back to article Apple design don Jony Ive: Build-your-own phone is BOLLOCKS

Apple deity Sir Jony Ive claims that companies which offer mass customisation are "abdicating responsibility" for their design. While he hasn’t named names, Motorola appears to have taken umbrage and asked: “Are you looking at me?” In a long interview in The New Yorker, Ive says of an unnamed rival, “Their value proposition …

  1. jibberjabber

    One size fits all, fits nobody

    It's just a transfer of power and responsibility from the manufacturer to the customer. People choose an iPhone because they don't want to make a decision.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Facepalm

      Re: One size fits all, fits nobody

      Here's Steve Jobs saying you'd have to file your fingers down to use a 7 inch device.

      Here's an iPad 7, Apples 7 inch iPad.

  2. leon clarke

    Alternatively

    Buying Apple is abdicating your responsibility as an individual.

    1. leon clarke

      Re: Alternatively

      And since I'm bound to get accused of flamebait, I need to explain myself better.

      If I hire a designer to design something for me, that thing is customised to my needs, my values and who I am. That's how the idea of design started. Any 'brilliant' house will have quirks in it because of the unique needs of the family for whom it was built. Now there's this idea that a designer can invent the perfect thing that's perfect for everyone. That idea is, frankly, rubbish. Since you can't afford to pay a decent designer to design the perfect phone for you, the best you can do is to do the personal aspects of the design yourself, by choosing the right one from a broad and diverse market.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Alternatively

        @leon clarke - But generally, when you buy something, you're not hiring a designer to design something for you: you're buying into with the designer's vision, and the designer is (with caveats) providing you with something that embodies the essence of that vision to the best of their abilities.

        To me, too many customisations implies indecisiveness and immaturity on the part of the designer, not talent. This is truly embodied in Samsung's 'we don't know what you want so we'll make everything' approach to Smart Watches and much else besides.

        There are of course degrees: I'd like to be able to choose the colour of my car, but I'd think less not more of a car manufacturer if they offered wool or cement as an outer surface option. I'm very pleased that Apple is not Samsung.

        1. Shades
          FAIL

          @AC - Re: Alternatively

          Your car analogy has to be the worst car analogy ever. I guess you've only ever bought a base model? What do you think an Options List/Catalogue is?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @AC - Alternatively

            "Your car analogy has to be the worst car analogy ever..."

            Fair point - you're right, it was pretty crap.

            I knew what I meant when I wrote it... it was supposed to be the perfect analogy for 'poorly thought out and excessive customisation devalues a product' - so for cars there are certain things it's good to have in the options list, but also there certain things that would be absurd and really devalue what the car's original designers were trying to achieve.

            I can't think of a better way of expressing my point, so I'm going to stop typing right now.

            1. Dave 126 Silver badge

              Re: @AC - Alternatively

              Don't worry AC, I know what you mean.

              Some users would exhibit intelligence, others would design that car Homer Simpson created for his brother.

              Really, the average user isn't in a position to 'design their ideal X' because they haven't got the time and the space to carve up dozens of foam prototypes.

              In any case, and assuming Ive was talking about the MotoX, Ive's dig was that giving a choice of colour and material alone didn't make the phone good value. [Reviews upon the release of the Moto X said it charged a high-end price for midrange internals. Actually its USP was a that it was always listening for a voice prompt, 'Touchless Control' made possible by dedicated processing unit. It was sold on the user experience and not just the bare specifications. Motorola went on to drop the price of the phone several times after its launch.]

              The rest of the NYT article mentions Ive's Bentley Mulsanne - a model with over 100 exterior colours and four paint finishes to choose from, alongside 24 different coloured leather hides and 10 veneers. Additionally, the Bentley factory can match any colour you provide. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, a bespoke colour scheme can be created just for you.

