Jony Ive, the industrial designer who helped shape the look of Apple’s most iconic devices from the iPod to the iPhone, is stepping down later this year, according to a media report.
Apple announced the senior executive’s departure on Thursday, saying he will leave later this year to form an independent design company that will count Apple as a client, according to a report in NDTV’s news portal. Ive has been an integral part of the company’s device designs, from 1998’s iMac to the company’s new headquarters.
Ive’s departure marks the end of an era for Apple after helping the company make a major transformation from a cult computer business to a dominant device company under the leadership of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
