Departure of chief designer Jony Ive is rotten for Apple

When Jony Ive, Apple’s longtime chief design officer, exited late last month, it was as big a loss as could be for the company.

Ive changed the world under Steve Jobs’ and Tim Cook’s early direction. He is widely credited with designing Jobs’ dream product, the iPhone, along with the iMac, the iPod, the iPad and a substantial part of Apple’s terrific iOS operating system.

The iPhone was revolutionary and remained cutting-edge until about two or three iterations ago. It is far more powerful and efficient now, but it no longer has any edge.

Over the past five years or so, Apple seems to have lost its touch. And Ive’s departure just highlights the company’s current lack of technological avant garde.

Apple’s greatest expenditures shouldn’t be financial engineering through buybacks and dividends, two things Jobs was emphatically against. It should start bringing in more of the best and the brightest, and encouraging projects that have a small chance of success but promise a huge reward if the products work, à la the iPod and iPhone.

Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk all had that unstoppable drive and willingness to fail again and again in attempts to change the world with an engineering feat — or create consumption of something that the world didn’t even know it needed.

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I have the utmost respect for Cook’s integrity and values, which stand out in corporate America, and think he’s a great CEO. But not capitalizing on Apple’s once-massive lead in “didn’t know I needed it” technology is a weakness of his management style.

Cook now needs to surround himself with entrepreneurs who are willing to go to any lengths to figure out the next big thing. Plain and simple.

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Apple must take risks, not fear failure. After all, an Apple with no seeds grows no new trees.