Welp. It's over, kids. Or soon will be. The much celebrated and literal Knight of Design, Sir Jony Ive, has decided to leave Apple. The Financial Times broke the news yesterday saying

"Jony Ive is leaving Apple after more than two decades in which his iconic designs for the Mac, iPod and iPhone turned one of Silicon Valley’s faded giants into the world’s most valuable company and defined a generation of consumer products."

The markets haven't opened yet (as of this writing), and $AAPL is only down a 1/2% in pre-market trading, but I expect that to change once the ripple effect of the news moves through the world of analysts and pundits.

Regardless of the knee-jerk reactions on the street, this will absolutely have an impact on Apple's design and engineering departments. Even though Ive will still be involved (he's creating a consulting company with Apple as his first client), there is bound to be people eager to take the reins and put their stamp on the world's most iconic tech company's products.

Maybe this is the opportunity Satya Nadella has been waiting for. Time will tell.