Oliver Haslam·

Tim Cook: WSJ Report On Jony Ive’s Departure From Apple Is Absurd, Design Team Working On Products That ‘Will Blow You Away’

When The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming to know the ins and outs of Sir Jony Ive’s last few years at Apple there were plenty of bombshells to be had.

We’ve already detailed out concerns about how things reportedly panned out, but now Apple CEO Tim Cook has also had his own say, too. Cook believes the whole thing to be “absurd,” according to the report.

In an email sent to NBC’s Dylan Byrers, Cook says that the report does not “match with reality” which is pretty strong stuff. However, it’s notable that Cook didn’t explicitly say which parts of the report are inaccurate.

The original WSJ report said that Apple’s head of design Sir Jony Ive effectively lost interest in his work once the Apple Watch shipped. That resulted in him being absent much of the time, often not venturing into the office at all.

Rather than leaving the news cycle to burn itself out, as Apple normally does with bad press, Cook instead emailed a reporter to suggest the report itself isn’t at all accurate. Although, again, he didn’t get into specifics.

The story is absurd. A lot of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions just don’t match with reality. At a base level, it shows a lack of understanding about how the design team works and how Apple works. It distorts relationships, decisions, and events to the point that we just don’t recognize the company it claims to describe.

The email also went on to outline Cook’s confidence in the design team that has been left behind following Ive’s leaving of Apple, including those who will now lead it.

The design team is phenomenally talented. As Jony has said, they’re stronger than ever, and I have complete confidence that they will thrive under Jeff, Evans, and Alan’s leadership. We know the truth and we know the incredible things they’re capable of doing. The projects they’re working on will blow you away.

As we said previously we suspect that the real truth is somewhere between the two extremes. The only person who really knows the answer is Sir Jony Ive himself and, predictably, he isn’t saying much right now.

(Source: NBC)

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