IF YOU THOUGHT the
MacBook Air was thin back
in 2015, boy did Apple have
a surprise for you. The 12–inch
MacBook was almost impossibly
compact, and was probably the
most complete summation of
Jony Ive’s obsession with
thinness in device form.
Just 13.1mm at its thickest
point, the 12-inch MacBook put
even the MacBook Air to shame.
It was also the first MacBook with
an all–metal enclosure, leading
the way for today’s Apple laptops.AS JONY IVE’S roles at Apple
expanded, so he started to work on more
unusual projects — like the Apple Watch. He
reportedly wanted it to be more of a fashion
item than an extension of your iPhone, hence
the costly gold Edition Watch that first
debuted in 2015. His square design for the
Watch broke with traditional circular watch
designs, but became the trademark look of
Apple’s high–tech timepiece.AS APPLE SOUGHT to
expand into smart speakers in
order to compete with Amazon and
Google, Ive was tasked with making
it happen. The HomePod was the
result, a relatively large, meshed
speaker with rival–busting sound
quality. In typical Ive fashion, there
were no half measures — HomePod
was to blow away its rivals, with a
price tag to match. Apple declared
HomePod would “[reinvent] music
in the home”. While that may be a
little ambitious, there’s no doubting
its premium quality.MACBOOK (^2015)
APPLE WATCH 2015 HOMEPOD 2018
IVE MISTAKE 2
Flower
Power iMac
G3, 2001
Three years after the original
iMac G3 changed the world of
computing for ever, Apple
decided it was time to shake
things up again in a somewhat
strange way.
That revamp came in the
form of two new colors for the
iMac G3: the blue–and–white
spotted Dalmatian, and the
gaudy Flower Power. While
neither were exactly design
masterpieces, it’s the latter
that has aged the most
spectacularly today.
To be fair, the iMac G3 was
all about making computers
approachable and playful, and
was deliberately made to
contrast the beige boxes of
Apple’s rivals. But we can’t
help but feel that perhaps Ive
and friends got a little carried
away with the idea. While the
original iMac G3 colors were
fun and unusual, the Flower
Power and Blue Dalmatian
designs were downright
hideous to behold.
In fact, back in 2007 PC
World magazine said the
designs were two of the ugliest
products in tech history. Harsh
words indeed.
Image rights: Apple.
Feature
38 SEP 2019 maclife.com