            2. Lysenko

              Re: @AC - Alternatively

              You can adapt a car analogy. You take a perfectly good, economical, second hand small hatchback - and let a <25 year old male of a certain stripe loose with it:

              The simple workmanlike design mutates into a monstrosity of glued on anti-aerodynamic prostheses, hideously tasteless (and poorly executed) custom paintwork, a music player with twice the wattage of the engine bhp, an exhaust that has more (effective) wattage than the music player, less ground clearance from the suspension than a Lamborghini ..... you get the idea.

              I'm not siding with St. Ives here, but he does have a point if he was trying to suggest that sometimes unfettered user input/feedback may lead to design consequences that civilised societies may feel obliged to legislate against.

            3. JohnFen

              Re: @AC - Alternatively

              "there certain things that would be absurd and really devalue what the car's original designers were trying to achieve."

              I don't understand this on two points: first, if an available customization is absurd, then people will just accept the default. Nothing has been lost in presenting the opportunity to customize it, so I don't see the problem.

              Second, as a customer, I couldn't care less if something "devalues" what they were trying to achieve. I'm not using a product to validate their artistic sensibilities. All mass market products are design compromises geared to please a hypothetical target customer. Nobody is ever that hypothetical customer, so the design will always have things that are not optimal for any given person. Why is having the opportunity to customize the design to fit my personal sensibilities a bad thing?

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @AC - Alternatively

            I disagree. I think I'd enjoy driving a 94 Mustang GT with a Vermillion Concrete finish.

            1. Richard Taylor 2

              Re: @AC - Alternatively

              Well if you were driving then you would not need to look at it I suppose.

        2. Eddy Ito

          Re: Alternatively

          @AC You're buying into the mass production mindset. People bought into the "designer's vision" because it was good enough and far cheaper than buying bespoke items whether it was clothes, carriages or homes. It wasn't buy in to the vision of the designer that sold so many Model T Fords it was that they were affordable and readily available. Besides, if so many people are buying into the Ive design then why do so many of them quickly wrap that design they bought into in a more personal case with baubles, sequins and/or "hello kitty" graphics?

          In case you hadn't noticed, Apple has tried much the same with the iPhone. They just roll out the experiment over time. Let's see if they want different colors - 5C, how about a standard 16:9 aspect ratio on the screen? - 5 series, bigger? - 6, bigger still? - 6+. The difference is the approach, not the design. Apple makes changes gradually to see what folks want where Samsung threw it all out at once.

          1. Cliff

            Re: Alternatively

            '... where Samsung threw it all out at once.'

            And invented the phablet in doing so - an incredibly popular form factor. Thank goodness they didn't sit on their hands for years but are prepared to juggle, tweak, create and ultimately take lessons into new lines.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Alternatively

              A phablet is not an invention. It's just a big phone much like a tablet is just a large PDA.

        3. Dave Fox

          Re: Alternatively

          Surely this is truly embodied in the Apple Watch, of which there are 34 different combinations... ;)

          Seems to me that Apple isn't following Jony Ive's advice either!

        4. David 138

          Re: Alternatively

          If people wanted to be told how their phone looked then all cases would be clear? Just because the iPhone doesn't offer choice doesn't mean people don't want it. Ives first decent design was the ipad mini 2 in grey and the. Everything before has been shite.

    2. Captain Hogwash

      Re: Alternatively

      When did you ever hear of a cult fostering individuality?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alternatively

      Project Ara modules absolutely require design, testing, lots of thought.

      Mr. Snowflake is just getting hot and bothered.

  3. BenR

    I like some of Ive's designs, but really:

    "Abdicating your responsibilities as a designer"?

    What a pompous twat.

    Abdication of your responsibilities is important when you're talking about safety, or quality. I wouldn't want members of the public getting involved in the intricacies of detailing post-tensioning strand on the Milaeu Viaduct for example. Or any old DIY tinkerer playing with the control board at a motorway communication centre.

