Apple design chief Jony Ive to leave and start own firm

Jony Ive, a close creative collaborator with Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs whose iPhone and other designs fueled Apple’s rise to become a $1 trillion company, will leave later this year to form an independent design company, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Apple’s shares fell as much as 1.5% to $197.44 in after-market trading, wiping about $9 billion from the firm’s value. Ive spent nearly three decades at Apple, playing a leading role in the design of the candy-colored iMacs that helped Apple re-emerge from near death in the 1990s to the iPhone, regarded by many business experts as one of the most successful consumer products of all time.

"It’s the most significant departure of somebody who was a core part of the growth story” under Jobs, said Ben Bajarin, analyst with Creative Strategies.

Ive joined Apple in 1992 and led Apple’s design teams since 1996. He took up his current role as chief design officer in 2015.

"Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998’s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care,” Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said.

Apple said it will be among the primary clients of Ive’s new design company for a range of projects.

"I have the utmost confidence in my designer colleagues at Apple, who remain my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come,” Ive said.

Ive’s new company will be called LoveFrom, the Financial Times reported, quoting Ive as saying it would be based in California "for now”. Ive told the newspaper he would work on Apple priorities wearable technology and healthcare in addition to unspecified "personal passions”. LoveFrom will have other clients beside Apple.