LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fans of the clean, inviting look of
the iPhone, iPad and other blockbuster Apple products are legion, and
that includes Queen Elizabeth II.
The British monarch has awarded a
knighthood to Jonathan Paul Ive, a British citizen and head of Apple
Inc.’s design team since the mid-’90s.
Ive received a KBE, short
for Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The honor was announced Saturday for services to design and enterprise.
"To
be recognized with this honor is absolutely thrilling and I am both
humbled and sincerely grateful," Ive said in a statement. "I discovered
at an early age that all I’ve ever wanted to do is design. I feel
enormously fortunate that I continue to be able to design and make
products with a truly remarkable group of people here at Apple."
Ive
is credited with helping the late Steve Jobs bring the
consumer-electronics company back from the brink of financial ruin in
the late 1990s with his whimsical design for the iMac computer, which
originally came in bright colors at a time bland shades dominated the PC
world.
He later helped transform Apple into a
consumer-electronics powerhouse and the envy of Silicon Valley with his
designs for the iPod, the iPhone and, most recently, the iPad.
The
knighthood is the second royal honor Ive has received. He was awarded a
Commander of the British Empire honor in 2006 for achievements in
British design and innovation.
Britain’s honors are bestowed twice
a year by the monarch — at New Year’s and on her official birthday in
June. Recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from
nominations made by the government and the public.
Most of the
honors go to people who are not in the limelight, for services to
community or industry, but they also reward a sprinkling of famous
faces.
Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter and music
producer Steve Lillywhite were among those included with Ive in the
queen’s New Year honors list for 2012.
Ive started out far from
Apple Inc.’s Cupertino, California, headquarters. He grew up outside
London and studied design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria
University) in Newcastle, England. After finishing school, he co-founded
a London-based design company called Tangerine. There, he designed a
range of products including combs and power tools. It was through
Tangerine that he first got to work with Apple.
In 1992, while Jobs was still in the midst of a 12-year exile from Apple, Ive was
hired as a senior designer.
After
Jobs returned, he and Ive worked closely, ushering in products that are
sleek and stylish, with rounded corners, few buttons, brushed aluminum
surfaces and plenty of slick glass.
Apple’s pride in this work is
evident even in the packaging: Open up any iPhone box, for example, and
see Apple proudly proclaim, "Designed by Apple in California." Six of
Ive’s works, including the original iPod, are part of the collection at
the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Design, as well as software
that makes the gadgets easy to use, is a crucial part of setting Apple
products apart from those of its rivals. Apple didn’t make the first
music player or smartphone, but it dominated the market by making ones
that looked cool and worked well.
Now, Apple’s products are more
popular than ever, vaulting it past rival Microsoft Corp. in 2010 as the
most valuable technology company in the world.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.