Apple's decision to move Jony Ive to a new Chief Design Officer position comes with rumors that the move is actually a demotion, or that Ive is set to leave the company.
There have been several reports that add credence to the claims, one of which states that Alan Dye and Richard Howarth, the new heads of Apple's software and hardware design, will not be reporting to Ive but will instead report to Apple CEO Tim Cook. This leaves Ive in charge of no executive team.
In addition, Ive seems to be losing key allies within Apple, as 9to5Mac reported that Harper Alexander, Ive's chief aid, has left the company.
Alexander served as the middle man between Apple and Ive, with tasks such as managing security at Apple's secret design studio and looking after Ive's relationships with the higher ups of Apple.
However, 9to5Mac reported that the LinkedIn profile of Alexander showed that he has left his role as the head of Apple's design studio. However, when 9to5Mac attempted to contact Alexander for a comment, his LinkedIn profile once again changed to show that he has not left the job. According to the report, it could mean that Alexander is just moving to another role within Apple.
Dye and Howarth also had their online profiles updated, on the Apple website. Before Ive's change of role, he was the leader of both the software and hardware teams of Apple. However, with the change of roles of Dye and Howarth, both report directly to Cook, leaving Ive with no executive team under him. This could mean that Ive is shifting to a bigger-picture role within the company, and is stepping away from designing the devices of Apple.
Ive took on the head of software design role after a falling out with the former head, Greg Christie. Ive and Christie had disagreements regarding the design of the iOS7, before Ive took control over Christie who then left Apple.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that he set up Ive's role in Apple to have more operation power then everyone else except Jobs himself, but with these latest moves, it seems that Ive is gradually losing power within Apple.
While Ive is no longer the head of software and hardware design, he will most likely still have creative control over both areas. However, he will have a much wider role of looking at designs for all the things connected to Apple.
A memo announcing Ive's change of position revealed that retail is at the top of Ive's list to work on. In addition, rumors state that Ive could be working mostly on Project Titan, which could be Apple's entry into the car industry.
