Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, and the design guru behind iPod, iPhone and many other iconic Apple products, has said Apple's goal isn't to make money, and any financial payoffs are merely by-products of building great products.
Sir "Jony" was speaking at British Embassy's Creative Summit in UK. "We are really pleased with our revenues but our goal isn't to make money",
The Wired UK quotes Ive on Apple.
"It sounds a little flippant, but it's the truth. Our goal and what makes us excited is to make great products. If we are successful people will like them and if we are operationally competent, we will make money."
Talking about the days when Steve Jobs returned to an Apple that was near bankruptcy, Ive remembered Jobs' focus, unlike most CEOs charged with turning around a company, was not on cost savings or increasing the revenue. Instead, the late Apple co-founder observed that Apple's products at the time weren't good enough and his resolve was to make better products.
Ive could barely hide his excitement when talking about the product evolution process. "To me I still think it's remarkable that at a point in time on a Tuesday afternoon there isn't an idea and then suddenly later on there is an idea. Invariably they start as a tentative, barely-formed thought that becomes a conversation between a couple of people."
He closed by reiterating Apple's disdain for market research saying it "guarantees mediocrity" and is only good for figuring out "whether you are going to offend anyone".
Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive is one of the most influential designers of modern times and the lead designer and conceptual mind behind many of Apple's products, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. In the 2012 New Year Honours, he was elevated to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for "services to design and enterprise".