
Jony Ive: 8 hits and 8 misses from 20 years at Apple - kylesellas
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2019/jun/28/jony-ive-8-hits-and-8-misses-from-20-years-at-apple
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apocalyptic0n3
The one thing I noticed missing that should have been included was the unibody
MacBook design. That was a huge innovation that led to massive improvements in
build quality industry-wide. If I recall correctly, he played a much larger
role in that design than the iPod, which is largely credited to Tony Fadell
(although Ive definitely had a large influence on later iterations).

~~~
zipperhead
Doesn't this make it unrepairable though? (Honest question - I don't own a
MacBook)

~~~
sirn
MacBook Unibody from 2009 was very serviceable[1]. You only need to remove 10
screws, no glued parts, no soldered RAM or storage.

[1]:
[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+...](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2009+Teardown/814)

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webwielder2
I think what bothers me about all these Jony Ive articles is that they rarely
differentiate between Ive the designer, Ive the art director, and Ive the
product manager. Similarly, they fail to differentiate between whether
something was good or bad based on its aesthetics, functionality, or market
reception. In these articles, Ive is just functioning as a stand-in for Apple,
as Jobs did before him. It betrays a lack of understanding of how companies
(and design) actually work on the part of pundits and journalists.

~~~
dpkonofa
I was going to say the same. They call out a few products that I doubt were
misses _because_ of Jony Ive. He may have been involved with them but to say
that they were misses because of the work he did on them is a
little...misleading.

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bbx
Can't really agree with the Magic Mouse 2 being a "miss". I understand the
controversy with the charging port being under the mouse, but it's done on
purpose: Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the mouse connected with a
USB cable all the time. Maybe there was a better solution to this issue, but
the truth is that it's not actually an issue and not a blunder either. I've
had this mouse for years and simply recharge it every few months overnight.

Scrolling without a wheel took a bit of learning, but in the end, being able
to seamlessly move vertically and horizontally with a single finger is highly
useful in design or music software. I haven't seen a mouse that could handle
it as well as the Magic Mouse.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
> I understand the controversy with the charging port being under the mouse,
> but it's done on purpose: Apple wants to prevent users from leaving the
> mouse connected with a USB cable all the time.

Here's a better solution: good old rechargeable AA batteries. Keep a spare set
sitting in a charger, and you'll never need to wait for your device to
recharge.

If you're concerned about users falling back on disposables, bundle two sets
of rechargeable AA's and a charger. Apple used to sell branded versions of
these items.

I hate built-in rechargeable batteries for peripherals like mice, keyboards,
and game controllers.

~~~
overcast
Any even better solution, use a wired mouse and keyboard. Why do I need to
deal with batteries for something that doesn't move more than a few inches
from its destination? We've banned wireless peripherabls in our organization,
because they cause more issues then they are worth. "My mouse is jumping all
over the screen", "my mouse no longer works", "my keyboard is typing things
I'm not typing!". 9/10 it's low battery, the other 1/10 is someone has paired
accidentally with your machine.

~~~
HeWhoLurksLate
As an engineer who works with smaller parts, my desk and work areas have a
constant influx of parts and pieces- and the keyboard and mouse I use take up
a _lot_ of space- like two square feet- and being able to move them, rest them
on top of stuff, and use the mouse on my leg as necessary is _really_ useful,
and I really don't want to go back to wired peripherals.

Similarly, I really like Thunderbolt docks and the like because it helps me
cut down on the semi-permanent wire clutter on my desk.

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delish
"Hits" and "misses" should be thought of differently. Hits sell zillions and
make people happy. Misses like the Apple Hi-Fi sell poorly because nobody
wants them. So in the aggregate, there's far more good done when you have a
hit, than bad done when you have a miss[0].

[0] Huge disclaimer: The category "miss" is higher dimensioned than "hit."
Misses like the butterfly keyboard are different than the Hi-Fi, because it's
a given that millions of people are going to buy a Mac laptop, and they suffer
because they're forced to cope with an unreliable keyboard. By contrast,
almost nobody is forced to use an Apple Hi-Fi.

~~~
morley
Also: I've noticed anecdotally that a lot of people, myself included, make
decisions to reduce their misses, where it's usually better to maximize your
hits.

~~~
mjlee
You might be referring to loss aversion:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion)

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gyrccc
The last paragraph for Magic Mouse 2 seems a bit forced. This mouse has not
garnered the same level of controversy as the other products in this article.

I've personally found it more enjoyable and ergonomic than my Logitech M705
and Microsoft Sculpt. It's not inherently more ergonomic but the additional
functionality enabled by multitouch means I don't have to move the mouse as
much (on macOS at lease), which vastly improves usability.

The charging port is not in the most functional location, but it's a
worthwhile tradeoff IMHO. If we assume Apple doesn't want to change the shape
of the mouse, the only alternative location is on the side of the mouse, which
makes the mouse asymmetrical and would probably give Jony Ive a fit.

~~~
mcot2
Actually it is so bad and non ergonomic that there is a video from a keynote
where Craig Federighi is struggling to use it.

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colmvp
The G4 Cube had issues but I honestly liked it as an experimental design from
a well-known computer brand. It was a breath of fresh air among the monotonous
beige or gray towers of the time. And it wasn't the only G4 computer you could
get, as you could've bought the tower (which I ended up doing at the time).

