“It has been nearly six months since Tim Cook fired long-time iOS manager Scott Forstall. Now, we’re beginning to see what this shakeup has meant for the company, and for iOS,” Brian M. Wolfe reports for AppAdvice.
“Very little is known about iOS 7, Apple’s first mobile OS without Forstall as a manager,” Wolfe reports. “However, according to The Wall Street Journal, Ive is pushing a ‘flat design’ that is ‘starker and simpler’ than past versions.”
Wolfe reports, “The first indication of what the iOS reboot may ultimately look like takes the form of the recently updated Podcasts app. Version 1.2… includes a number of new tools. However, its biggest change is the loss of the reel-to-reel skeuomorphism of past versions.”
Read more, and see the screenshots, in the full article here.
We all knew this was coming.
I found Skeumorphism enchanting early on, but I got bored and annoyed by it fairly quickly. This is a positive step, and I can’t wait until it is implemented across all of OSX.
Now what am I gonna do with all these 7″ reel tapes? Thanks Apple!
I really love those Reel-to-Reel tape images. Maybe it brings back memories. I wish that one would stay!
I liked the reel-to-reel, too.
Oh well.
I’m not a fan of skeumorphism either, but I DID like the virtual reel-to-reel tape machine in the Podcast App. The visual display in conjunction with fast forward and rewind gave the user really excellent feedback.
Shame really.
You knew the reel-to-reel was going to be the first symbolic thing to change. Not very Apple like even thought I kind of liked it.
It had no function, I would have liked to used my finger to drag the tape back a little when I wanted to hear something again, it had to go.
I know the reel-to-reel scheme is needless eye candy in terms of UI design, but as someone who is old enough to have owned high end reel-to-reel tape decks when they were the epitome of tech, I will miss the nostalgia inducing imagery.
I hope Apple gives you a choice of skeumorphic or lists. I’ll take the skeumorphics.
Yup. As you say, at least a choice. I didn’t like everything but some things were very nice. I know what I like on my computer. Choice.
I think there is a middle ground between pseudo-leather desk calendars and lists of appointments. The trouble is good ideas in the software user interface just seem to come and go without warning. I’m hoping for a consistency that will let you always know when you’re using an Apple app just like you always recognize current Apple hardware, even before you see the logo.
Apple will not offer you a choice. Apple knows exactly what you need and will give it to you. Good gawd, fanboi, are you not fully assimilated yet? Better finish your Kool-Aid, the last train to Zombieville is leaving the station.
Now if he’ll only get rid of LaunchPad….
There’s not need at all to use LaunchPad unless you really want to. And enough people like it that there’s no reason to get rid of it, since it’s not the only way to launch applications.
“Fired”. With a year transition while being paid. I wish I could get that kind if “fired”.
Don’t worry, Scott will be working on the Android OSes for Google in no time.
I work in audio production, so the first time I saw those reel-to-reel tapes in podcasts, I thought it was cute. After that, there wasn’t much to say about it. The cuteness was gone, quickly, and then it seemed like half the screen was being used to display something that wasn’t really helpful. The only feedback it gave was showing different amounts of tape on the different reels to show how far you were in the podcast. That was clever and all, but way less intuitive than the timeline than was also on the screen.
Skeuomorphism is sometimes talked about like it is an always negative thing. It absolutely is not. But in this case, there just wasn’t a benefit from it, so it’s not surprising that it went away.
Did Johnny Ive really get involved in changing the Podcast app? I mean come on. Everybody hated it and complained loudly. Could it be that Apple just fixed something that was terrible?
Stop thinking and questioning what makes for a good storyline!
😉
Never question the propaganda, dismiss the myth, or reject the rumor. You will be banished from the Land of Fanbois and exiled into the world of inde
I just hope they correct the abominations that are Contacts and Calendar.
Also, the big stupid microphone in voice notes app! Hello, that’s where the recordings are supposed to go…!
YES – I have been waiting for this thread.
Everything, that all the complainers complained about, was fixed, added, and removed from the PodCasts. App.
What I love the most, On-The-Go. I lived without it. However it makes my drive to work so much better. Organized play in the order I choose, the podcasts I choose. Brilliant.
Well I am mixed on loosing the R-R. However I can live without it, if it added to instability. The app does seem more stable and efficient.
Thanks Jony. Keep it up. Let’s apply this to the whole iOS 7. Can we cast him in gold? Please, I need an effigy.
People, start getting excited. Three more months to the “reveal”
“Everything, that all the complainers complained about, was fixed, added, and removed from the PodCasts. App.”
I still can’t listed to my Podcasts from Oldest to Most Recent. Apart from the early bugginess I have always loved the Podcast app, even the skeumorphism.
->Podcast app->select podcast->select settings->select oldest to newest.
Thanks BLN, that works within a single podcast, but not within a Station.
I want to use the default ‘All UnPlayed’ podcasts playing the oldest first, but the Settings here only allows ‘My Podcasts Order’, ‘Most Recent’ or ‘Manual’.
Skeumorphism strikes me as a transitory step, as we’re still early days in moving from physical to the digital in many ways. I expect the natural progression will be where the design increasingly adapts itself solely to the new devices without need for visual reference to what it replaced.
Remember how early car designs were hitched (ha) to buggy and coach designs for awhile before they became their own thing? Or electric guitars were simply acoustic copies for a long time? Example — look what’s becoming of the quaint old uke!
http://www.ourfotostory.com/?p=35
Now you have a company logo! Ha..Ha..
Wait, they got rid of the reel-to-reel tapes? What’s next, 5.25″ floppies? 3.5″ Floppies? DVD drives? Ethernet ports? The madness must stop!
I like the skeuomorphism version better, comparing the screenshots. It seems more intuitive to push the skeuomorphism buttons rather than the icon alone.
What I like eye candy.
BTW Does the app work any better with the update? New iPhone owner here. I’ve read there have been many complaints about the function, not the skeuomorphism, of this podcast app.
My view on skeuomorphism is that it does have a place, but it should be used minimally and only when it is helpful or useful. The reel-to-reel thing was neither and needed to go, it was just unnecessary eye candy.
Now, let’s please get rid of all the leather and wood from the Find My Friends app. It is absolutely vile, if you’ve seen it you’ll know what I mean.
I agree with getting rid of the leather. I hate it. I was never into those Franklin Planners and all their overpriced “attachments”, but the reel-to-reel was really nice. It did convey usable info as well. Maybe the real issue is that people in their 50’s like me, will love it because of the memories, and I’m assuming you must be under 40 and don’t have that attachment.
This may be silly, but maybe they should ask us our age and have generation specific configurations.
….but then again, I hate the leather more than I love the reel-to-reel, so my being stuck in the “old-timers” generation may not work for me either. Damn, I hate when a great idea falls apart !
If an image conveys information, it is useful. Otherwise, it should not exist.
Skeuomorphism aside, I’ve been using the app for the day now and I have to say they did a good job on this update.
I like it!