Jony Ive is Now Just a Sir at Apple

Tim Cook confirmed Ive’s promotion in a letter sent to Apple employees. Jony Ive is pulls out the daily grind and is now one of the three top executives at Apple.

Jony Ive has been named Chief Design Officer at Apple, Tim Cook announced in a memo sent to Apple employees. Ive, who currently works as Senior Vice President of Design, is now the third most important executive at Apple, following Tim Cook as the Chief Executive Officer and Luca Maestri as Chief Financial Officer.

Ive is expected to take on his new role on July 1. In his new position, Ive will focus on the company’s design projects as well as new ideas and initiatives for the future. Ive’s current role as Senior Vice President of Design will be divided between Richard Howarth and Alan Dye. Howarth is Apple’s Vice President of Industrial Design while Dye is Vice President of User Interface Design.

Jony Ive’s promotion was first reported by The Telegraph. “Until now, Ive’s job title has been Senior Vice President of Design. But I can reveal that he has just been promoted and is now Apple’s Chief Design Officer. It is therefore an especially exciting time for him,” writes Stephen Fry on The Telegraph.

However, Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac was able to obtain an email from Apple CEO Tim Cook, confirming Ive’s new role. “I have exciting news to share with you today. I am happy to announce that Jony Ive is being promoted to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer at Apple,” Cook said.

Here’s the full letter that Tim Cook sent to Apple employees:

Team,

I have exciting news to share with you today. I am happy to announce that Jony Ive is being promoted to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer at Apple.

Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5000 design and utility patents to his name. His new role is a reflection of the scope of work he has been doing at Apple for some time. Jony’s design responsibilities have expanded from hardware and, more recently, software UI to the look and feel of Apple retail stores, our new campus in Cupertino, product packaging and many other parts of our company.

Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design.

Richard, Alan and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.

Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.

Tim

Read our analysis of the Jony Ive Promotion and what it means for Apple’s future.