He was widely credited with turning Apple into one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy technology companies, writes Dolly Busby.

But while Steve Jobs’s vision led to innovations such as the iPod and the iPhone, another of its most renowned products – the Apple Watch – was actually the brainchild of his best friend.

Jony Ive, from Britain, was the chief design officer at Apple until 2019 and a close friend of Jobs until his death in 2011 from pancreatic cancer.

He came up with the idea of creating a modern multifunctioning timepiece ten years before it ever made it into production, according to a colleague.

Designer Marc Newson, who helped launch independent firm LoveFrom with Ive when he left Apple, said it had now become the “most produced watch in history”.

Speaking to the Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast, the Australian designer said: “Jony always loved watches and always said he wanted to do one at Apple but we are talking more than a decade before it was mooted as a possibility.

“No one could quite get their heads around what he was thinking.

“How in the context of Apple would you create a watch? Did the world need a watch?”

Ive managed to persuade bosses at Apple and the first model was released in 2015 with more than 12million sold in a year.

Mr Newson continued: “It wasn’t clear the Apple Watch was going to be a success at first.

“The idea of bringing back a product that your grandparents would have been very comfortable with but children of that generation simply didn’t know or own was stunning.

“And then all of a sudden people were wearing watches again.

“That was born out of a desire Jony had that no one else could identify, he’s cut from a different cloth.”

Also appearing on the podcast, Ive, 58, told of his closeness to Jobs, saying: “We had lunch together nearly every day.”

He said that Jobs found pleasure in the simplest things – saying he “could not be happier” than eating “a tomato with great olive oil”.