On the 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death, former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) chief design officer Jony Ive — who delivered a eulogy at Jobs’ funeral — recalled the man he called “my closest and my most loyal friend” in a tribute published in The Wall Street Journal.
What Happened: Ive, who left Apple in 2019 to form his own design firm, LoveForm, acknowledged that his WSJ piece was his first public comment on Jobs in a decade.
“Since giving Steve’s eulogy I have not spoken publicly about our friendship, our adventures or our collaboration,” he wrote. “I never read the flurry of cover stories, obituaries or the bizarre mischaracterizations that have slipped into folklore. But I think about Steve every day.”
Ive recalled how he worked with Jobs for nearly 15 years, noting how they “had lunch together most days and spent our afternoons in the sanctuary of the design studio. Those were some of the happiest, most creative and joyful times of my life.”
Ive credited Jobs as being “without doubt the most inquisitive human I have ever met,” with a curiosity that was “practiced with intention and rigor.” In bringing his curiosity into a tangible form, Ive added, Jobs treaded as if he was on “hallowed ground” to ensure the creative process was not polluted.
“Ideas are fragile,” Ive commented. “If they were resolved, they would not be ideas, they would be products. It takes determined effort not to be consumed by the problems of a new idea.
“Problems are easy to articulate and understand, and they take the oxygen. Steve focused on the actual ideas, however partial and unlikely.”
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What Else: Ive remained close friends with Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs, often discussing Jobs “but rarely about my work with him.” He added that “her brilliant and inquisitive children ask me about their dad I just cannot help myself. I can talk happily for hours describing the remarkable man I loved so deeply.”
Ive shared that Jobs’ last words to him were that he would miss talking with him. After Jobs passed away, Ive stated he found himself in a garden and appreciated its silence.
“In the garden, I sat and thought how talking often gets in the way of listening and thinking,” he said. “Perhaps that is why so much of our time together was spent quietly. I miss Steve desperately and I will always miss not talking with him.”
Photo: Steve Jobs at Macworld 2008, photographed by Matthew Yohe / Wikimedia Commons.