Apple’s design guru Jony Ive says best is yet to come

TheNextWeb points to a new piece in The Telegraph this morning, which features a lengthy interview with Jony Ive. The publication caught up with Apple’s design guru during his recent trip to the UK to receive an honorary knighthood.

The Cupertino company’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design discussed a number of topics with the paper throughout the course of the interview, but a couple of his comments really stood out…

When asked which one of his Apple designs he would be remembered for, Ive responded:

“It’s a really tough one. A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done, and so it would be what we’re working on right now, which of course I can’t tell you about.”

Of course, this could add fuel to the fire for all kinds of speculation — including the often-rumored Apple TV. But keep in mind that, TV or not, this is a fairly big year for Apple. Not only is the company expected to unveil a completely redesigned handset this fall, but it’s also expected to give its desktop and laptop computers their first major makeovers in several years.

Ive also commented on the ongoing speculation that Apple can’t possibly continue its streak of hit products without visionary Steve Jobs at the helm.

“We’re developing products in exactly the same way that we were two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago. It’s not that there’s a few of us working the same way: there is a large group of us working the same way.

We have become rather addicted to learning as a group of people and trying to solve very difficult problems as a team. And we get enormous satisfaction from doing that. Particularly when you’re sat on a plane and it appears that the majority of people are using something that you’ve collectively agonized over. It’s a wonderful reward.”

Born in Chingford, London, Jony Ive moved to Cupertino, California 20 years ago to work at Apple full time. He has since been credited with designing some of the company’s most popular products, including the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone.

Steve Jobs knew how critical Ive was to Apple — in his recently-released biography, he told Walter Isaacson that the designer had more ‘operational power’ than anyone else at the company. There’s literally no one that can tell him what to do.

The entire interview, which you can find here, is worth reading if you have the time.