Are you cooler than ex-Apple design guru Sir Jony Ive?
What is it with high-powered execs and their love for U2?
Ex-Apple design whiz Sir Jony Ive appeared on the BBC's long-running Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs over the weekend. Despite his storied career and close friendship with the late Steve Jobs, his picks were pedestrian even for a Brit in his late 50s.
For those unfamiliar, Desert Island Discs tasks its guests (castaways) with choosing eight audio recordings (usually music), a book, and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island. These are interspersed with general discussions about the guest's life and the reason for their choices. The show has been broadcast since 1942.
Ive is responsible for guiding the aesthetics behind some of Apple's most successful products, said to have had a hand in Newton models, the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad, the Watch, and various iMacs.
Among the more interesting snippets, Ive expressed some regret for his contributions to the iPhone, which itself revolutionized cell phone design more generally. He told host Lauren Laverne: "The nature of innovation is there will be unpredicted consequences, and I celebrate and am encouraged by the very positive contribution (of the iPhone), the empowerment, the liberty that is provided to so many people in so many ways.
"Just because the not-so-positive consequences, I mean they weren't intended, but that doesn't matter relative to how I feel responsible, and that weighs, and is a contributor to decisions that I have made since, and decisions that I'm making in the future."
Reflecting on the impact of smartphones on everyday life, he added: "It's something that is both important and difficult. When you can connect to people, but it can be anywhere in your house, or while you're travelling, that alone is extremely powerful and you need a very particular resolve and discipline not to be drawn in and seduced to be constantly exercising their capability. But we've [Ive's family] worked very hard recognizing just the power of these tools to use them, I think responsibly and carefully, and like everybody, I find that difficult."
Ive also touched on his first time using an Apple Macintosh, saying: "The joy of being able to type on that and to see a page on the screen and then use a laser printer and also choose the sounds. This was the first computer that let you actually change the alert chimes, and I was shocked that I had a sense of the people that made it. They could have been in the room, and you really had a sense of what was on their mind and their values and their sort of joy and exuberance in making something that they knew was helpful and reminded me of how important design was."
He spoke of his decision to leave Apple in 2019, telling Laverne: "I mean it was not a difficult decision, it was a difficult transition having been at Apple for nearly 30 years, and I feel so much of me was there and so much of there was me. It was just the right time. I think, as a team, I think we'd finished a lot of the things that we'd been working on for a long time."
Ive went on to form his own design agency, Lovefrom. Last we heard from the firm, it was collaborating with luxury hi-fi manufacturer Linn on a $60,000 vinyl turntable. The Register noted the irony that Ive's contributions at Apple have indirectly contributed to the near-extinction of physical music media through the iPod and iTunes, later exacerbated by the advent of Spotify and the ability to stream most of the world's music to the iPhone or indeed any smartphone.
But you don't want to hear about that. Let's judge his music taste.
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DISC ONE: Really Saying Something (US Extended Version) – Bananarama, Fun Boy Three
DISC TWO: De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da – The Police
DISC THREE: Main Theme - Carter Takes a Train – Roy Budd
DISC FOUR: Singin' in the Rain – Harry Ive, an iPhone recording of his son singing the song, which is nice
DISC FIVE: Don't You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
DISC SIX: Define Dancing – Thomas Newman
DISC SEVEN: Debussy: Suite bergamasque, L.75: 3. Clair de lune. Composed by Claude Debussy and performed by Claudio Arrau (piano)
DISC EIGHT: "40" – U2
Ive's book choice was "the complete set of Jeeves & Wooster novels by P G Wodehouse," his luxury item was a bed, and his favorite song was "40" by U2.
I don't know what I expected really. Arguably, much of this would be enjoyed by most people who hit their teens and 20s during the '80s in Britain. U2 stands as one of the most boring, annoying, whiny bands in this writer's mind, and we raked Bill Gates for expressing his love for them. I'll never understand why CEOs and other high-powered exec types always seem to fall back on the most milquetoast music.
That said, I'm in no position to point fingers, having absolutely dreadful taste myself. In my late 30s, I continue to identify as a metalhead at the furthest reaches of extremity, though have come to realize that this is music for the supremely privileged. Once you have children, you have little time or space for the active listening and devotion required, and the often spirtually/politically incorrect subject matter is not conducive to the positive and safe atmosphere I wish to foster in my household. Now I think Brian Eno's Apollo, techno, and SomaFM's Deep Space One channel are a pretty good time.
I'm starting to think that if I was more of a normie growing up, I could be a billionaire executive as well. You can listen to the episode here. As usual, sound off in the comments. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