    Letting people choose between pre-manufactured alternate components which are then factory installed by people in the same facility is a very different kettle of miscellaneous swimming things.

    i can only presume Sir Jony is against the options list on cars being available as well, as that level of customisation goes against his intrinsic design beliefs.

    I repeat: What a pompous twat.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes, I was thinking the same thing about cars. Should all cars be one colour and have exactly the same features. In fact should everyone be driving exactly the same "Apple Car" in exactly the same style and colour?

      Would designers sit back and think "that looks perfect"?

      If he thinks that design is about one single colour and style and then the work is done, it is perfect, then he is not actually a true designer at heart.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        the same "Apple Car"

        Since there are rumours Apple will get into the car business, we may be about to find out if they offer just one model with zero options other than the colour scheme of the display.

        I suspect that it will sell very well. A lot of people will assume that Apple will have made all the "right" choices for them anyway, and if the driving position is a pain in the bum, they're sitting in it wrong.

        This isn't just cynicism or Apple-bashing, just an observation about human psychology. After all, it has been claimed that the majority of new BMW owners buy them without ever having a test drive.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          Choices

          You can also go into settings and choose how you want you iOS to look (from an entirely appearance non-functional point of view).

      3. Oninoshiko

        "Should all cars be one colour"

        Ford thought it was a good idea.

        1. Richard 12 Silver badge

          Actually, he didn't.

          The Model T was originally available in a variety of different colours - none of which were black.

          1. Richard Taylor 2

            Absolutely true - but you will see that Henry F then dumped that idea for a number of years - blakc, black and black.

    2. Hellcat

      This needs 2 thumbs up.

      1 for the overall point.

      1 for a kettle of miscellaneous swimming things

      The Fiat 500 has won numerous design awards, but with over half a million possible configurations they must hand them all back for abdicating their responsibilities as the designer.

      What a cock!

      1. Mage Silver badge
        Pirate

        Also

        Ives abdicated when he decided to use White because Dieter Rams did. Half his stuff copies the 1950s -1960 Braun stuff anyway.

        He's the opposite extreme in Choice. The company with one of the smallest ranges of choice ever, on new model releases usually.

        I don't know why any one listens to this over rated product cosmetics stylist. There is no evidence he's an original designer, or has any flexibility. He's had one theme practically for years.

    3. getHandle

      Perfect summary

      "What a pompous twat."

    4. BenR

      Don't get me wrong

      I like Apple kit - especially the iPhone. every time i've picked one up and played with it i've been impressed with the quality of materials; the feeling of heft; the elegant simplicity of the design.

      I don't own one, and probably never will, because I don't get on with the Walled Garden, and i have gotten so used to Android as an OS on my phone that changing to anything else would be jarring. Especially with all the dicking about moving contacts across, and photos, and everything. iPhones (and iPads and the like) are great if you've already bought into the homogenous Apple infrastructure as many of my friends have.

      I mention this, because I don't want to be misconstrued as a raving Fandroid, Apple-bashing at every given opportunity, whether warranted or not.

      But I read this article - and the precursor article on the BBC - and the first thing I thought was "What a jumped up pompous twat* Jony Ive has come across as!"

      [ * - stronger language may have been used.]

      As a PRODUCT designer, he has responsibility for the look and feel of the device. Is it heavy, but not too heavy? Does the glass-and-aluminium give a good feel? Are the corners too rounded? Curved back or flat? That sort of thing. I suspect that there is a lot of back and forth between him and the engineers. I doubt he has much input into specs. Allegedly, he has some input into UI design and feel, but the actual workings are obviously up to some programmer in a dark room somewhere,

      Stick to what you know.

      I imagine this is probably more levelled at the Google Project Ara modular phone than MotoMaker - although knowing Apple and Ive it could be anything I suppose! If it *IS* aimed at Ara, then he's made himself look even more of a dick, as the entire point of Ara is to allow customisability of the *HARDWARE*, not necessarily the appearance. And if it was simply a dig at MotoMaker, then my original "pompous twat" comment holds.

