I would go John Gruber one further and say that Apple needs not just a chief design officer, but a chief PRODUCT officer. Steve Jobs was not just a design guru, he was a PRODUCT guru. Design is an integral element to Apple products, but product strategy is more than just design. The obsession with thinness that Gruber cites is one way in which Apple's design - and product - strategy has gone off the rails, but there are many others. What is the Macbook product strategy and segmentation strategy anymore? Why did it take FIVE YEARS to get a redesigned Mac Pro out? I could go on..
Best comment I have read so far. While Apple certainly is a company, where the head designer is rightfully one of the most influential positions, it should be the lead position as it was in the recent years. The golden years were those, where Steve Jobs was the chief product officer. The person, who can tell designers when they start making something look nicer but less useful. The MacBook keyboard disaster was only the tip of the iceberg, where the keyboard just wouldn't work properly. But it runs much deeper. The whole non-serviceability of their computers and the limitations which cut down in the usability. Just think of the glued together iMacs. The iMac is already a controversial product, having an all-in-one machine as their main desktop product. But why should is it impossible to easily access its components for the limited things you can do with them? As it turns out, the early iMacs were reasonably accessible. I still have a G5 iMac, which can be opened with a single screw drsiver.
So unless it was someone else forcing these decisions onto Ive, I think he really was missing Steve in recent years and there was no one at Apple to really challenge him. And however good and talented anyone is, I think to go from a good idea to a great product, everyone needs to be challenged at each step. Only through the following discussions the necessary refinements can be recognized and achieved.
