My One Thought on Sept. 10
Last night before bed, I decided to re-watch this year’s WWDC keynote, specifically the iOS 7 portion of the presentation. As Craig Federighi went about demoing the many new facets of the software, I was reminded of the disappointment I felt watching the keynote in June that nary a word was spoken on iOS 7's new Accessibility features.
The reason I felt so disappointed at the lack of public lip service was that I believe Accessibility to be important —- really important. As such, I think these features deserve as much stage time as the more “mainstream” ones like Control Center and AirDrop. Put another way, if Apple can go out of its way to tip its hat to the Accessibility community in a marquee ad, then surely it can do the same on-stage at Moscone West or Yerba Buena. The community deserves the limelight.
So, my one wish is that, after unveiling new iPhones, Craig Federighi spends considerable time promoting and showing off iOS 7's Accessibility features. Given the gravity of this year’s update —- the top-to-bottom redesign will be a big deal for visually impaired users like me —- Apple would be well-served to address these changes. Logistics of time constraints notwithstanding, my heart says Apple knows this, and will give Accessibility the attention it deserves.