John Gruber’s stance on Ive’s role at Apple, which is apparently a thing people are worried about:
I think if you want to argue that Ive is one step out the door at Apple, you also have to argue that he’s one step out the door of being a designer. That doesn’t sound right to me.
You should read his whole post on the matter, as I think it offers good perspective on what must be a debate right now. (Maybe I should read more Apple blogs?) Anyways, here’s the one though which always strikes me when this debate comes up: where the fuck else would he go?
Ive retiring from Apple is not just Ive no longer being a designer, as Gruber states, but it is him being done with work in general. There’s no other company in the world which would give him the resources, control, financial backing, freedom, all the while not having him worry about any of the minutia which comes from running a business. It’s a sweet gig for him, and you’d have to be foolish to leave that to do anything but sit on a beach drunk all day long.