Apple Designer Jonathan Ive on What's Next

Apple's design chief helped transform computing, phones and music. The company's secrecy and Ive's modesty mean he has never given an in-depth interview—until now.

We use Jonathan Ive’s products to help us to eat, drink and sleep, to work, travel, relax, read, listen and watch, to shop, chat, date and have sex. Many of us spend more time with his screens than with our families. Some of us like his screens more than our families. For years, Ive’s natural shyness, coupled with the secrecy bordering on paranoia of his employer, Apple, has meant we have known little about the man who shapes the future, with such innovations as the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. But last month, he invited me to Cupertino in Silicon Valley where Apple is based, for his first in-depth interview since he became head of design almost 20 years ago.

The gods — or was it the ghost of Steve Jobs? — seemed against it. Jobs didn’t like Apple execs doing interviews. It had not rained properly in California for months but that morning the clouds rolled off the Pacific, turning the Golden Gate Bridge black. Interstate 280 South to Silicon Valley was a river of water, instead of the usual lava streaks of stop-start SUVs. But just after 10AM, an Apple tech-head appeared in an all-white meeting room on the first floor of building 4 of the firm’s antiseptic headquarters with strict instructions to find an Earl Grey tea bag.

OK, very good, we’re making progress. I just finished proving, based on your actual words, not the odd re-imagined stuff you rewrote, that you did, in fact, start the disparaging comments which you categorized as 1) insult, 2) personal attack, 3) slur, and 4) denigration of opinions.

“Leonard, there is not ONE personal attack.” Swordmaker

Good, I never said you did. I know that’s a concern because that’s not allowed around here. You did however, start with the disparaging comments and then whined about my sarcastic and hyperbolic responses over and over and over again. I mean, that’s pretty clear, well...unless you paraphrase...for brevity.

“I did not rewrite anything.” Swordmaker

OK, now that’s just a little bit this side of odd, because the actual rewrite is just below (or above). It’s 191. You rewrote every post. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone do that here at FR. People fight and name call all the time. I’ve even seen people claim that they didn’t say what they actually said only moments before. Good thing honesty isn’t a requirement around here, no?

This thing however is the grand daddy of them all. Every post, rewritten, no wait, paraphrased, for brevity. You are so thoughtful. Preserving that bandwidth. Nice.

And hey, I’m not asking you to participate. I understand, you’re a busy man. No problem. You can prove what you wrote, but you’re not going to participate. I get it.

Except I have so much more to say about these and other matters and plenty of bandwidth to spare. Plus that report I promised. Besides, no one is ever going to see this thread again, so it’s OK if you go. I have nothing else to do however, so I’ll stay.

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

Oh man, thank you for that. It’s funny every time I read it. Hey, I found something else.

#27 Swordmaker: “If he [Steve Jobs] had taken the time to really think about it, he probably would have switched to conservative thinking. The ideas he truly thought about and believed in were. It’s only when he spoke quickly and without thinking, did he spout Liberal mantras. . . philosophically, his ideas were conservative. Look at his stand against pornography on the Apple App Store. [Wishful Thinking, Mind Reading, Confirmation Bias]

It’s one long sentence that you made up out of whole cloth. In post 191 you describe this fantasy as your take, “...on a conservative slant to actual policies implemented by Steve Jobs and Apple on careers, porn, etc.”

Except it wasn’t. You didn’t say anything about careers or any “actual policies” except porn.

Here’s the actual quote. You know, the thing that you left out of your rewrite.

“Steve Jobs had a moderately Liberal reputation, but have you heard the commencement speech he gave at Stanford? Nothing better has been said by most conservatives. If he had taken the time to really think about it, he probably would have switched to conservative thinking. The ideas he truly thought about and believed in were. It’s only when he spoke quickly and without thinking, did he spout Liberal mantras. . . philosophically, his ideas were conservative. Look at his stand against pornography on the Apple App Store.” Swordmaker in http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3134377/posts?page=27#27

Yep, nothing. So if the Obama Administration put porn filters on the White House computers, that would make BHO the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan?

