Apple's key designer Jonathan Ive said to be 'thinking of move to Britain'
With the continuing doubts about the health of CEO Steve Jobs, the last thing Apple can want is for their key designer to go home to Britain
In many ways it is quite frankly incredible. Ive, who has been talked of in the past as a possible successor to Jobs, is the father of twin boys. The story in the Sunday Times is that he wants them educated in England - and would like like to commute back and forward from Somerset to California to make that possible.At any time it would have been a tough call for the Apple board. Now, in the light of Steve Jobs illness, it would seem to be beyond thinking about.
Ive is, after Jobs, the Apple employee most closely identified with the personality and success of its products. His value to Apple and its share price is inestimable
Apple's annual meeting last week produced no hint that his position was in any way in doubt - but also no suggestion that it might be Ive rather than current acting chief executive Tim Cook who might replace Jobs permanently, said the Times .
Ive, 44 this month, has as his official title Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple.
Born in Chingford, London, he was raised by his teacher father and studied Industrial Design at Northumbria University (Newcastle Polytechnic at the time).
After a spell at the London design agency Tangerine, he moved to the United States in 1992 to join Apple. He is married to a historian named Heather and the family live in the Twin Peaks area of San Francisco. Ive drives an Aston Martin.
Business Week once described him as "Apple's Man Behind the Curtain. While Jobs sets the direction and provides the inspiration, Ive melds Apple's unique creativity with the nuts-and-bolts required to make beautiful things."
At one point the Daily Telegraph dubbed him "the most influential Briton in America."