Apple’s legendary designer Jony Ive leaves the company to put up his own design firm

After being with Apple for nearly 30 years, Chief Design Officer Jonathan “Jony” Ive has announced he will be leaving the company to put up is own design firm called LoveFrom. One guarantee is that he counts Apple “among its primary clients.” Ive, who has led the design team since 1996, has helped craft Apple’s most iconic products, including the iPhone itself. Ive’s has even helped design the company’s “spaceship” Apple Park campus as well as the look and feel of Apple retail stores. He has also helped reshape the look of Apple’s software, starting with the revamped iOS 7 in 2013. Taking Ive’s place, Evans Hankey, current vice president of industrial design, and Alan Dye, VP of human interface design, will report to Jeff Williams, who “will spend more of his time working with the design team in their studio.”

“Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release. “After so many years working closely together, I’m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future." 

Apple CEO Tim Cook advocates for privacy in recent TIME Op-Ed

Photo by Gadjo Cardenas SevillaBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Today's leading technology companies and their CEO's look to provide leadership not just in the technology space but also in various moral and ethical areas. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella is pushing ethics in AI and Machine Learning as guiding principles for the future.

Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have been loudly beating the drum in protection of user privacy which has culminated in an Op-Ed Apple took out on Time magazine with Cook weighing in on user's right to privacy and the many steps that government and regulation can protect these rights.

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Apple stock takes a 9% dive due to earnings notice

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

We're quickly seeing the market react to Apple's bombshell announcement of a lower stock earnings guidance. Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a letter to Apple investors revising the company's earnings guidance, a move that hasn't happened since 2002.

Cook implied various macroeconomic factors, including less spending in China, a major market for Apple, for the lower earnings in Q1, usually Apple's strongest quarter. As Cook mentioned in a TV interview, there are various reasons for this lower earnings expectation, many of which were out of Apple's control.

The brewing US trade-war with China and less spending from that country, the staggered iPhone release schedule in 2018 (which saw a month's apart launch for iPhone XS and iPhone XR) slower ramping up of product for iPad Pro. Mac mini and MacBook Air, as well as the $29 battery replacement service that took a bite out of potential earnings.

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Apple partners with the Malala Fund to support girls’ education

Here’s one piece of good news. Apple becomes the Malala Fund’s first Laureate partner to help boost the organization’s efforts to support girls’ education and advocacy for equal opportunity. The partnership will hopefully double the organizations ability to award grants by its Gulmakai Network, which supports programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Nigeria, as well as extend funding programs to India and Latin America. The initial goal is to extend the secondary education opportunities to over 100,000 girls. On Apple’s part, they will assist by providing technology as well as helping with curriculum and research to make sure policy changes are being implemented everywhere so that girls can attend school and complete their education. Apple CEO Tim Cook will be part of the Malala Fund’s leadership council.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who started the organization, says, “My dream is for every girl to choose her own future. Through both their innovations and philanthropy, Apple has helped educate and empower people around the world. I am grateful that Apple knows the value of investing in girls and is joining Malala Fund in the fight to ensure all girls can learn and lead without fear.”