When Apple lost its wizard that was Steve Jobs, many people wondered if the company could recover from such a huge loss or if it still could produce the next big design or product innovation. Word went around about an iWatch in the development, but critics and investors alike aren’t convinced, especially with the little growth Apple incurred in 2013.
In a recent interview with The New York Times (NYT), Apple’s design head Jonathan Ive assures nothing has changed, however, despite issues with critics and investors questioning the leadership of Job’s successor Tim Cook.
"Honestly, I don’t think anything’s changed," says Ive to NYT. And that includes the clamor for some exciting new thing. "People felt exactly the same way when we were working on the iPhone."
Ive likewise reassures that Cook has not disregarded the central mission of the company, which is innovation, and that includes the development of the iWatch.
"It is hard for all of us to be patient," Ive admits. "It was hard for Steve. It is hard for Tim."
Cook’s leadership is being questioned recently because profits were slim and sales merely grew by nine percent, a mark way far below the average increase the company gains in the past years.
The NYT story reveals that while Apple’s lower-level staffs admire Cook’s intellect and approachability, some disclose he is not as hands-on as his predecessor in terms of product development, such as in the much-talked-about iWatch, the company’s response to the growing trend in smart watches.
NYT’s sources, which are unauthorized to talk to the press and have requested for anonymity, reveal Cook has less involvement in the nitty-gritties of the product engineering for the iWatch. Sources add those duties were entrusted to the members of Cook's executive cabinet, which includes Ive. Apple, meanwhile, refuses to comment on the smart watch project to NYT.
The sources explain that Cook apparently is more interested in the possibly bigger implications of the iWatch such as how the watch could monitor one’s heart rate and other vital statistics, leading to health improvement and limited doctor visits.
Yet Ive insists the design processes in the company are largely the same.
"Steve established a set of values and he established preoccupations and tones that are completely enduring," Ive recalls.
Among the enduring principal values is the reliance on small creative groups, which he says has membership that remains intact till now. Cook also continues the philosophy that products and materials are interwoven, among other things that Jobs introduced to the company.
Ive also explains that Cook is the type that shows "quiet consideration," prudently digesting information over time that only "testifies to the fact that he knows it’s important."
Regardless of these controversies Apple is getting entangled to at the moment, further research says iWatch is a wearable device that consumers and critics alike continue to look forward to. NYT’s anonymous sources in the company say the expected release of the smart watch is the fourth quarter of 2014.
