began to reshape the company in his own image. He replaced the company’s outgoing director, Mickey Drexler, a talented marketer who worked with Gap and J.J. Crew, along with former Boeing finance chief James Bell. Mr Ive was furious that a left-wing executive had removed one of the board’s few right-wing leaders. “He’s one of those accountants,” he complained to a colleague.

Mr Cook also encouraged the company’s finance department, which had begun auditing outside contractors. At one point, the department declined a valid billing submitted by Foster + Partners, the architecture firm that worked closely with Mr. Ive to complete the company’s new $5 billion campus, Apple Park.

In the midst of those conflicts, Mr. Cook began broadening Apple’s strategy to sell more services. During a corporate retreat in 2017, Mr. Ive stepped outside to get some fresh air when Peter Stern, a newcomer to Apple, stepped in front of the company’s top leaders. Mr. Stern clicks on a slide of an X-shaped chart showing that Apple’s profit margins declined from sales of the iPhone, iPad and Mac, while profit margins increased from sales of software and services such as iCloud Storage.

The presentation alarmed some in the audience. It portends a future in which Mr. Ive – and the company’s business as a product maker – matter less and Mr. Cook’s growing emphasis on services like Apple Music and iCloud matters more.

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