Steve Jobs is on medical leave and now one of his key lieutenants reportedly wants to return to his native U.K.
Apple’s head designer Jonathan Ive wants to return England to live, reports the Sunday Times. Ive, of course, is one of the key geniuses behind Apple’s string of blockbuster hits and is perhaps the world’s most influential industrial designer.
British-born Ive has reportedly proposed a plan to “commute” to Cupertino, Calif., from his $4 million manor house in Somerset, but Apple’s board is none too thrilled with the idea. Ive is said to be at “loggerheads” with the board, reports the Sunday Times.
A friend of the family told the paper: “Unfortunately he is just too valuable to Apple and they told him in no uncertain terms that if he headed back to England he would not be able to sustain his position with them.”
According to The Times, Ive has just reaped about $30 million from a ‘golden handcuffs’ deal signed in 2008, which has now expired. He and his wife Heather want to educate their twins in their native country.
Apple refused to comment on Ive’s employment status and said it was “speculation” that he wanted to return to the U.K.
The Sunday Times: I created the iPad and iClaim my £18m (Story behind pay wall).
Via Daily Mail.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
72 responses to “Does Apple’s Jonathan Ive Want To Return To U.K.?”
typical tabloid tactic quoting an unnamed alleged friend of the family. There is no proof he wants to do anything or that Apple is displeased. Hell perhaps Steve found out about this alleged desire for the kids to go to school in England and Mom to go back to their house there and it was his proposal for Jony to ‘telecommute’ during the paper periods and just come back when it is time to actually make and test prototypes.
Hasn’t Apple’s stock been fluctuating enough since job went back on medical leave…stop posting this garbage!
Uh….Facetime! Why does he have to be in the same country to maintain his position – isn’t this what Apple products are all about?
The Times isn’t a tabloid, it’s a broadsheet newspaper.
Go go! Go Jony go go go! Go Jony go go go! Ah, Jony B Goode!
First, we heard that Apple is finished if Steve Jobs is gone. Now Apple is finished if Ives leaves. That clown Wilcox from Betanews wrote that Apple needs Ives more than it needs Jobs. The fact is people pass on or people move on, and perhaps the next hires will do even better things. Apple will survive (or not) based on it’s commitment to it’s unique ethos and culture that make it successful.
Does it make me gay if I got lost in Jony’s eyes?
Does it make me gay if I got lost in Jony’s eyes?
Apple’s board has no say it what the key figures running Apple decide to do. When are people going to realize where the power lies. We are not talking about any sort of normal company here.
If only Apple could invent a technology that would allow someone to do most of their work from home. They could even try to commercialize it.
Exactly.
The Times is definitely a tabloid newspaper. When did you last see a copy, sab0tage?
Give me a break. He can set up a lab in England and do 98% of what he does now. He needs to direct the work not do it himself. You people are so limited in your thinking.
Give me a break. He can set up a lab in England and do 98% of what he does now. He needs to direct the work not do it himself. You people are so limited in your thinking.
If Job and Ive gone … Apple will be a less then average.. all company want to steal Ive.. i don’t want a future without this two guys.
Looks like Jony isn’t as greedy as Apple’s board members. He got his $30mil and now wants to spend time with his family. Kudos to him!
No doubt there is a grain of truth to some of this but ugh… blown out of proportion… AGAIN! What is it with Apple and the media’s insane fixation?
Mr. Ive has become the creative face of Apple. Given Mr. Jobs’ current situation, it stands to reason a more lucrative and flexible “golden handcuff” opportunity is presenting itself. Apple’s global and it’s communications tech savvy. Ive can work effectively from anywhere.
Eventually, both Jobs and Ive will be gone. Do you honestly think they single handedly make every design and business decision?! *laugh* They have fleets on bright innovative people working under them. They may come up with a few ideas here and there but I’d say the lion’s share of what happens at Apple is done by someone else.
one of his eyes are brown, one is blue……
Move over Hypnotoad?! LoL
So long as he gets the projects done, Apple should allow him to live in a city beneath the Caribbean Sea!
“He and his wife Heather want to educate their twins in their native country.” ········ You mean, he puts out that, Castro Gold’s Gym; “I’m-a-totally-hot-porn-star.” pout and he’s NOT gay?!
Does AppleCare cover gaydar? – cause mine acts strange whenever I watch one of his vids. I even did a restart, but I get the same result.
Please don’t!
I haven’t read one in a while, I believe they changed the daily into a compact edition, the Sunday Times is still a broadsheet though. Neither are considered tabloids.
Dear Apple. Let Ive go back to UK, setup Apple Inc Industrial design lab, hire native Europeans to do kick ass design. Move on..
It’s not like Europe isn’t arguably the epic center of industrial designers anyway.. fark, these cats can design!!!…
It would be less expensive to get a Lync and Sharepoint server and get some copies of MS Office 2010.
Why not settle for a 50/50? Half of the year, Ive is allowed to “work remotely” from England, and the other 6 months of the year he pledges to be in Cupertino.
Oh… and Apple, give him his own $15 million private jet. His kids and wifey will love it.
It’s not Tabloid, it’s in “Berliner” format. Similar but not the same.
Isn’t physical location pretty much irrelevant these days?
Yes it does :)
Please, BirdMan9!
Get a life and become aware there is NO company of Apple’s size that exists, or succeeds (or fails) based on any one or two individuals.
The Guardian is in the Berliner format, The Times is in the compact format.
I get the feeling you guys haven’t realised the original article was from the British (original) version of The Sunday Times, which is most definitely not a tabloid newspaper.
And it’s content has become much more tabloid since Murdoch bought it. Just like the right winger editorial page is taking over the news in the WSJ, the scandal mongers are taking it over at the Times.
Are we talking papers or jelly doughnuts?
Don’t worry, people! Go to red dot design awards and see how many great industrial designers in the World. Ive are really great! But, Apple is always will be best company in this segment, without Steve and Ive. Just remember that are no longer alive founder Whiskey Jack Danies, are no longer alive founder of Wal-Mart and a Porsche and other fine companies whose products we are happy in our day.
Apple can only change if its CEO will Balmer! :D
Its hard to imagine Apple without this two guys .. unless you have a better replacement.
It might be a ‘broadsheet’ but the tactic is still straight out of a tabloid.
The grain of truth is probably the idea that they want their kids to go to school in England. And they have a house there
The notion that Daddy is determined to move there full time to be with them is probably false. As is the notion that Apple is trying to stop him from commuting etc.
Interesting and informative post
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