COO is retired: Tim Cook takes over the top Apple design responsibility

A small but important information went in the news that Apple-Coo Jeff Williams will soon retire, almost under: With the end of the Williams era, Apple’s important design team also gets a new boss. Because the troop reported – more or less because there was no other way and Apple had not appointed an official successor to Evans Hankey’s industrial design manager – to the COO. From next year, when Williams has left Apple, this will change: “Apple’s design team will report directly to Cook at the end of the year,” said Apple Lapidar. Means: Cook virtually becomes the chief designer, at least all designs all of the designs.

Tim Cook as the new Jony Ive

But already it was hardly that Williams intervened in design decisions-at least not as “hands-on” as one of the other Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, who is now working on AI gadgets at Openaai. Instead, the team works collaboratively. The area of ​​software design is already well occupied with Alan Dye as Vice President of Human Interface Design. For Hankey, at least indirectly, there could have been a replacement: In May last year, a Bloomberg report said that Molly Anderson had appointed Apple a new vice president in the field of industrial design. The problem: There was never an official confirmation for this. Anderson was previously “seniord director” in the area.

Cook’s new design post is gradually being created: First, Williams will remain responsible for the design team and Apple Watch, including health initiatives, by the end of the year. The operations division takes over the successor Sabih Khan, who was only three years younger, who will be the new COO. Cook should hardly always decide himself, even if he has the final hat: a kind of triumvirate has formed around him, which consists of software chief Craig Federighi, hardware chief John Ternus and marketing director Greg Joswiak. These three are-after Williams as Cook’s right hand-the most important caregivers for the Apple boss.

Criticism of too slow development

Apple has been criticized in recent years despite great economic successes by market observers, that decisions take too long and that products only appear after competitors for years. So the iPhone was stamped out of the ground in just two years, while for the Vision Pro, more than half a decade (if not a whole) should have been on it.

A first foldable will allegedly bring Apple to the market until 2026, seven years after Samsung’s first model. MacBooks with OLED display will probably only appear next year. Working on a “real” augmented reality glasses also seems to be stalled like the production of a novel home device that has been rumored for years. Apple is also considered to be left behind in the AI ​​area. When it comes to design, the group recently emerged with a controversial new UI for its operating systems, the glass look of which was partially collected again in the last betas.