      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: Don't get me wrong

        I thought one of the points of modular phones was so you wouldn't be locked in and could upgrade the device to faster processors or different radios is you changed regions or carriers. Ive seems to be railing about just customizing but how much of that is because it makes whole phone upgrades superfluous. It's a lot less painful to buy a new radio module for ~$100 and not dropping yet another $600+ on a new phone when LTE next appears.

        You should be worried Jony because if cheap modular components gets rolling I predict the current Fat Tuesday world you're living in will start to look a bit more lean.

    5. Indolent Wretch

      "What a pompous twat"

      That wins this comment thread

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I guess we should all buy an iHouse with Ive's favourite wall colours, art, chairs and other design choices made for us already.

  4. eSeM

    Some people like choice and flexibility .... others buy Apple.

    1. gnasher729 Silver badge

      Very, very few people would manage to create a phone that they end up liking better than one of the limited choices that Apple offers. To quote an absolutely fabulous actress: "We don't want choice, we just want nice things".

      It's like going to an expensive restaurant and the waiter asks me what ingredients I want in my food. That's why I go to a restaurant, so that choice is made by someone who knows what they are doing food wise, and not by me.

      1. kmac499

        Maybe; but to continue the analogies..

        All Ives has done is 'design' the interior and crockery of your restaurant, the real work is done by skilled qualified experienced chefs slaving away in the heat of the kitchen. Also unless you eat in a seriously minimalist restaurant they usually offer you a choice of dishes, (Cue the SPAM song) rather than just reheating the same dish day after day no matter how tasty it is.

        I'll agree with your actress friend that we "just want nice things" but again unless you live in a very homogenous social circle there is no absolute definition of 'nice'. Just think of the huge variety of musical genres, literature or leisure activities.

        Being different is one thing that makes us all the same.

        1. Indolent Wretch

          All Ive has done is design the box the tech (both software and hardware) goes into.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Coat

          I beg to disagree.

          I have certain meals at certain restaurants. If they change their menu, I stop going.

          On the flip side, I used to frequent a restaurant often enough that I did, over a period of 2 weeks, try everything on their menu.

          I guess I'm just odd.

      2. JohnFen

        "That's why I go to a restaurant, so that choice is made by someone who knows what they are doing food wise, and not by me."

        And yet if you ask them what the ingredients are, they'll tell you. And if you ask them to leave out some ingredients, include others, or change the amounts used, they'll do it. Restaurants are actually a great example of how valuable the ability to customize is.

  5. nematoad

    "And I believe that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer.”

    Or it could be as others above have said that it is giving the customer the choice.

    No, knowing Apple, what's really rattling their cage is the potential loss of control.

    What ever happened to the old saying "The customer is always right."

    1. P. Lee

      >What ever happened to the old saying "The customer is always right."

      Apple generally has ridden on the idea that they know what the customer wants before the customer does. Generally, I'd agree with them there. The Lisa (lovely, if too expensive), Mackintosh, iMac, ipod, iphone, ipad all good examples of this. Apple stuff is lovely to touch, look at, hold - many people scoff at this, but it is an integral part of the experience of a consumer electronics item.

      Where Apple fails is when the market moves on from this original bright idea to commoditisation. Its hard to keep coming up with good ideas, but inherent in finding a "new good idea" is that you know more than the customer. Being "totally customer driven" is normally code for "complete lack of imagination and effort."

      Build-your-own-phone requires standardisation. Its a bit like shipping containers. They work well for economy and utility, but they are awful to look at and they will never be precisely what the customer needs unless they are shipping something which happens to be 8'x8'x40' - which is rare. Its an approximation to what the customer needs and always a compromise. You can compromise and rarely be "loved" or you can build something which will be loved, but only by a few.

