Jony Ive vanishes from Apple’s Executive Profiles webpage, prompting departure rumors [Update: He's back]

He may not be one of Apple’s founding fathers, as he only joined the 37 year-old company back in 1992, but English designer Jonathan “Jony” Ive is clearly one of Cupertino’s most influential figures ever. And now he’s… gone?

Wait, don’t hit the panic button just yet. Ive, the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design since 1997, has merely disappeared from the leadership subsection of the press info department on Apple’s official website.

Which sounds like a big deal, but it’s probably nothing. After all, his profile is still very much visible on the British web page, plus even on Apple.com you can find Ive’s somber mug and his bio if you do a little more digging.

Still, odds are we’re not looking at an innocent glitch. So either he’s indeed getting ready to leave the job that’s brought him money, fame and world recognition as a visionary, or Ive’s position inside the company will be changed.

But a promotion can’t be in store, since, well, CEO Tim Cook is the only one sitting above Senior VPs in Apple’s organizational chart. Ergo, if we assume the removal is not the result of a mishap, a demotion or maybe Jony Ive’s voluntary surrender of certain tasks and responsibilities are our best guesses.

Anything else you can think of?

Updated:

Phew! He’s back, as Apple’s executive profiles page now includes Jony Ive as you can see in the screenshot below. Apple issued the following statement to BBC’s Technology reporter Dave Lee:

Apple: "We're in the process of updating the Exec Profiles on http://t.co/nd3b5fbCQ3 and Jony's profile will be back up online shortly."

— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeBBC) February 17, 2014

[via 9to5Mac]

Posted by Adrian Diaconescu on Feb 17, 2014 - iphonehacks.com