Without Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. investors and customers are asking a big question: Can it continue to turn out innovative products without its co-founder and design visionary?
The answer may lie with Jonathan Ive, an Apple executive little known outside the technology industry.
Mr. Ive is Apple's design chief. Since taking charge of the company's design team in 1996, Mr. Ive and his group have been responsible for coming up with the physical look and feel of products that have helped set Apple apart from competitors.
The demands on Mr. Ive likely will grow with the death of Mr. Jobs. Apple depends on just four product lines—computers, music players, smartphones and tablet computers—to drive the lion's share of the more than $100 billion in annual revenue the company is expected to take in this fiscal year. That means Apple relies on frequent product-cycle refreshes to generate the excitement for its devices.
To date, Mr. Ive's emphasis on elegant design has helped Apple products become consumer status symbols. The Ive-designed iPad—a simple slate of glass on an aluminum body—has defined the tablet-computer market. The latest generation of the iPad held 68% of global tablet shipments in the June quarter, outrunning rivals from Research in Motion Ltd. and others.
Backed by slick marketing, Mr. Ive's creations have powered a remarkable growth spurt that has made Apple the most highly valued technology company in the world.
The sleek iPhone has become Apple's single-biggest revenue driver, while the company's line of Macs is the fastest-growing segment of the personal-computer market. The spare iPod, which anchored Apple's renaissance with its debut in 2001, popularized digital music for the consumer market.
Mr. Ive's Apple role is so important that he reports directly to the chief executive. The reporting line underscores Apple's emphasis, burnished under Mr. Jobs, on design and aesthetics.
Apple declined to make Mr. Ive available to comment for this story. Mr. Ive didn't respond to an email requesting comment.
Mr. Ive was born in 1967 in London and studied design at Northumbria University. He worked at a U.K. design agency, Tangerine, that consulted for Apple in the early 1990s. In 1992, Mr. Ive joined Apple and quickly became head of its industrial design team.
Since joining, Mr. Ive has worked in the background while Mr. Jobs and other executives served as the company's public face. Mr. Ive's design team has spearheaded a revitalization of Apple's products, which were once gray or beige boxes. Among his most notable products: the candy-colored line of iMac computers and the glass-and-aluminum iPhone.
People who work with Mr. Ive say he is both brilliant and quiet. Unlike other designers, who often seek to become brands of their own, Mr. Ive avoids the limelight.
"In the design world, he's famous for having won awards and not showing up to collect them," said Don Norman, who worked with Mr. Ive in the 1990s and is the co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group consultancy. "You don't see any ego at all."
His effect, however, has been profound.
Analysts say Mr. Ive's attention to seemingly small details set Apple's apart from competitors. Charles Golvin, who tracks consumer technology for market watcher Forrester Research, says setting the keyboard on the Macbook deep on the machine's base to create a palm rest was one such decision.
"It seems like a simple thing," Mr. Golvin said. "It's that kind of elegance I associate with him."
Analysts say Mr. Ive's attention to seemingly small details set Apple's apart from competitors. Charles Golvin, who tracks consumer technology for market watcher Forrester Research, says setting the keyboard on the Macbook deep on the machine's base to create a palm rest was one such decision.
"It seems like a simple thing," Mr. Golvin said. "It's that kind of elegance I associate with him."
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