      It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I suspect it will depend on whether phones make the jump to more general compute or compute-access devices. The more general the usage, the more useful a compromise is. Not even Apple's billions will allow them to be "everything to all men." An iphone is a few-uses device and can be tightly controlled, a macbook is more general and can be less tightly controlled. Can apple keep people's faith in their goods, the cloud or drive a home-server purchase, or will they lose out to local infrastructure like an xbox or playstation or the fabled Steam machine? Using the cloud for settings and photo's is one thing, but the question comes as to whether a local host can provide CPU and latency advantages that the cloud cannot. Will tablets become fast enough to run local apps and will the devices attach to larger screens, keyboards and mice to enable better working?

      It will be interesting to see where the "next big thing" comes from. We've now got portable computing to the point where we can have it anywhere. The question will be not whether we can have it, but whether we want it. Voice controlled appliances might look great in Star Trek, but Samsung TV's look less shiny. Star Trek never addressed privacy issues and Picard never treated his entire crew as criminals to be controlled and manipulated and spied upon at every opportunity, for fun and profit, even if the tech implied that he could.

      Ives could be correct. A designer who makes no decisions isn't a designer, so he has abdicated his responsibility. However, that is assuming that choices have to be made by the designer, that compromises have to be made. That was certainly the case, probably it still is. Massively hi-res screens may be something customers think they want, but which negatively impacts battery usage. Giving the customer choice is nice, but its a good idea to prune that choice to maintain a good experience. That is what your brand does. You can also guide various customers towards particular options so that they don't make mistakes. Customer's don't want to have to make all the decisions - that's too hard. They do want companies to come up with a few good options for them, but when the market matures, more options can be taken as a "given" and more control can be given to the customer.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        @P.Lee "Where Apple fails"

        Apple is a business, and as a business it is there to generate profit to feed its top employees and its shareholders.

        Apple hasn't failed this century, it's been stupefyingly successful.

      2. JohnFen

        "The Lisa (lovely, if too expensive), Mackintosh, iMac, ipod, iphone, ipad all good examples of this."

        With the exception of the iPod, I disagree that any of those examples are good ones. I find them all to be substandard in terms of design (along with the iPhone). Why? Because none of them include design elements that actually make the devices more useful, easier, or better for me. And all of them include design elements that do the opposite. The ideal design is an intensely personal thing, so I understand perfectly when people love Apple's designs -- they just don't work for me.

        And that's why customization is a good thing.

  6. John H Woods Silver badge

    So I take it ...

    ... that Lego is design anathema ... and all modular systems of any kind whatsoever?

    1. Hellcat

      Re: So I take it ...

      Minecraft. Mechano. Colouring books and even plain paper.

      Wrong! All wrong!

  7. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Megaphone

    That's his opinion, here's mine

    I think he abdicated his responsibilities as a UI designer with Yosamite. It looks like crap and expand window/full screen was better the way it was in Mavericks.

    And on the software side it looks like they've allowed it to become a little more sluggish, relying on SSD to pick up the slack.

    And don't get me started on their recent fascination with glue guns and unexpandable RAM. Even Jobs didn't put up with that nonsense.

  8. johnnymotel

    The main issue with modular phones is that the design will always be compromised by the modularity. Its a great idea for sure, just don't expect it to be a slim, as lightweight as the competition. I can see it appealing to a subset of users though.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

    To paraphrase Henry Ford...

    ...you can have any type of corners, so long as they're rounded

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    horses for courses

    Both philosophies are valid.

    Power users will want to choose particular features and configurations. The average user will just be happy with something nicely designed that does everything they need and probably a lot more.

    But for Ive to suggest that offering consumers a flexible phone with lots of choice is abdicating responsibility is jumped up shite. You might as well argue that a clothes shop only needs to offer one style and colour of shirt or trousers, because in the designer's view, it's right and the consumer should not need the freedom to choose something else.

