Jony Ive, on Apple and the Watch →

Scarlett Kilcooley-O’Halloran, writing for Vogue:

“We don’t think about what we do in those terms,” said Ive. “Our focus has been doing our very best to create a product that’s useful. When we started on the iPhone it was because we all couldn’t bear our phones. The watch was different. We all loved our watches, but saw that the wrist was a fabulous place for technology, so there were different motivations. I don’t know how we can compare the old watches we know, with the functionality and the capability of the Apple Watch.”

The story of the Watch’s conception — in contrast to the iPhones’s — has been shared before, to the stress of many Apple watchers[1] and fans. Could something created this way be any good? Has Apple lost its touch?

I think the answer is a little further down this article:

“I think that we’re on a path that Apple was determined to be on since the Seventies, which was to try and make technology relevant and personal. If people struggle to use the technology then we have failed,” said Ive. “The consequences of that path? I don’t know. Sadly so much of our manufactured environment testifies to carelessness – something that was built to a price point or a schedule. The products that we have developed describe who made them. I hope that people will like the watch and find it a beautiful item.”

That language about technology being well-designed, relevant and personal is the language Steve Jobs taught Apple to speak.