Here’s the text of Steve Jobs 2005 speech from Stanford University
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Maybe you were referring to that speech. The greatest commencement speech in American history. A speech that was a recap of HIS career. Sure, that’s where you got it. He spoke about his career...and his impending death. Very touching. But nowhere did you ever mention any “actual policies implemented by Steve Jobs and Apple on careers.” None. How do you categorize that? Was it a slip? A misstatement? It couldn’t be deliberate, this is a dead thread so what would be the point? No, it has to be something else. I’ll keep looking for a word for it. I will.

Steve’s advice at the conclusion of the greatest commencement speech in American history was, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Trite? Yes. Banal? Sure. But it was brilliant in its trite banality, wouldn’t you say? And isn’t that the heart of conservatism? You’re onto something there Mr Swordmaker, you are onto something.

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

Very nice. Still makes me laugh.

I love this Steve Jobs, Conservative Champion, thing you started in #27.

Swordmaker: “If he [Steve Jobs] had taken the time to really think about it, he probably would have switched to conservative thinking.”

Very evolutionary. Given enough time, anything can turn into something completely different. But in your rewrite of history post, number 191 #103, you spilled an entire bottle of whine, “derision...sarcasm...misrepresentative...woeful lack of knowledge ...your posts are critical... And demeaning...you want ME to do your study for you...Another misrepresentation which I cannot help but think is deliberate,” and yet somehow managed to give no evidence for your wishful thinking and mind reading.

“THEN you claim I didn’t provide any more quotations from Steve Jobs’ THREE HOUR meeting with Obama. . . as though that were a failing on my part. . . and that I don’t have a transcript of that meeting. No one does. But both Jobs and Obama released press releases on what was discussed and it’s covered in Jobs’ biography. . . Where there are lots of quotations from that meeting.” Swordmaker in http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3134377/posts?page=191#191

Yet you still didn’t quote anyone, did you? Why is that? Could it be that, in context, your “facts” would sound more like deliberate distortions? Instead of facts you make a whiny reference to the Gospel According To Walter and then whine some more.

So here’s what you don’t want anyone to know, Apple is in China, according to the late Steve Jobs, because of American regulations and the teachers unions. Hey, maybe you were right all along! Oh wait, not really, he was complaining about the teachers because he wanted the American GOVERNMENT to break the unions so the GOVERNMENT could finally do education the right way, the Steve Jobs way.

So American regulations and the American public schools forced him to go overseas. Hey, look at that, we’ve come full circle. Steve Jobs got an audience with the left-wing King of America because Steve Jobs was a left-wing sociopath who was sitting on billions of dollars. His ox was being gored, so he complained about regulations. Hey, do you know who else is saddled with lots of regulations? Jack-In-The-Box.

And McDonalds, and White Castle, and Burger King, and Denny’s, and Chick-fil-A, and Arby’s, and Chipolte, and Fat Burger, and Outback, and Domino’s, and Wendy’s, and Carl’s Jr., and In-N-Out, and Red Lobster, and Chili’s, and Olive Garden, and Del Taco, and Little Caesars, and KFC, and IHOP, and Papa John’s, and thousands of independent restaurants and cafe’s across America.

World-renowned fruitarian, Steve Jobs, never said a word about GOVERNMENT regulations that affected the fast food industry, only the GOVERNMENT regulations that gored HIS ox. And his solution was? More GOVERNMENT. Kinda like these famous conservatives.

Obama’s Hollywood Gets Conservative Over Tax Cut Requests
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2014/02/19/hollywood-gets-conservative-tax-cuts

Oh my gosh. Hollywood is CONSERVATIVE because they oppose high taxes. They pay the dill-holes who impose high taxes on everyone else, ridicule the politicians who claim high taxes drive out business (read Ronald Reagan et al), and then demand exemptions because high taxes are driving them out of the state. What the French-braid do you call that? I call it Apple Inc.

Apple Lexicon, Chapter 191 verse 103
Critical: The act of questioning Swordmaker’s endless appeals to authority
Demeaning: The act of questioning Swordmaker’s endless appeals to authority
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

It’s like a great comedy routine, it never gets old.

