Apple designer gets knighthood

Arise, Sir Jony – that’s the message from Queen Elizabeth II, who has given famed Apple designer Jony Ive a knighthood in the New Year’s honours list for “services to design and enterprise”.

Ive is credited with helping to lead Apple out of the doldrums in the late 1990s with his designs for a string of hugely successful products, including the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and most recently the iPad.

Ive, who grew up outside London, joined 1992 while Jobs was in exile from the company he co-founded. When Jobs returned in 1997, the two men worked closely together.

To be recognised with this honour is absolutely thrilling and I am both humbled and sincerely grateful,” Ive said in a statement.

“I discovered at an early age that all I’ve ever wanted to do is design. I feel enormously fortunate that I continue to be able to design and make products with a truly remarkable group of people here at Apple.”