    1. Cliff

      Re: horses for courses

      >>> You might as well argue that a clothes shop only needs to offer one style and colour of shirt or trousers, because in the designer's view, it's right and the consumer should not need the freedom to choose something else<<<

      My hunch is that we'd see a fuckton of black turtlenecks

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Big_Ted

      What ?

      @toadwarrior

      You start your post saying hes right and attack the ability to have the colour you want on the back and even real leather if you want, also the trim on the phone and screen surround as you want and say its junk ? Its installed during manufacture and built into the phone not a 10p ebay clip on cover that many stick on their £500 mobile.

      Then you say its like going back to a limited colour scheme etc, like the iPhone....

      You sound confused,

  12. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    FAIL

    Sewing sequins on my Gucci handbag

    A good designer will deliver something the majority of the target audience consider a good, stylish and solid product, perfectly serviceable and fit for purpose for most who buy it.

    That doesn't mean the punter should not be able to tweak it to suit their own personal taste, nor does it give a designer a dictatorial right to criticise doing that or others who facilitate it.

    I have heard similar from chefs who believe a meal should be exactly how it comes, no condiments or sauce can be added.

    Bollocks to that; I'll do as I please.

  13. MrMur

    Why....

    Why do they sell iPhones in different colours, then? Or different sized screens?

  14. Big_Ted

    The mans a dickhead

    "And I believe that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer.”"

    WTF just how much design has gone into the iPhone since the first version ? Pretty much zero on the outside, it looks the same to me and with the exception of the 5c has a very limited number of options.

    Oh and anyone who puts their phone in a case/cover etc must had it back immediately.

    On top of that I still think WTF every time I see the pastel colours on iOS, can't wait to see how much they don't bother designing a working UI on the Watch and just use the BUTTON on the side.....

    1. Neil Alexander

      Re: The mans a dickhead

      "just how much design has gone into the iPhone since the first version"

      Actually, a lot more than you would realise. Some people at Apple have been paid an awful lot of money to make every iteration of the phone feel a certain way. To claim that they have simply made no design changes since the original iPhone is clearly false, and a pointless argument.

  15. Ralph B

    Two Points

    Point 1: I'd be more ready to accept Ive's comments on Motorola's support for user-customisations if I hadn't first seen the god-awful colours he chose for the iPhone 5c.

    Point 2: I'd be more ready to accept Ive's comments on the responsibilities of designers if I hadn't first seen the god-awful protruding camera lens on the iPhone 6 which, BTW, necessitates user-customisation with phone-cases which are often of very dubious design taste.

    So ... twat.

  16. kmac499

    Architects, Designers, Decorators and Engineers..

    The first three sketch (usually very crudely) the final appearance of their 'creation', usually in some utopian setting which conveniently excludes the rest of the real world the item will exist in.

    The Engineers in all their many flavours and skills then have to build the damn thing by next wednesday and for how much!!.

    Methinks St.Ives has been supping too many Skinny DeCaffe Unicorn Milk Lattes and might actually believe that he is a genius.

    Abdicating his responsibilty ? Oh please, it's just a Phone

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Project ara related

    Since it was mentioned. I actually had a discussion with people at uni on something very similar to project Ara, except instead of being a phone it was a handheld games console.

    We were discussing things like the PSP and the nintendo DS and what we liked / disliked about them, it kinda turned into a build your own console thing and evolved from there

    You want an OLED screen rather than LCD? You could buy it seperate, you want to use your console as a camera? Buy the 20mp camera add on, or the 4mp if you don't care. or none if you never intend to use it.

    It actually made a lot of sense to us, the reason we didn't buy these consoles is because they were expensive (for students) and part of that cost was a load of stuff we'd never use. Meanwhile you could offer a base console package (cpu / graphics etc) and then sell upgrades for everything else under the sun. A new updated core comes out and you can transfer over the still working peripherals. Kinda wish we'd made a full project out of it, but alas programming course, not business.