This Steve Jobs, Conservative Champion, thing is such an interesting rewrite of history. Isn’t it?

Sociopath and chief-executive-narcissist, Steve Jobs, bumped heads with an even bigger sociopathic narcissist, Barack Obama in 2011. Steve Jobs offered to help the first Obama campaign with advertising in 2008. Please note that he did not offer money, he offered his personal service and since he was not an ad exec, it’s not a stretch to assume that was offering the services of other members of his team also. Except for Peggy Noonan, I don’t know any conservatives who were offering their services to left-wing progressives in 2008. Do you?

By 2011, however, even Peggy Noonan realized that she was hoodwinked, but left-wing progressive Steve Jobs again offered his services, not money, to left-wing progressive Barack Obama, in person. He wanted to do a Reaganesque “Morning in America” type ad campaign for left-wing progressive Barack Obama. Oops, see, my assumption was spot on, you don’t do a “Morning in America” ad campaign with an iPad and couple of stills.

In addition to offering advertising services, not money, he offered this bit of conservative advice. From the Gospel According to Walter, “...Jobs did not hold back. ‘You’re headed for a one-term presidency,’ Jobs told Obama at the outset. To prevent that, he said, the administration needed to be a lot more business-friendly. He described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs.” Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Chapter Forty-One, RoundThree, The Twilight Struggle, President Obama

My, my. How conservative of Mr Jobs. Anytime a left-wing progressive starts sounding like a conservative, check your wallet. Steve Jobs was one of the most fiercely anti-competitive, monopolistic, left-wing whiners in corporate history. There is absolutely no reason to believe that he had any plans to “build a factory” in America.

Did he make one statement that sounded conservative? Yes. Is there any indication that one conservative statement somehow turned him from left-wing progressive to the iConservative? Not even in your wildest dreams.

And here are a few interesting anecdotes: Steve Jobs “described how easy it was to build a factory in China.” Didn’t you get all wet about that? Yes, you did. You can’t call FUD if the implication came from THE primary source at Apple Inc. We’ll talk about that again, later.

The figure Jobs claimed were working in China is 700,000 plus 30,000 engineers. Strange, because less than half of that had been counted by the left-wing progressive Fair Labor Association which Steve Jobs hired to check out his Chinese factories.

You don’t really have any facts, do you? You puff up your chest, make mindless claims and disparaging comments and you expect people to just run off. When they don’t, you whine to Jim about all the trolls that show up at your members-only services. Well I’ve been a member for 20 years, I don’t run like your trolls.

Apple Lexicon, Chapter 191 verse 48
Liberal Democrat: Anyone who questions Swordmaker’s endless appeals to authority
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

Brilliant! No, genius, that’s the approved term. I have a woman coming over this afternoon to etch that on my office wall.

Well, now that you brought that up, I have a confession, I never called you a genius. Genius is the term most often associated with Steve Jobs and just about anyone taking a few Apple classes in their retail stores. But I never used that term to refer to you.

191 #108 “you to me: you insult me with derisive term ‘genius’”

Here’s exactly how that “derisive” term appears:

Swordmaker: “When did you join the Democrat party?”

Leonard: You make a brilliant point. No, genius, that’s the approved term.

from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3134377/posts?page=108#108

It’s really pretty clear if you actually read stuff, but that’s on you.

So, for clarification, here’s an expanded version: When did I join the Democrat party? (laughing) My Mr Swordmaker, what a brilliant observation (smirking). No, “brilliant” is not the right term, the term that has been approved by Apple is the word “genius”. Your attempt at insult is not “brilliant”, the proper term for your attempted insult is “genius” (eye-roll).

Is that better now? You know, sometimes butthurt is really just diaper rash.

Apple Lexicon, Chapter 191 verse 108
Genius: A compliment when applied to Steve Jobs or anyone who works at Apple. A derisive term when used by anyone who questions Swordmaker’s endless appeals to authority.
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

Looks nice on my wall. Always brings a smile.

