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Jony Ive talks design process, Apple Watch, Xiaomi rip-offs and more in wide ranging interview

Yesterday evening, Apple design chief Jony Ive sat down for a somewhat rare interview at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco. BusinessInsider was in attendance covering the festivities and provided a thorough recap of Ive's comments on a wide range of issues. During the course of the interview, Ive touched on the Apple design process, what it was like working with Steve Jobs, the origins of the Apple Watch, how he originally joined the Apple team, and much, much more. Below are a few of the highlights. With respect to the design team at Apple, Ive noted that it's a small team comprised of about 17 individuals. Interestingly, Ive notes that no one has ever left the team voluntarily and that he's taken measures to ensure that the team remains small and, presumably, manageable. One of the advantages of being part of a design team that's been around for a long time is we've had the luxury to develop our process. We meet three or four times a week. The designers gather around the same kind of tablets you see in Apple Stores. We stand around those tables...and we draw. Later in the interview, Ive touched briefly on the return of rounded corners on the latest iPhone 6 models. Ive explained that he and his team opted for rounded corners because it worked to make the larger iPhone models seem and feel less wide. Years ago we made prototypes with bigger screens. There were interesting features having a bigger screen, but the end result was a lousy product because they were clunky like a lot of competitors' phones are still. Years ago we realized this is going to be important that we have larger screens but we need to do a lot of things to make it a compelling product. When the interview transitioned into a Q&A session, Ive was asked for his thoughts on Xiaomi, a Chinese-based company whose products are so blatantly Apple rip-offs that they make Samsung's copying seem minuscule in comparison. Needless to say, Ive isn't one to view imitation as a form of flattery. There is a danger...I don't see it as flattery. I see it as theft. When you're doing something for the first time and you don't know it's going to work. I have to be honest the last thing I think is "Oh, that is flattering. All those weekends I could've been home with my family...I think it's theft and lazy. I don't think it's OK at all. The entire interview is chock full of interesting information, and while some of it treads on familiar territory, it's still worth checking out in its entirety. Lastly, here's a video clip of Ive talking about what it was like working with Jobs.