With “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson being published on Monday, we’re getting an inside look at the structure within Apple. The AP purchased an advanced copy of the book — in the official biography of the late Apple leader, Jobs created an environment where iconic design will continue to flourish, even after his death. Jony Ive, Apple’s head of product design, was given the ultimate operational power at Apple — ensuring that the design-centric company has a strong representative. Ive has been at Apple for 20 years, 15 of which he’s been the design leader. At the end of Jobs’ tenure as CEO, Ive was one of seven senior vice presidents at Apple to report directly to Jobs. Ive is the conceptual mind behind the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, G4 Cube, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
He called Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, his “spiritual partner” at Apple. He told Isaacson that Ive had “more operation power” at Apple than anyone besides Jobs himself – that there’s no one at the company who can tell Ive what to do. That, says Jobs, is “the way I set it up.” – read more from AP
