Not reading this article but I don't think there's anything to this. Pretty much all the most-lauded product designers have been continuing in this tradition ev

Not reading this article but I don't think there's anything to this. Pretty much all the most-lauded product designers have been continuing in this tradition ever since it was born - that it's not ubiquitous is attributable to timid and price-conscious clients. I don't think Google has any internal ideology whatsoever that is pushing this - they're just a company new to the hardware space who has lots of resources and a desire to build brand cachet, and they see hiring respected designers and getting out of their way as an effective way to do that.