Queen Honors iPod Designer

Jonathan Ive, the chief designer of the very popular Apple Ipod, has been awarded the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen.

Ive is the man behind the company’s popular products, like the iMac and the iPod. The iMac, his first design for Apple, was hugely successful and since its launch in 1998, Ive has driven the design of almost ever Apple product, including the original iMac, iBook, Power Mac, PowerBook, Mac Mini, and iPod.

The iPod boosted Apple’s sales tremendously with the company reporting in September 2005, its best financial quarter for nine years. The sales of iPods were up by 500 percent over the previous year 2004.

London-Born Ive studied art and desing at Newcastle Polytechnic before setting up his own design house, Tangerine, where he designed various products from hair combs to televisions. Aplle was one of his clients, and in 1992 they offered him a job at their Cupertino headquaters.

The rank of CBE is the third most senior rank amone the five British classes of chivalry. It was created in 1917 by George V to honor noncombatants at the height of World War I. Only the first two orders qualify for knighthood.