For me, the biggest miss is the touch bar and butterfly keyboards. Those
single-handily prevented me from upgrading from my 2012 Retina MBP.

~~~
sjwright
The G4 Cube was a good idea but was overpriced. Yes it was smaller and
prettier than the G4 tower, but it was also far less expandable. It was priced
to be a 2000’s-era executive desk ornament, and I suspect they simply
misjudged the market for the Cube.

But the idea was solid and a few years later a substantially similar product
was released to massive success—the Mac mini.

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sambeau
I feel the need to say this every time the 'puck mouse' comes up: I loved
mine. If you use your fingers to move a mouse, rather than your hand (like I
do) then it was totally fine (and I found I could move it very exactly for
fine control when using a design package). I never got it the wrong way
around, never had any other problems people complain about and I loved the
weight of it and used to chuck it around my desktop with real accuracy.

My only conclusion is that y'all must be a bunch of clumsy fools. :D

~~~
optimuspaul
I feel the same way. I loved that mouse, I was sad the day mine finally gave
out.

~~~
52-6F-62
Oh buddy...

[https://www.ebay.com/b/Apple-Puck-
Mouse/23160/bn_7023277587](https://www.ebay.com/b/Apple-Puck-
Mouse/23160/bn_7023277587)

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jdofaz
I really like 3D touch for moving the cursor in text input fields.

~~~
nneonneo
Yeah, that has to be my favorite use-case for the force-touch on iOS. The way
text selection works on iOS has never felt that smooth, but force touch takes
away some of the worst pain.

Shame it’s got zero discoverability. Most people I know are surprised when I
show them that. It also has quite a steep learning curve for some. Plus, some
of the more advanced useful stuff is pretty hard to use - for example, did you
know you can switch to text selection by “pulsing” your finger twice while
pressing the keyboard?

~~~
BRAlNlAC
Yes, the pulse selection is the most useful part of the implementation, and
makes me not want to upgrade to iOS 13 on my iPhone X based on feature
degradation alone. I use 3D Touch all the time and have for years now. I don’t
understand the “zero discoverability” claim. It is natural to try and push
harder on the screen, and it’s extremely fast. Ive often thought they should
leverage the Taptic Engine to offer (at least in accessibility settings) an
option for haptic feedback for all deep touches system wide, with like a
double knock telling you that nothing happened. And honestly, peeking/popping
links is the single greatest innovation in mobile web UX in a decade,
deprivation of the tech stack is a travesty for a premium gadget brand like
Apple.

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encoderer
There is an obvious power law visible here.

His big wins are orders of magnitude larger than his misses.

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nickthemagicman
Didn't the aluminum solid body originate with Mac? Thats been a huge cross
product design decision that I personally love.

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optimuspaul
if those are his misses then I'd say he did a fantastic job. half of those I'd
say weren't even misses. Loved the G4 cube, the hockey puck mouse, 3D Touch,
and my Magic Mouse 2. But nothing gives me more anxiety than my AirPods, they
always feel like they are falling out and occasionally do.

~~~
sjwright
Apple should build a system to scan the three-dimensional shape of its
customers ears using the iPhone Face ID sensor. They could collate that data
and feed it into a machine learning algorithm that could come up with two or
three alternative AirPod shapes that would suit the widest array of ears.

(Then use the same "Ear ID" feature on your iPhone to tell you which model
best suits your ears.)

------
noer
The biggest miss that I remember that isn't on this list is the iPhone 4
antenna that wrapped around the device. If the user's hand got between the two
sides, it would lose connectivity. Then Apple started selling those "bumpers"
to keep the antenna working.

~~~
sjwright
Antennagate was 90% myth. Bridging the two steel pieces with normal skin
contact wasn't a significant factor in signal degradation. If it was, the
problem would have persisted with the iPhone 4S, but it didn't. In fact the 4S
was notable for having exceptionally good reception despite using the same
exposed steel band arrangement—albeit with two cellular antenna segments
instead of one.

(Major Australian telco Telstra assigned the iPhone 4S their "blue tick" mark
for phones suitable for regional/rural Australian customers. This rating was
only given small number of phones.)

------
amluto
> [The MacBook Air] drew audible gasps from the crowd, instantly redefining
> how thin, light and portable a laptop could be.

I was quite surprised at the time: the MacBook crowd seemed almost entirely
disjoint from the ThinkPad crowd. The X61 predated the Air by months, was
considerably faster, and only weighed 0.11 lbs more. The X220 was released
just slightly after the Air IIRC, was even more powerful, and was _lighter_
than the Air.

Admittedly, both ThinkPads were a good deal thicker and we’re nowhere near as
shiny. But they totally rocked the ports, and they had enough ventilation to
run at full speed continuously.

~~~
Dunedan
Back then Lenovo made a really good parody of the original MacBook Air ad
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHXgIH9eaHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHXgIH9eaHg)),
showing the advantages of their ThinkPad X300:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hnOCUkbix0)

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kps
Missing miss: every single power adapter since the clamshell yoyo.

(Of course it's not clear in any of these cases how to apportion blame for
Apple's form-over-function designs between Jobs and Ive.)

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szggzs27
surprised they omitted the shittiest thing ever made: TouchBar

~~~
lostgame
At least they hit the Butterfly keyboard, which I'd argue is worse.

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itronitron
I know some people hate on the ‘Dustbin’ Mac Pro but I really liked mine, it
was more powerful and 1/5th the size of those big Dell T7500 towers.

~~~
ascagnel_
They were also super-quiet, given their size and power requirements.

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paultopia
I can't believe they _still_ haven't fixed that charging port on the mouse. It
has to be the single most hated Apple design choice ever...

~~~
asark
Finally used one. It was totally fine. And kept me from using it plugged in
100% of the time, which is what I'd have probably done otherwise. Not like the
touchbar which I have to all-but disable to make a Macbook Pro usable at all.

~~~
paultopia
It's totally fine until you show up in front of your computer one day and find
that you can't use it because the mouse has run out of battery.

~~~
asark
Yeah, then you're out of luck for a few minutes, if you somehow manage to let
that happen.

