iPhone interface creator Greg Christie to leave Apple after dispute with Jony Ive, report claims

[Shawn Knight]

Tension between Apple senior vice president Jony Ive and human interface vice president Greg Christie have apparently reached a boiling point with the end result being a pretty big management shakeup according to sources briefed on the matter as reported by 9to5Mac.

Christie and Ive reportedly butted heads with regard to the design direction of iOS 7. Instead of trying to work things out, sources say Ive simply sidestepped Christie’s leadership of the design team. As such, he will soon part ways with Apple and all software designers will at that point report directly to Ive.

Christie is a longtime industry veteran and has worked for Apple since 1996. He was a key member of the team that worked on the original iPhone and has hundreds of Apple patents under his belt including the infamous “slide to unlock” patent which is a critical part of Apple’s patent infringement claims against rival Samsung.

More recently, Christie took part in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month where he detailed a 2005 ultimatum from co-founder Steve Jobs. While working on software for the iPhone, Jobs reportedly gave the team two weeks to show progress on the project or he would put another team in charge of it.

In a statement on the matter, Apple said Christie was still with the company but has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years with the Cupertino-based company.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56337-iphone-interface-creator-greg-christie-to-leave-apple-after-dispute-with-jony-ive-report-claims.html

 

[Guest]

Good. Ever stop to look at iOS 1 next to iOS 7? ITS THE SAME THING.
**Apple fans come swooping in to argue it's completely different**

Guest user pastes this photo to prove them wrong.

Tell me again why someone was paid six figures to "create" new interfaces?

 

[St1ckM4n]

Ah, perhaps the Apple legacy is falling apart at long last.

 

[Guest]

**Apple fans come swooping in to argue it's completely different**



Guest user pastes this photo to prove them wrong.

Seems like it should have went the other way, the cartoonish look of iOS 7 is not something I'd call an evolution.

 

[Guest]

I remember reading an article not too long ago about the hierarchical bureaucracy at Apple. This seems to only support that view.

 

[Guest]

"Good. Ever stop to look at iOS 1 next to iOS 7? ITS THE SAME THING."

have you ever seen all the UI? not just the homescreen? it's more like an android rather than iOS

 

[Guest]

I hope that does not mean they will "update" the look and feel of Mac OS X. I can't use iOS7, it's ugly and I can't find anything there, if they do the same to their desktop OS, it'll be a tough day for me. I bet the competitors' agents, who infiltrated Apple and bribed their way into making iOS7 a reality are working hard to get the "modern style" through to desktop as well. Competition is such a stupid thing when it comes to tools. I mean - I don't care which brand the hammer is, I just need one, because I use it in my work. Computer is just a tool to me. When two brands of hammer makers start to compete, theoretically a better hammer is produced, but in practice I end up with no hammer at all. But majority don't care because majority doesn't really work. They want entertainment, toys, thrills. It's so annoying that today toys are a bigger business than tools. Everybody is making toys - mobile phones, tablets, tons of useless fancy junk... Open source community is frighteningly often becomes a play-pretend game for nut cases who want to believe they are someone important, they just make up standards, rules and regulations, and make a religion out of if. They don't care about practical outcome of those standards and rules, 80% of which are never used, and the other 20% have to be bent and hacked to make any sense in the real world. The opposite is the Big Business, which is all about money, where product is a side-effect, and managers are like headless bowels, who have no organ with which they can decide themselves if what they do is crap or not - they rely on ROI forecasts and post-sales analysis. The world needs an enema.