Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president for industrial design, has been awarded a knighthood, and as a British citizen is now allowed to go by "Sir Jonathan." He was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in the New Year Honours list, the BBC reports. Ive is the design genius behind those colorful iMacs and, more recently, the iPod, iPhone and iPad. He had already been named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2006 Honours list. He has been at Apple since 1992. Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that Ive was his "spiritual partner." Indeed, a 2006 Bloomberg profile of Ives describes him as "as committed to perfection as any Swiss watchmaker," a trait he shared with Jobs. Yet Ive was reportedly hurt that Jobs took credit for his design team's ideas. Jobs himself reportedly was suggested for knighthood in 2009, but was snubbed. The honor was bestowed upon Microsoft's Bill Gates, though he's not allowed to use the title "Sir."