Jonathan
Ive, six months into an expanded role as Apple's top product visionary,
has embarked on a sweeping software overhaul that leaves the company at
risk of falling behind on a new version of the operating system that
runs iPhones and iPads, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Already in charge of product design, Ive assumed oversight of the look
and feel of software running all Apple electronics in a shakeup by chief
executive officer Tim Cook last year that included the departure of
software chief Scott Forstall. Ive, 46, has begun revamping iPhone and
iPad applications, shunning realistic images, such as wood bookshelves
for the Newsstand feature, and he's exploring more dramatic changes to
the e-mail and calendar tools, said the people, who asked not to be
identified because the plans are private.
Ive
is also methodically reviewing new designs, seeking to avoid a repeat of
last year's release of map tools that were widely panned, and he's
encouraging collaboration between the software and hardware divisions,
which operated in silos under co-founder Steve Jobs, people said. The
introduction of new features, along with an emphasis on cooperation and
deliberation, comes at a cost for Cupertino, California-based Apple.
Engineers are racing to finish iOS 7, the next version of the mobile
software, in time for a June preview at Apple's annual Worldwide
Developers Conference. While the company still expects to release iOS 7
on time as soon as September, internal deadlines for submitting features
for testing are being set later than past releases, people said.
'Tremendous
pressure' Staff from Apple's Mac team have also been roped in to help
the mobile-software group finish the job, people said. Apple has made
similar moves in the past, including with the first version of iOS in
2007. "Apple is really under tremendous pressure to come out with
something different and something new," said Greg Sterling, an analyst
at Opus Research in San Francisco. Ive has "a tremendous sense of
design, and he's been the guru behind a lot of these enormously
successful products, but he's always had someone like a Jobs to push
back on him and give him some guidance, and it's not clear that Tim Cook
is capable of playing that role. Maybe without a collaborator, he's not
as strong." Another possibility is that Apple's next upgrade isn't as
robust or feature-rich as projected, and some changes come in future
releases.
'Spiritual partner' Ive has a storied
place in Apple's history. After Jobs returned as CEO in 1997, Ive's
design of the iMac helped the company regain its footing after nearly
falling into bankruptcy. Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that
Ive was his "spiritual partner" at Apple to whom he gave more
operational power than anybody at the company. Ive is widely credited
with working with Jobs to create the company's most famous products,
including the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Even so, his specialty has been
hardware, designing a product out of materials like aluminum and glass
-- not software, which is based in code. He also has shunned the
spotlight, rebuffing overtures to figure more prominently at product
events. Seeing Ive around Apple's campus was akin to a celebrity
sighting, according to a former manager. It's not clear that Ive will be
as effective as Jobs in getting teams to finish projects on time. Cook
elevated Ive in October, seeking to end clashes between Forstall and
other senior managers that flared in the wake of the death of former CEO
Jobs, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.
Tim's
'challenge' The strife made it harder for teams to work together and
threatened Apple's ability to keep producing the types of electronics
that made it the most valuable company in the world. An operations
expert who built Apple's vast supply chain, Cook opted to leave the
minutiae of product design to Ive amid intensifying competition from
Samsung Electronics and Google. "Tim is a supply-chain expert and he
needs to rely on people like Jony to be able to make the right
decisions," said David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School in
Boston. "That doesn't mean things run smoothly — because a challenge
for Tim not being involved in the detailed product discussions is making
sure that gridlock is avoided and decisions are made." The management
shuffle in October tapped the brakes on work on the upgrade to iOS 7.
New features typically submitted for testing around February ran a month
or more behind schedule, according to one of the people with knowledge
of the matter.
'Tidying' needed Software design
involves the graphical style of images on the screen, as well as the
deeper experience of how a user progresses through a given task, such as
the steps needed for deleting an e-mail or entering a calendar item.
Apple hasn't changed the look of many mobile-software programmes like
e-mail since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Social-networking
features are limited, and applications don't always work well together,
said Benedict Evans, an analyst at Enders Analysis in London. "There is a
tidying up that needs to be done and a rethinking," he said. On top of
that, Ive is moving the company away from layered and literal — or
skeuomorphic — design elements, toward ones that are intended to give
the software a flatter design that's more unified and less cluttered,
according to people familiar with the changes. Bigger shifts, to such
features as e-mail, may not even be ready this year and may be
introduced in future releases, people said.
Researchers
in Sweden have developed a new technique where you can charge your
devices anywhere without electricity, provided there is a water source
nearby. Just add a spoonful and get instant power, anytime anywhere.