So, it looks like I found one of the “primary sources” that you’ve been using as a crib sheet. It’s from the left-wing progressive New York Times.

They did a series on the “iEconomy” that began in January of 2012 and won a Pulitzer in 2013. Their original articles were extensively excerpted throughout the internet.

Maybe you were afraid to say, “My source is the New YorkTimes,” under the assumption that left-wing progressives reporting on left-wing progressives may be a little biased. I don’t know, but what I do know is that you were preening and posturing about your trove of “primary sources” but didn’t quote or even post a link to any of them.

That’s OK, you told me to find this crap myself, so I did.

It appears that you pulled only the information that was favorable to Apple, ignored the negatives and simply didn’t question some of the holes that the NYT left in their reporting if it was Apple positive. No real surprise. Your “facts” appear to mirror the NYT articles like cheap talking points from the left-wing progressive press.

Part 1: An Empire Built Abroad
How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html

After whining about Chinese factories being the only option left for Apple, a former Apple exec tells a story about ramping up for a last-minute iPhone rollout when 8,000 Chinese employees were awakened at midnight, given a biscuit and a cup of tea, and directed to the beginning of a 12-hour shift to pump out iPhones.

“’The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,’ the executive said. ‘There’s no American plant that can match that.’”

How self-fulfilling is that? We don’t build factories in America and, surprise!

Foxconn execs denied that such a thing was possible. They have work rules that would never allow such a thing, you see. “...we have strict regulations regarding the working hours of our employees based on their designated shifts, and every employee has computerized timecards that would bar them from working at any facility at a time outside of their approved shift.”’

Foxconn employees begged to differ.

Since you claim to be the worlds leading expert on business and classical economics, how would you define such discrepancies? Do you believe the Apple guy, the Foxconn exec, or the employees?

But, you know, what difference, at this point, does it make? Besides, American workers would never live in company dorms and work weird shifts and long hours on dangerous jobs like oil rigs and fishing boats. Yep, nothing to see here, move along.

Scientology: The model used by Apple to groom its High Priests, like you-know-who.
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Swordmaker

OMG! Still funny!

Hey, do you remember when you wet yourself over that whole “Apple doesn’t build factories” thing. Sure you do.

So then why did Steve Jobs describe the process to Barack Obama? How would he know?

“He described how easy it was to build a factory in China, and said that it was almost impossible to do so these days in America, largely because of regulations and unnecessary costs.” Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Chapter Forty-One, RoundThree, The Twilight Struggle, President Obama

He knew, and you would too if you were as business savvy and classically trained in economics as you claim, because Apple does “build” factories through contractors.

McDonalds doesn’t build fast food restaurants. Did you know that? Sure you did. Parkway Construction, Yorkon, Wolgast and others build restaurants for McDonalds. But to assume that McDonalds isn’t involved in every aspect of the building process is beyond rational thought. It would be accurate to say, as any classically trained economist might, that McDonalds builds restaurants in 118 countries. They don’t just spring up and McDonalds spots them on Google Maps. Do they?

Foxconn wasn’t just building a bunch of factories and cold calling American companies when they got Steve Jobs. “Hey Stevie, we have this empty factory just sitting here and were wondering if you could use 700,000 workers to build something. An “i” what? iPhone? Sure, we can do that, send the specs and we’ll get right on it!”

You don’t allow a company like Foxconn to build a factory to their own specs and then call you when it’s done, but that’s what you would have to envision if Apple wasn’t involved in every aspect of the buildings design and construction. Did Foxconn act as contractor? Sure. Foxconn or any number of others. Steve Jobs knew the details and was able to describe the process to Barack Obama.

Apple builds factories, through its contractors, in China. Deal with it.

This months Rotten Apple Award (™) goes to Mad Dawgg for eliciting this level-headed response from Swordmaker, Keeper of the Holy Apple Archives.

