A lot of what he said was straight from Tim Cook Public Comments Greatest Hits Vol. 1 — the interview shows an executive that is strictly on message. But he actually said some new stuff we haven’t necessarily heard yet, including his plan to bring some Apple manufacturing back to the U.S. next year. Here are some of the other interesting points he made, pulled from the Q&A:

On why he got rid of Scott Forstall and John Browett: He said Apple was already good at collaboration, but needed “to be an A-plus at collaboration. And so the changes that we made get us to a whole new level of collaboration.”

On that note, he values humility and detests internal office politics: “We admit when we’re wrong and have the courage to change. And there can’t be politics. I despise politics. There is no room for it in a company. My life is going to be way too short to deal with that.” And he will not put up with turf-grabbing: “There is nothing I won’t do to guard that. Let me just put it like that.”

Jony Ive

Why Jony Ive gets to be responsible for the look of iOS devices and iOS now: “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world that has a better taste than he does. So I think he’s very special. He’s an original.”

He doesn’t really care that you keep saying he’s not a product guy: “I’ve never felt that I had to know it all, do it all, any of those things. I think you could have an S on your chest and a cape on your back and not be able to do all those things. I know of no one that can do all that. Maybe there are, but I’m not. So I rely on a lot of people for a lot of different things.”

Why he’s made such an effort to be more open about things: “We decided being more transparent about some things is great—not that we were not transparent at all before, but we’ve stepped it up in places where we think we can make a bigger difference, where we want people to copy us. So there are things that are different, but the most important thing by far is, the fiber of the place is the same.”

He was actually surprised by the public attention that comes with being the CEO of Apple: “This has been different. So I have had to adjust to that. I’m a private person, so that’s been a bit of a surprise for me, not something I would have predicted. Maybe I should have.”

He sort of forgets about Apple TV sometimes: When describing the breadth of Apple product line, he says, ”I mean, if you really look at it, we have four iPods. We have two main iPhones. We have two iPads, and we have a few Macs. That’s it.”

He might be the only person on the planet who likes email: “I get e-mails all day long, hundreds, thousands per day from customers who are talking like you and I are talking, almost like I’ve gone over to their home and I am having dinner with them. They care so deeply about Apple they want to suggest this or that or say, ‘Hey, I didn’t like this,’ or, ‘I really love this…’” “I love it. I don’t know if there’s another company on earth this happens with. It’s just not people from the U.S. These are people from all over the world. I look at it, and I go, ‘This is a privilege.’”

There’s much, much  more. You can read the rest of the interview here.

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After a crazy six months, D’Aloisio’s still working on his app — which summarizes stories on the web for you — and last week I caught up with him on stage at London’s LeWeb conference to see how the whirlwind had treated him. And the answer? He’s still as smart as ever… and he’s kept his feet on the ground.

We spoke about the press (he’s had to cut back to focus on the product), his app’s relationships with publishers (good, so far) and, inevitably, school. He had been granted time off to work on Summly, but now he’s faced with a dilemma.

“Over the next few months I have to sit down and really just decide from a life perspective,” he said. “I still enjoy being among friends and in that school environment and so if there’s a compromise where I can be running the company a few days a week and also at school — as long as I can be eligible for university still, I think, I’m more than happy to commit a lot of my time right now.”

Why, though? School is great for some things — but many young entrepreneurs would be forgoing more education if they thought their business would work. Peter Thiel even hates university so much that he has been paying people $100,000 a year to drop out.

You could forgive somebody who had already raised $250,000 for his startup to think the same way. But D’Aloisio explained his thinking to me:

“I really enjoy, beyond computer science stuff, I enjoy philosophy and politics and history, and prior to all this stuff happening — which has been pretty crazy — I’d wanted to do PPE or something along those lines, and so I have a real interest in that and I feel like it would be great regardless of what happens in technology and what I do with Summly to keep that as an option.”

“It’s not like I need a university degree,” he said. “It’s more like I have a real genuine interest in philosophy and stuff and I’d like to one day study it in-depth.”

