Why iOS7 was a bad move
The latest version of Apple’s iOS software was well received by early adopters, but I think it will fundamentally change the way Apple markets its products.
Everyone has been talking about Flat UI for months now. Rumours of Apple using a flat design for iOS7 began appearing in late April and many people dismissed it. It’s not because people don’t like flat; in fact, I love it. It’s more because it doesn’t suit Apple.
What I mean is that Apple usually sets trends. Flat UI was super hot months before Apple has used it and that’s rarely happened before. I understand why they still chose to implement it - it would be better received than having no revamp whatsoever. The hype behind the latest release was akin to its previous releases but I think it won’t do any good for their future customers.
Right now, people buy Apple because it’s Apple. But Apple isn’t the only company that can do Apple. We’re increasingly finding companies like Microsoft, Google and Samsung competing with tablets and notebooks. They’re getting better and decisions are harder to make. Apple isn’t “years ahead” anymore as Steve once said. It’s about a few months ahead which can be jeopoardised through a few mistakes - Maps being one of them. Google’s already won that battle.
But put their “ethos” to the side for a minute. A large part of Apple’s marketing is selling “features as products” such as iPod, App Store, Siri, Reminders, Newsstand, Safari, etc. These have distinctly unique icons that people instantly recognise and identify as a unique selling point. But realistically, App Store was their only real “unique selling point” and the rest was just insanely good marketing. iPod is technically a music player, Siri is voice recognition, etc. One of the reasons iPhone 4S was so incredibly successful was largely because of Siri - not the voice recognition feature, but Siri.
Above is the new/old Safari icons. You already know this. They’re both great looking icons. But it’s not just about that. We recognise Safari more on the left icon than we do the right. The right one is pretty generic. I’m not exactly sure how much marketing Apple will need to do to convince me the right one is Safari and not a compass icon. Anyway, let’s go on the assumption they find a way, and I prefer the new Safari icon - it’s still not consistent. Go to apple.com/safari and you’ll see the old icon. Wait, which icon is Safari again?
The flat equivalent of the Safari icon doesn’t look so good. It’s something $15 and 10 minutes can get you. I’m sure a company of Apple’s awareness and calibre would have already looked into this and mitigated any possible inconsistency. No flat design was introduced in OS X Mavericks, so it’s clear Apple has no intention yet to put flat into desktop computing. In fact, as a power Mac user, I prefer an anti-flat design under the “don’t fix what’s not broken” philosophy. Well, iOS wasn’t even broken.
Truth is: they shouldn’t have gone flat yet. I like flat design and think it pushes for new levels of UI and UX simplicity. But Apple didn’t do flat design any justice. Apple delivered on time but didn’t deliver on their own standards. In fact, that’s what I’m more disappointed about rather than the “feature branding”. The worrying thing is it becomes a habit and predictions about Apple’s announcements are easier to master. It is evidently proves how talented Steve was and my assumption that Apple could continue as normal post-Steve is proving to be wrong.
