Neil Cybart Neil Cybart

Unpacking and Decoding the NYT’s Jony Ive / LoveFrom Profile

Hello everyone.

This past Saturday, The New York Times published a profile on what Jony Ive has been up to since leaving Apple in 2019 and starting his LoveFrom design consultancy.

While a fair amount of the information found in the piece had been previously known, such as Airbnb and Ferrari being LoveFrom clients, there were new disclosures regarding some of Jony’s business dealings involving San Francisco real estate. The piece seemed to be timed with an upcoming fundraising effort for a new company Jony is involved in with OpenAI.

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Neil Cybart Neil Cybart

Apple’s Head of Industrial Design to Leave Company, Revisiting Apple Design Turnover, Apple Industrial Design Succession (Daily Update)

Hello everyone.

This is shaping up to be a busy week. Apple reports FY4Q22 earnings (results from July to September) on Thursday. As with previous quarters, Apple’s earnings release timing will result in Thursday’s daily update being pushed to Friday.

Here is how the daily updates schedule looks:

  • Monday: Regular update

  • Tuesday: Apple earnings preview

  • Wednesday: Regular update

  • Thursday: No update

  • Friday: Apple earnings review

Let’s jump into today’s update.


Apple’s Head of Industrial Design to Leave Company

Over at the WSJ, here’s Sarah Needleman:

Apple Inc.’s head of industrial design is leaving the company, marking another significant loss in the department responsible for the iconic look and feel of its iPhones, Macs and other popular consumer products.

Evans Hankey took over leadership of the group three years ago, filling a void created after longtime chief design officer Jony Ive departed to start his own design firm in 2019.

An Apple spokesman said the company is well equipped to continue onward without Ms. Hankey, who will temporarily stick around as it works through the change in leadership.

‘The senior design team has strong leaders with decades of experience,’ the spokesman said. Bloomberg earlier reported the news of Ms. Hankey’s departure.”

In a sign of how few people are familiar with Apple design and its leaders, a number of inaccuracies have been circulating online about this news.

A few publications, including the WSJ, claimed Evans Hankey was departing Apple after just three years. That is false. Hankey has been part of Apple’s industrial design group for nearly two decades.

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The daily updates have become widely read and influential in the world of Apple and technology. They are unmatched in the marketplace in terms of comprehensive analysis and research on all things Apple. Members reside in 60 countries and hold a diverse range of backgrounds and occupations. They include Silicon Valley executives and investors, the largest Apple shareholders, and the leading Apple journalists in the business.

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