“Look, idiot, I’ve had it with you. I am NOT “Sparky” and your insulting asshat attitude is getting you nowhere. If you want to address me, use “Swordmaker.” I’ve tried to be helpful, but you continue to be snarky.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3140335/posts?page=322#322

Your snarky insulting asshat attitude may not have gotten you anywhere with Swordmaker, but it did get you this months Rotten Apple Award (™).

Tell him what he’s won Johnny!

Mad Dawgg, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win an iMac DeskLamp circa 2002 and an all expenses paid trip for you and someone you don’t particularly like to Cupertino, California! You’ll receive a guided tour of the Steve Jobs Memorial Shrine by a Certified Apple-Ordained iPriest from the adjoining Apple Temple and Genius Bar. You’ll fly Apple Airways where you’ll receive a personalized iPod! iPod, the world’s most revolutionary tech gadget, personally developed by Steve Jobs, his name be praised. The original iPod stopped three wars, ended world hunger, and made Kim Kardashian look hot. Imagine what it can do for you! This offer is void.

“I did not rewrite anything. I paraphrased for brevity.” Sparky von Mises (aka Swordmaker)

#27 purports to be your “take on a conservative slant to actual policies implemented by Steve Jobs and Apple on careers, porn, etc.” Sparky von Mises (aka Swordmaker) from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3134377/posts?page=191#191

What you actually said was: “Steve Jobs had a moderately Liberal reputation, but have you heard the commencement speech he gave at Stanford? Nothing better has been said by most conservatives. If he had taken the time to really think about it, he probably would have switched to conservative thinking. The ideas he truly thought about and believed in were. It’s only when he spoke quickly and without thinking, did he spout Liberal mantras. . . philosophically, his ideas were conservative. Look at his stand against pornography on the Apple App Store.” Sparky von Mises (aka Swordmaker) from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3134377/posts?page=27#27

So Steve Jobs New Age speech to Stanford employees and banning porn in the Sacred Walled Garden (aka App Store) made him conservative? No, moderately Liberal with conservative ideas.

Sure. Right. We talked about that Stanford speech here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3134377/posts?page=203#203

But this insistence that Steve Jobs was a closeted conservative is more than delusional, Dr von Mises, it’s a libertarian fanboy’s wet dream.

Obama’s CEO: Jim Messina Has a President to Sell
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-14/obamas-ceo-jim-messina-has-a-president-to-sell

“The day after Jim Messina quit his job as White House deputy chief of staff...he arranged a rolling series of personal seminars with the CEOs and senior executives of companies that included Apple (AAPL)...””

The front page image includes the note that, “Steve Jobs helped conceive the campaign’s mobile strategy.”
http://images.bwbx.io/cms/2012-06-14/feature_messina25_01_630x420fixed.jpg

“In two long, private conversations, Steve Jobs tore into Messina for all the White House was doing wrong and what it ought to be doing differently, before going on to explain how the campaign could exploit technology in ways that hadn’t been possible ‘He knew exactly where everything was going,’ Messina says. ‘He explained viral content and how our stuff could break out, how it had to be interesting and clean.’”

I believe Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Palin helped Obama develop his outreach to women also.

Money is not the only way tech firms “donated” to both Obama campaign’s. Do you see the problem with proclaiming yourself a world-renowned economist and then plugging your ears when reality collides with your dreams? Of course you don’t.

Apple Lexicon
Conservative: Steve Jobs, Apple’s Board of Directors, and anyone other names Sparky von Mises pulls from the Bingo cage.
from The Apple Lexicon (™) Interpreting Apple Theology Since 1994

“The thread bumped to the top because of you. Take responsibility. I read Apple threads, and was greatly alarmed at your obsessions.”

But you have no comment about your masters obsession with fake facts and invective? You have no comment about the factual nature of my posts? Instead you came by to hurl a few insults.

If the facts lead to Apple is a shit company, yet they produce products that I like and use, that’s what I’ll report. Why does that offend you?

Swordmaker was happy to shout and scream for DAYS without once posting a link to an article that supported his mindless Apple worship. Now he has to send the Winged Monkeys of Cupertino to protect the castle. The only thing missing is Munchkins and a pair of Ruby Slippers.

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