Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products (30 page)

Almost as soon as Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he formed a deep and productive bond with Jony. The pair shared a fascination with and delight in products and design.

This unusual transparent iBook reveals the complex internal metal frame Jony’s design team developed for the iBook, which was a smash success.

The distinctive Luxo Lamp iMac G4 was Jony’s second attempt at a flatscreen computer for the home.

For a joke, the IDg team designed the inside of the iMac G4’s box to look like male genitals.

An engineering prototype of the Power Mac G4 Cube. Jony and Jobs hoped it would be Apple’s ultimate computer, but it bombed.

An early engineering prototype of the G4 Cube, and an early design prototype.

The guts of the Power Mac Cube. The Cube was an attempt to cram the guts of a desktop computer into a much smaller space.

The Power Mac G5 was the first computer to feature an interior that was designed entirely by Jony Ive’s team to be aesthetically pleasing.

This early engineering prototype of the iPhone was built to test a lot of new components, like the custom-made ARM chip.

This iPhone prototype made in late 2006—just six months before the iPhone went on sale—featured a plastic screen. At the last minute it was switched to much more durable glass.

One of the hardest design challenges was fixing the gap between the glass screen and the stainless steel bezel. Jony’s team kept getting their designer stubble caught in the gap.

The prototype iPhone was tested with an early beta version of iOS, which had little of the fit and finish of the ultimate product.

This iPhone prototype is running a beta version of iOS.