by Jason Snell
John Siracusa on Jony Ive
Because he dared to post it on July 4 (and while I was on an airplane returning from vacation, no less), I missed that John Siracusa blogged about Jony Ive’s departure:
While the iPhone is obviously the most important product in Ive’s portfolio, his most significant and lasting contribution to Apple and the tech industry in general is embodied by a product that he worked on much more directly, and with far less help: the original iMac.
Aside from dramatically reversing Apple’s slide into obscurity, the iMac finally pushed the industry over the hill it had been climbing for decades. Nearly overnight, it went from an industry primarily concerned with technical specifications to one that more closely matches every other mainstream consumer business—one where fashion and aesthetics are not just a part of the appeal of a product, they are often the dominant factor. As much as any individual product design, this is Ive’s legacy.
John’s right about the iMac. You should read the whole thing, of course.