Jony Ive and Apple were actively involved in the RED campaign developed by the well-known artist Bono in recent years, with the role of supporting the fight against HIV/AIDS in underdeveloped countries on the African continent.
In an extended interview, Jony Ive talked about some of the aspects of the collaboration with Bono and the RED organization, the Apple company donating no less than 350 million dollars in 10 years of partnership through the sale of special Product RED products.
It all started 10 years ago when Steve Jobs was actively involved in a project to create the first product for the RED campaign, this being an iPod, since then and until now Apple annually offers various products with the Product RED mark, a part from the profit being donated to the organization.
From simple products sold by Apple, Jony Ive moved on to charity auctions where products whose design was created by him and designer Marc Newson were sold, generating millions of dollars for Bono's organization.
The late Steve Jobs was involved with Red, designing and selling a Red-branded iPod. Apple has maintained its connection since Jobs' death in 2011. Two years ago, Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple's chief design officer, and his colleague Marc Newson, ran an auction of specially designed products, including a Leica Digital Rangefinder camera the pair customized, which balance for $1.8m. The auction raised $13m for Red, matched by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jony Ive states that his involvement in this project goes much further than the simple idea of being a model for other companies that could donate similar amounts for the fight against HIV/AIDS, he is thinking mainly of people affected by this virus.
I'm much more interested in how a mother feels whose daughter is still alive than whether Red has had an impact on other companies. The thing that first struck me was that the magnitude and ugliness of the problem would normally cause people to turn away. I loved the way Bono saw it as a problem to be solved.
Jony Ive was marked by the way Bono understood the drama that people infected with the HIV virus go through and understood that he can be of real help in trying to eradicate the virus and make the lives of the victims much easier through the money collected in helping them.
More details can be found in this interview.
