Jony Ive and Steve Jobs collaborated closely on many of Apple's products and the relationship between them was extremely close, according to Ken Segall, a former Apple employee and author of a book about Steve Jobs' life. Even if Jobs and Ive were close, there were differences between them regarding the development of Apple products and one of these divergences appeared when it was decided that the iMac would be available on the market in several colors. In addition to the famous Bondi Blue color, Steve Jobs made the decision to produce the iMac in several aisles, much to the astonishment and disapproval of Jony Ive, who apparently would have nervously left the meeting where the decision to use the many colors was made.
After 1998's Bondi Blue iMac Apple decided to push the boat out and release a whole rainbow of colored computers the next year. Many models in various hues were collected together for Jobs, Ive, Segall and a few others to select from. But Ive was "driven crazy" by Steve's choices, and eventually stormed out of the room to his holiday, shouting that Steve could choose any of the colors he liked but he was taking no more part in the discussion.
And a supplement from the authorized biography of Steve Jobs.
I've soon come up with four new juicy-looking colors, in addition to bondi blue, for the iMacs. Offering the same computer in five colors would of course create huge challenges for manufacturing, inventory, and distribution. At most companies, including even the old Apple, there would have been studies and meetings to look at the costs and benefits. But when Jobs looked at the new colors, he got totally psyched and summoned other executives over to the design studio. "We're going to do all sorts of colors!" he told them excitedly. When they left, I looked at his team in amazement. "In most places that decision would have taken months," Ive recalled. "Steve did it in half an hour."
Practically, Jobs made impulsive decisions, regardless of what his employees thought, and these decisions were made in just a few tens of minutes, without too much bureaucracy, as happens in many other companies. However, Jobs took into account the opinions of employees when he chose the name iMac, otherwise the product would have been called MacMan, EveryMac or even MiniMac.
Leaving aside the iMac, can you guess what was one of the first names of the iPhone terminal? Of course I don't and I don't suppose it would have occurred to you that Apple employees would have chosen the name iPad for the first smartphone produced by Apple, but in the end the decision was made to use the name iPhone. You are probably wondering why that name would have been chosen for a phone, well Segall says that the iPad tablet was designed before the iPhone and thus it was considered that it would be much more appropriate.
