Comments on: A designer as CEO: Should Jonathan Ive be Apple's next leader?

An open letter to Apple's board of director poses the question of whether design savvy can prepare an executive for the corner office.

[thriftyT]

Should Ive be Apple's next leader? No.

Apple needs a visionary, not just a designer. Apple would be lucky to have Ive stay on as a designer to do what he does best.
Running a company, deciding strategically which technologies and products to pursue, and managing a tight supply chain aren't necessarily Ive's strengths. Anybody running Apple successfully needs those and other traits.

[jackson649]

I have waited 23 years to say this but I was the one that gave Apple the idea for the candy colored shells. I like many people was a diehard mac user and back in the late 80's things at apple were a mess. So I thought I could help come up with a great idea and I did! I wrote a 3 page letter and couriered it to CA. It contained all of my ideas including the idea to color the shells in the colors of the Apple logo I thought it was brilliant. I was shocked when I saw the product presented at the apple show and it turned out to be Jonathan Ives' idea? I don't think so and he knows it! Maybe that is why Ive dosent do interviews shy maybe concerned about a slip of the tongue. I thought in time someone would pass along a thanks or two but nothing. I think it is about time don't you?

[jackson649]

sorry my mistake i am losing it! it feels like 23 yrs but I wrote the letter in 95' 14 years ago apple was a mess in the early 90s what triggered me to write the letter was when I heard about Apple computers being taken out of some Universities because they were no longer compatible with the majority of PC users it was a huge sales and marketing blow to the company. I agree I did not engineer and create the form of the iMac but I planted the seed maybe someone should simply ask Ive "where did the idea come from to color the shells" I think he would be hard pressed to answer its not like it was in the mainstream I knew it was a great idea and so did the five or so people who initialed the letter I sent because someone at Apple sent it back to me so I know they read it!