Judging by audience response, the talk was warmly appreciated — I’m sure more for Nick’s smart, switched-on and approachable manner than my interviewing skills. But if you’re interested, you can watch it and see for yourself.

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While the article focuses, perhaps unsurprisingly, on his links to Britain — his design education, how London’s a vibrant city and so on — and runs over the now-familiar details of his career, there are a few choice quotes where he explains a few things about his sensibility.

In particular, he mentions how Apple tries hard to make its customers feel that the products and services have a built-in sense of care. By that he means trying to instill a carefulness and thoughtful philosophy right through the product — and avoid the worry that producing millions of devices would somehow introduce a “godless” quality to the things it makes.

“We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable. That leave you with the sense that that’s the only possible solution that makes sense.”

“I think subconsciously people are remarkably discerning. I think that they can sense care. I think it’s a wonderful view that care was important – but I think you can make a one-off and not care and you can make a million of something and care. Whether you really care or not is not driven by how many of the products you’re going to make.”

“One of the concerns was that there would somehow be, inherent with mass production and industrialisation, a godlessness and a lack of care.

“We’re keenly aware that when we develop and make something and bring it to market that it really does speak to a set of values. And what preoccupies us is that sense of care, and what our products will not speak to is a schedule, what our products will not speak to is trying to respond to some corporate or competitive agenda. We’re very genuinely designing the best products that we can for people.”

The allusion to “godlessness” may seem odd, but I suspect that he hasn’t turned to religion — and is in fact referring to the soullessness of many designed-by-committee, manufactured-by-the-ton products.

Given how rarely Ive steps into the limelight (even now) (he also spoke to London’s Evening Standard a couple of months ago) it’s worth a read: the rest of the interview is here.

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Many believe the charismatic leader, who saved Apple from extinction in the 90′s, cannot be replaced. Investors seem to agree. When a hoax news story was posted on a CNN iReport that Steve Jobs had a heart attack, Apple stock fell sharply until it was reported that the story was just a hoax.

Tom Reestman recently argued that Apple would be just fine without Jobs, noting that he has put together a “a crack management team that is executing almost flawlessly.” I agree that Apple’s current senior management team has the experience and creativity to continue producing successful products. But while Apple’s day to day operations would likely run relatively smoothly, their share price would plummet due to speculation and fear.

Some have suggested that Steve Jobs and Apple should name his replacement, much in the way that Bill Gates tapped Ray Ozzie as he planned retirement. Reestman notes that Phil Schiller and Scott Forestall have often assisted Steve Jobs in giving keynotes, but lack the same charisma as Jobs. It has also been suggested that Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Senior VP of Industrial Design, but Ive has traditionally shyed away from the spotlight. He is notoriously private, and some say that even Apple doesn’t know his true birthdate.

It wasn’t until Apple’s recent Special Event that I realized Steve Jobs had already seemingly chosen Ive as his replacement. Jony Ive (Apple profile) was invited on stage to talk to the audience about the manufacturing process and simplification of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models, and is the star of a new video detailing the manufacturing process.

Jony Ive is already a star at Apple, even if few outisde Cupertino know his name. He’s responsible for designing all of Apple’s flagship products, including the iMac, iPod, MacBook Pro (both models) and the iPhone. Could his recent move to the spotlight be a foreshadowing of things to come?

Few companies’ success is so closely tied to a single leader (whether falsely or not) as Apple. Microsoft didn’t so much as skip a beat after Bill Gates announced retirement. Even though the possibility of Steve Jobs’ retirement is minuscule, Apple’s responsibility is to its shareholders. Steve’s health (and health rumors) are affecting Apple’s share price, and a succession plan might ease that tension.

Does the charismatic Brit have what it takes to replace the iconic Jobs? I’m not sure, but I applaud Apple for taking a step in the right direction. I don’t think anyone can replace Jobs, but I personally feel that Jony Ive is a natural successor to Steve. I certainly hope “The Steve” stays at the helm for another 20 years or more, but it’s nice to know the company will be in good hands no matter what happens.

I look forward to seeing many more Steve & Jony duos in the keynotes to come.

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