Jonathan Ive speaks on the brilliance of Apple design [Video]

Mon, Nov 9, 2009

Featured, News

Objectified is a 2009 documentary about Industrial Design, and Apple design guru Jonathan Ive was naturally a perfect choice to be interviewed for the film.  Ive, of course, has behind some of Apple’s most memorable designs, such as the iPod, the first iMac and its subsequent updates, and the iPhone as well.  Below, check out Ive’s contribution to Objectified where he discusses the impetus behind what he feels signifies good design.

Solid stuff, and one of the more telling quotes, we feel, is when Ive discusses the design of the iPhone:

a lot of what we seem to be doing in a product like that is actually getting design out of the way, and I think when forms develop with that sort of reason, and they’re not just arbitrary shapes, it feels almost inevitable, it feels almost un-designed, it feels almost like “of course it’s that way, I mean, why wouldn’t it be any other way?”

Indeed, when you look at an iPhone, the design seems so blatantly obvious that it’s sometimes hard to appreciate Apple’s design prowess until you hold and use devices from other manufacturers.  There’s a quote from the under-appreciated TV Show Futurama that aptly describes Apple design - “When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”

And lastly, make sure to get a good look at the Apple design facility wherein Ive is interviewed - it’s probably the most extensive ‘tour’ of the place you’ll ever see.

Apple's original tablet

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Nov 23rd, 2009

In 1979, the Apple II Plus was a badass piece of hardware, and the Apple Graphics Tablet was a flashy accessory. At $650US, it let users sketch with a wired stylus. Measuring 3/4 in x 15 1/2 in x 15 3/4 in, the Graphics Tablet was eventually discontinued when the FCC discovered that it caused radio frequency interference problems.

Sure, the wired stylus is a kludge, as is the general design (don't look at the back), but remember that 1979 was 5 years before the first Macintosh was released and computer mice became ubiquitous.

Edible Apple has some additional photos and an old ad promoting the tablet and Utopia software. Go and check out an interesting piece of Apple history -- complete with vintage scotch tape!

sweet!

Google Earth for iPhone updated to 2.0 with map compatibility

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By Chris Foresman | Last updated November 18, 2009 7:56 PM CT

cool

New Flash: Apple already working on Mac OS X 10.7

By Chris Foresman | Last updated November 18, 2009 11:35 AM

The blogosphere is buzzing with the news that Apple is already hard at work on Mac OS X 10.7, the logical successor to the recently released Snow Leopard. The "news" should really come as a surprise to no one, though, as Apple was likely already working on 10.7 even before 10.6 entered the developer beta stage.

MacRumors discovered that a bug had been filed for the open source component launchd, which manages running processes on Mac OS X. The bug report referenced build number 11A47 of Mac OS X. As MacRumors explains, the numbering scheme for builds of Mac OS X follows a predictable pattern—for example, Mac OS X 10.6 is build 10A432, while 10.6.2 is build 10B504. The first number refers to major versions, so build 11Axx would refer to the next major version: 10.7.

Verizon and AT&T continue slap fight over "Map for That" ads

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By Jacqui Cheng | Last updated November 17, 2009 11:24 AM CT

iTunes Preview: something to do while loading iTunes links

By Chris Foresman | Last updated November 13, 2009 11:26 AM

Apple has quietly leveraged the transformation of the design of the iTunes Store (using standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) to create "iTunes Preview." Now when clicking on an iTunes Store link, a preview page that echoes the iTunes Store page for a particular album will display in your browser while a re-direct attempts to load in iTunes.

Previously, clicking iTunes Store links would load a webpage that merely said, "One Moment Please. Connecting to the iTunes Store." It would then attempt to load the album or artist page that the link referred to in iTunes—on the Mac, iTunes would launch if it wasn't already running. Now, a page that includes album artwork, track listing, reviews, and other information will load in the browser while the link is re-directed to the iTunes application.

Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store platform

Continued issues with the App Store approval process are prompting developers to shun the platform entirely. Though there are tens of thousands of other developers pumping out over 100,000 iPhone apps, will continued migration away from iPhone development result in less quality software for the platform? Worse yet, will users even care?

By Chris Foresman | Last updated November 16, 2009 1:31 PM CT

Apple may be building more first-party games for iPhone

When games became popular on Apple's mobile platform, it started marketing directly toward gamers—especially with the iPod touch. Apple may be looking to leverage its reputation further by building more first-party games.

By Chris Foresman | Last updated November 16, 2009 4:38 PM CT

Apple said to release iphone app for in-store appointments

interesting