Apple designer Jonathan Ive is knighted

Jonathan Ive, the industrial designer behind such iconic products as the MacBook, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, has been knighted.

Apple's senior vice president of industrial design was named a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (or KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

The honor - "for services to design and enterprise" - was announced last night. Ive will be officially anointed in the coming year by a touch of the sword from the queen.

The London-born Ive received a lesser honor - the title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) - in 2006 and has garnered numerous other plaudits, including a Designer of the Year award from the Design Museum in Londonl the title Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts; and the prestigious Industrial Design Excellence Award in the U.S.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs considered Ive one of his closest associates at the company, telling his biographer, Walter Isaacson, "He understands what we do at our core better than anyone. If I had a spiritual partner at Apple, it's Jony."

In a statement, Ive said he was "both humbled and sincerely grateful" for the knighthood, which he described as "absolutely thrilling."

"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," Ive said.

By CNET editor Edward Moyer