Jony Ive disappears from list of advisors for Saudi 'megacity' project [u]

Apple's chief design officer, Jony Ive, has vanished from a list of advisors for a "megacity" planned to launch in Saudi Arabia in 2025. [Updated with correction on NEOM's size]

Ive was removed from the list on Tuesday after a brief appearance, and Apple has confirmed that Ive isn't involved in the project, according to BuzzFeed News' Tom Gara. It's not clear why Ive's name was on the roster in the first place.

A number of other prominent figures are still mentioned, such as Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen, Foster + Partners CEO Norman Foster, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

The megacity project, known as NEOM, was originally announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in October 2017. It's expected to cost some $500 billion, and cover 26,500 square kilometers in northwestern Saudi Arabia, extending into Egypt and Jordan. Only the first phase should be ready in 2025.

Ive is one of the most famous product designers in the world, thanks to work on devices like Macs, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. He has also had some involvement in Apple architecture, contributing to Apple stores and even the company's new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino.

The designer could have conceivably applied his minimalist aesthetic to NEOM buildings and helped direct the use of technology in the city.

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20 Comments

samrod

said about 5 years ago

"A little over 0.01 square miles" is about 200 x 150 yards, basically one city block. That's no mega city. It's a small village.

mac_dog

said about 5 years ago

samrod said:

"A little over 0.01 square miles" is about 200 x 150 yards, basically one city block. That's no mega city. It's a small village.

No. It’s nothing more than an obscene amount of money.

foregoneconclusion

said about 5 years ago

samrod said:

"A little over 0.01 square miles" is about 200 x 150 yards, basically one city block. That's no mega city. It's a small village.

I think there's a mistake in the article. Should be 26,500 square kilometers not square meters.

maccad

said about 5 years ago

samrod said:

"A little over 0.01 square miles" is about 200 x 150 yards, basically one city block. That's no mega city. It's a small village.

It's 26,500 square kilometers, not square meters. That would be approximately 10,200 square miles. Parts of it will be in Egypt and Jordan.

emoeller

said about 5 years ago

The special zone (which includes some areas outside of Saudi Arabia) is 26,500 sq Km ( http://www.neom.com/content/pdfs/NEOM-Fact-Sheet-en.pdf ).

Interesting project, and with Saudi money backing much of the half Trillion in capex, it could be something special. Problem is it is a solution looking for a problem and those rarely turn out well.