    1. Hellcat

      Re: Project ara related

      Sounds like you just pre-invented the Steam machine.

  18. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

    No User Choice

    Having all your choices made for you....that reminds me of the Orwellian masses in Apple's "1984" TV commercial

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ive is a designer?

    Really?

    Take a car. A bog standard everyday family car. Think of how many design decisions were made to make that car. Dimensions, body style, number of doors, headlight style and position, seat style, ICE, pedals, centre console, instrument cluster, heating controls. Thousands of parts all designed, to fit together to make a highly complicated mechanical object. And car manufacturers produce many many models and variants of those models. Each takes a real designer.

    Mr Ive designed the iPhone. A small rectangular box. iPad, a slightly larger rectangular box. You get the idea.

    He isn't a designer, he draws around stencils he picked up from WH Smith for a fiver.

    1. ppawel
      Coat

      Re: Ive is a designer?

      Apple is the most valuable company in the world so surely it follows that this guy is the best designer in the world, no? Market has spoken and all that?

      1. Chris G

        Re: Ive is a designer?

        "Apple is the most valuable company in the world so surely it follows that this guy is the best designer in the world, no? Market has spoken and all that?"

        Then it must be the marketing people that should get the pat o the back, let's face it a good salesman can sell shit to a sewerage farm.

        Ive may have some talent but it's limited compared to the likes of someone like Sir Terence Conran, now he is what I call a designer not to mention restauranteur, architect, entrepreneur etc.

        What Jony Ive has designed is undoubtedly elegant, i.e. is has few elements and a great deal of simplicity in it's design lucky for him, then you get to the techy's work!

    2. NotWorkAdmin

      Re: Ive is a designer?

      I'd have to agree. Manufacturers tend to do the finished design you end up with as they have to work out how to make the actual components required to make something work look as close to what the guy with the crayons sent them.

      And anyway, a designer bemoaning users doing the design and removing him from the equation? Not really surprising his crayons got thrown out of the pram at that thought.

  20. Naselus

    Personally, I'd have thought designing a phone where the antenna cut out if people held it properly was abdicating your responsibility as a designer. Designing things around how people use them is the first responsibility of the designer.

    Or possibly designing a phone that bends when people put it in a pocket. That'd be an abdication of responsibility too, really; you were responsible for designing a practical item for people to move around with. Failing to anticipate pockets being used for this is a big problem.

    Ive's no just a pretentious twat for suggesting that modular design is a failing, he's also an idiot for suggesting it. One of the major reasons Apple never managed to hold a decent share of the PC market was that people liked the option of upgrading the modular hardware platform bit-by-bit, as opposed to having to sell out for a whole new PC every few years. I'd love the option of doing the same thing with my phone, switching out the parts bit-by-bit rather than having to replace the handset wholesale.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Wow.

      Some people here are saying Ive is crap because he just designs the boxes, and you are saying he's shit because he wasn't a radio engineer. FFS.

      1. Mage Silver badge

        But

        Ives didn't even design the the boxes. He copied Dieter Rams' stuff for Braun

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Go on admit it J.I

    By limiting choice you get to bleed every last penny out of loyal customers.

    Usable Ram, extra Sensors, Bigger Screen.

    Buy it again next year !

  22. Simon Harris

    Ahem....

    You can choose whatever color you want.’ And I believe that’s abdicating your responsibility as a designer.”

    So why do so many people I see with iPhones choose to have clip on covers with all manner of colourful designs, or made to make your phone into some cute animal shape? Are they saying they aren't happy with Ive's design as it stands, and want to change it to their preference?

    If Ive had his way, would you even be allowed to change your phone wallpaper and ringtones - surely that's part of the design too?

    1. Indolent Wretch

      Re: Ahem....

      Because without them they are uncomfortable to hold and so expensive they are terrifying to drop.

      Apparently that's good design.

  23. Alan Denman

    Extolling the virtues of...

    Cheap mass production...

