Tim Cook disputes & # 39; absurd & # 39; reports about Jony Ive's departure from Apple
Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, firmly fought a report on the resignation of Design Chief Jony Ive and the company's ability to maintain its commitment to innovative design.
In a rare, unfortunate statement sent exclusively to NBC News, Cook took the issue of a report published Sunday night by The Wall Street Journal who said Ive had grown frustrated with Cook's leadership and alleged lack of interest in the design production process. Cook said the report didn't match reality and didn't understand how Apple's design team really works.
"The story is absurd," Cook said in an email. "Many of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions, just do not match reality."
Cook does not often regret press releases, but he was forced to make it his frustrations with the article, which said the company prioritized operations at the expense of design.
"At baseline, it shows a lack of understanding of how the design team works and how Apple works," Cook said. "It distorts conditions, decisions and events to point out that we just don't recognize the company he claims to describe."
Colleen Schwartz, senior communications director of The Wall Street Journal, said in a statement that newspapers are reporting.
The recall from Cook, who took over the top job at Apple after Steve Jobs's death, comes as the company tries to demonstrate that Ive's departure is not a sign of major problems.
Ive, who was responsible for many of Apple's most I conical products, including iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, announced on Thursday that he would leave the company to start his own design company, even though he will continue to work with Apple as an entrepreneur.
"While I will not be an employee, I will still be very involved ̵[ads1]1; I hope for many, many years to come," said Ive Financial Times. "This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change."
But on Sunday night, The Wall Street Journal reported Tripp Mickle that Ive "had grown more distant from Apple's leadership," partly because he was frustrated by Cook's "more operational-focused company," according to several sources familiar with his departure , which was not called.
"People in the design studio so rarely saw Mr. Cook, as they say showed little interest in the product development process – a fact that vanished Mr. Ive," Mickle reported.
"Mr. Ive became frustrated when Apple's board became increasingly popular with board members based on finance and operations instead of technology or other areas of the company's core business," the report said.
While Apple has become a Of the world's most valuable businesses, it now faces scrutiny about the possibility of continuing to create new products that change the way consumers interact with the world, which remains massively profitable, with $ 30 billion in earnings over the past six months, but analysts have expressed concern over the fact that it has not had a large product range since the iPad, in 2010. (Sales for Apple Watch and AirPods, while popular, remain relatively small compared.)
While hardware turnover growth slows, Apple has spent many years investing heavier in software and services, however, Ive's resignation caused some alarms among analysts near Apple. in the glove to create many App le's best products, and he was long regarded as one of the most influential figures in the company. Mickle describes him as "Jobs protégé – and Apple's closest thing to a living embodiment of his spirit."
Responsibility for Apple's future design will now fall to Jeff Williams, the chief operator; Evans Hankey, who oversees industrial design; and Alan Dye, who monitors user interface design.
"The design team is phenomenally talented," Cook NBC News told. "As Jony has said, they are stronger than ever, and I have full confidence that they will enjoy Jeff's, Evans, and Alan's leadership. We know the truth, and we know the incredible things they are capable of doing. They work with will blow you away. "
