The new agreement exempted Mr Ive from regular trips to the company’s Cupertino offices. He went from almost daily product reviews to an irregular schedule when weeks passed without being weighed. Sometimes rumors circulated in the studio that he was coming to the office unexpectedly. Officials compared the ensuing moments to old footage from the stock market crash of the 1920s with tossed documents and people swirling around in a furious rush to prepare for his arrival.
In anticipation of Wall Street for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone in early 2017, Mr. Ive called the company’s best software designers in San Francisco to review the product. A team of about 20 people arrived at The Battery’s exclusive social club and began distributing 11-by-17-inch prints of design ideas in the club’s penthouse. They needed Mr. Ive’s approval for several features of the first full-screen iPhone.
That day they waited almost three hours for Mr. Ive. When he finally arrived, he did not apologize. He reviewed their printouts and offered feedback. He then left without making a final decision. As their work came to a halt, many wondered: How did this come about?
In Mr. Ive’s absence, Mr. Cook began redesigning the company in his image. He replaced outgoing CEO Mickey Drexler, the talented marketer who built Gap and J. Crew, with James Bell, a former Boeing chief financial officer. Mr Ive was angry that a left-brain CEO had replaced one of the few right-wing leaders on the board. “He is another of these accountants,” he complained to a colleague.
Mr Cook also encouraged the company’s finance department to launch an external audit. At one point, the department rejected a legal charge presented by Foster + Partners, an architectural firm working closely with Mr. Ive to complete the company’s $ 5 billion campus, Apple Park.
Amid these struggles, Mr. Cook began to expand Apple’s strategy to sell more services. During a corporate retreat in 2017, Mr. Ive went outside to get some fresh air when a newcomer to Apple named Peter Stern stepped in front of the company’s top leaders. Mr Stern clicked on an X-ray slide showing Apple’s profit margins on iPhone, iPad and Macs sales declining, while profit margins rising on sales of software and services such as its iCloud storage.
The presentation worried some people in the audience. It depicts a future in which Mr. Ive – and the company’s business as a product maker – will be less important, and Mr. Cook’s growing focus on services such as Apple Music and iCloud will be more important. .
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