Apple has created a brand new role and its third c-level executive position to promote Jony Ive, the British designer behind its iconic devices including iPhone and the Apple Watch.
Ive will become chief design officer, joining Apple chief executive Tim Cook and chief financial officer Luca Maestri in the company's highest rank of management.
The move from senior vice president of design will rid Ive of administrative duties and allow him to “think more freely,” he told Stephen Fry in an interview in The Telegraph.
He will also be able to travel more, including to Apple’s new Campus 2 - the company’s new headquarters, which are currently under construction.
The building is expected to be distinctive because “Jony’s signature will be everywhere,” Fry writes.
Among Ive’s new projects will also be the development of the Apple retail stores across the globe.
His promotion sees Richard Howarth, who Ive credits as the “lead on the iPhone” from its inception, appointed to head of industrial design, while Alan Dye, who “has a genius for human interface design,” has been made head of user interface.
Ive will “still be in charge” of both departments, he said.
Ive designed the Bondi Blue iMac G3 computer which was released soon after Steve Jobs returned to the then ailing company.
It has been widely acknowledged as the computer that helped Apple return to profit, kick-starting the company’s journey to success.
He received a CBE in 2006 for services to the design industry, and was knighted in 2012.