    Yes Ives, we know exactly what you mean. Wink, Wink.

  24. En_croute

    Jony extolling

    The virtues of design over substance.

    Apple all over really.

    A phone that doesn't make clear calls with a sealed battery that doesn't last.

    $$$$ spent on style, then covered by consumers in $5 of plastic to protect it.

    As the old joke [edited] goes, Ham & Eggs is a nice lunch.

    The hen that laid the egg was involved, but the pig is committed.

    The overpaid chef is only re-arranging it on the plate, and should shut up.

  25. Dieter Haussmann

    You only have to look at the chavmobile results of the build-your-own car crowd to see he's 99% right.

    1. Philip Lewis

      Re: chavmobile

      wicked!

  26. Donkey Molestor X

    We're going to surf Hale Bopp to heaven!

    I love the picture of Jony and the rainbow circle gradient. Was the photoshopper who did it inspired by Marshall Applewhite/Do from Heaven's Gate I wonder?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Marshall_Applewhite.jpg

  27. W. Anderson

    "Presently", the customization that Motorola offers for it's smartphones is limited to choices of back cover colour and material type - silver metal or colour plastic for bezel. Such sensible options in no way diminishes the quality of value for Motorola smartphones, as perople like my wife - who was a Corporate Interior Designer and exceled in Graphic Arts as a hobby, prefer these Artistic choices.

    One commenter has link to Video where Steve Jobs dismissed the Android based 7" tablets, only to produce them later. What is ironic about the non-sensical view taken by Jon Ivy and by Jobs - re preferable tablet size is his reference to Microsoft Windows as an "Open Platform" because of multiple manufacturer support which is ridiculous, since Apple iOS and OS X as well as Windows are strictly "proprietary" and not open in any sense.

    Unfortunately these technology icons continually insult people's intelligence by making stuoid statements in support of theie myopic and financially beneficial viewpoints.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mr. Andersen

      Darwin?

  28. JustNiz

    Just another control-freak company with an overinflated ego.

    Hey Apple, Do I need your permission to think for my damn self?

    Yes? Then F*** you and your overpriced overrated products.

  29. All names Taken
    Thumb Up

    Awesome in his awesomeness!

    Great!

    How rare it is in these times to hear someone say

    "I am responsible therefore I am the responsible one!"

    (Or something similar)

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hmmm

    You never see Jonny ive and Barry shitpeas in the same room at the same time...

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what options?

    Being in the market for a new blower (oo-er), I have been considering a Moto X.

    When I looked at the customisation options on offer from Motorola, I really didn't see what the fuss was about. Small selection of muted, conservative colours in general 'warm' or 'cool' tones, plus the leather or wood effects that I'm not the remotest bit interested in.

    The best fit for a person is what they fancy - if they want the same as everyone else a la iPhone, who cares? Let 'em. My preference is for a bit of individuality, but in this case I just don't see anything in the combos on offer from Motorola really ticking that box.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: what options?

      Nice phone though. We write for both iOS and Android, and most of us carry both - pays to understand the experience. We use a 5s as the default iPhone and the Moto as the default Android.

  32. Archivist

    Support

    If your phone becomes faulty or you drop and smash your iPhone you can go to the Apple shop and get an exchange over the counter - free or for a standard charge. You get a brand new phone. They seem to keep all but the oldest models in stock for exchange purposes. This support model is only possible with a limited range of hardware options.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Speaking of abdicating responsibilities

    Someone at Apple should have told Sir Jonny that he wasn't an interface designer so we could have avoided the skinny fonted, is that a fucking button or a label? why is that written in red when it's not a warning? car crash that is iOS8.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does he even design anything any more or just approve or disprove designs made for him?

  35. Munkstar

    I still think the ability to put a new battery in a device (it's heart) is not a design compromise. Anything that needs a pallet knife, heater gun and suction cups to change a simple component is 'compromised design'.

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