The road to Apple's next mobile operating system is reportedly being paved with the Cupertino-based company's senior vice president of industrial design on board.
According to the Wall Street Journal, designers of Apple's iOS have been "cut out of the loop" on new mobile devices "for years."
Jonathon (Jony) Ive, who joined Apple in 1996, is reportedly working alongside fellow executive Greg Christie on the "human interface" team. The duo is now briefed on the company's prototypes, and despite having different styles; sources state meetings have been "pleasant and cordial."
The WSJ further noted Ive is pushing for a more "flat design" for the iOS 7 in efforts to make the mobile operating system simpler.
"Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative," reported Jessica E. Lessin of the WSJ.
Furthermore, the cooperation between Ive and Christie is to increase "collaboration across hardware, software and services," a criteria Apple has been trying to focus on following the departure of Senior Vice President and Mobile Software Chief Scott Forstall last year.
Apple's Senior Vice President Craig Federighi, however, could slowly separate the groups.
"Federighi has indicated to some employees that he plans to keep the Mac and iOS engineering teams separate for now, one of the people said," Lessin added.
A reason for the likely separation is overlap. An example provided is two teams working on calendar software.
Apple has declined to comment.
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