The Biggest Question Facing Apple After Steve Jobs' Death Has Now Been Answered
Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired software design boss Scott Forstall and gave Forstall's responsibilities to Jony Ive, who was previously in charge of just hardware design.
The last person to be in charge of both hardware and software design at Apple was, of course, Steve Jobs.
Daring Fireball's Jon Gruber says this move answered the biggest question facing Apple post-Jobs:
The big news today is about Jony Ive. I don’t think it can be overstated just how big a deal it is that he now oversees all product design; hardware and software.
For the last year, outside observers have been left to wonder just where the buck stopped for UI design at post-Jobs Apple. That question has now been answered: Jony Ive.
AllThingsD's John Paczkowski says this is "perhaps a good thing" and an "obvious choice" for Cook to make.
It also puts a lot of pressure on the elegant Ive, who will now be the integrator of Apple’s two sides and the center of its future direction.
He’s an obvious choice, in many ways, as the architect — with Jobs — of Apple’s well-known high-toned, yet minimalist, design.
One area he clashed with Forstall on, in fact, was in this arena. Forstall, for example, favored skeuomorphic design — adding real-to-life elements in software — while Ive reportedly deplored it (as did many).
Now, Ive will be free to rid Apple software of it and, really, do anything he likes.
MG Siegler says it's a huge relief for Apple that Ive won his war with Forstall:
" The fact that he’s staying may be the single most important thing to Apple in all of this."
"Forstall is a huge loss, clearly. The father of iOS. But he was not without controversy inside of Apple. People have heard about the “skeuomorphic wars”, but there were also plenty of whispers of um, issues, with other employees."
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