Earlier today we talked about the subject of Bloomberg which, among other things, commented that Jony Ive (senior vice president of industrial design at Apple) commissioned some Nike sports watches for his team to study them at the expense of remembering that Nike partnered with Apple in the Nike + iPod project
O Business Insider got in touch with Scott Wilson, a former Nike creative director who told the story, to find out what those watches were. Here is Wilson's answer (our free translation):
Well, he (Ive) didn't buy it. We just gave them as gifts, as they are also designers. He and others in the design group asked and we sent out a bunch of Nike Presto Digital bracelets and aluminum watches from the Oregon Alti-Compass series. I was flattered by their request. I thought they were just personal requests, but their material guy asked us a lot of questions about materials and processes. This affected their research on watchmaking during the period already documented in previous stories. They have definitely been inspired by industrial and watchmaking techniques in their products since the first iPhone. Interesting that they can complete the circle at some point with iWatch.
These Nike designs are from 2002-2004.
Below, the Nike Presto Digital bracelet:
Now the Oregon Alti-Compass:
In fact, in the iPhone 5 presentation video, many said that the manufacturing process is somewhat similar to that of a jewel or, in this case, a watch.
Another point that we can see is that there is no magic: no matter how talented and out of character Ive are, he and his team need to understand what / how established companies, leaders in a certain segment, do to achieve success. The interesting thing about all this is that it doesn't necessarily end in a copy, as in the case of other companies
