The designer of the Apple iPod and iPhone says modern infotainment touchscreens can’t match the tactile feeling of physical buttons.
Sir Jony Ive – the man designed the original iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad during his 22 years as Apple design chief – has claimed new-car buyers will drive demand for physical buttons to return in automotive entertainment systems.
In recent years, car companies such as Tesla and Volkswagen have progressively moved to remove physical switches from their vehicle’s interiors, replacing them with ‘haptic’ touch-sensitive buttons, or moving a majority of the controls into a central touchscreen.
Speaking at a panel session at a conference in the US – alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook and Laurene Powell Jobs (widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs) – Ive said there are merits to the design of multi-touch screens, but car buyers will demand for physical controls to return.
“I do think there are fabulous affordances with interfaces like, for example, multi-touch [the technology allowing for pinching and zooming on phone screens],” Ive said.
“But we do remain physical beings. I think, potentially, the pendulum may swing a little to have interfaces and products that will take more time and are more engaged physically.”
When the panel’s moderator – journalist Kara Swisher – asked if Ive was referring to cars, the former Apple design boss responded, “for example”.
Ive was asked to explain what his own car design would look like, but replied “you know I can’t tell you that.”
After departing Apple in 2019, Ive founded design firm LoveFrom with former Apple Watch designer Marc Newson, bringing a number of ex-Apple user interface designers with them.
In 2021, LoveFrom announced it had entered a creative partnership with Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family with a controlling stake in Ferrari.
At the time, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann said LoveFrom would contribute to creative projects with the Italian car maker.
“Soon after LoveFrom was founded we began to talk with Jony and Marc about opportunities to combine their world-renowned creativity with ours, in complementary and incremental ways. Ferrari represents a first, exciting chance to do great things together as we build our future,” said Elkann in 2021.
Meanwhile, Apple’s secretive autonomous car project is believed to be continuing behind closed doors, with the tech giant reportedly employing 5000 staff members to work on a new electric car.
First announced by Tim Cook in June 2017, the project has attracted a number of engineers from car companies such as Lamborghini, Tesla, Volkswagen, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz.
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