“On September 10, Tim Cook is expected to reveal what Apple has been working on since the iPhone 5 was introduced on September 12 a year ago,” Dan Farber writes for CNET. “A flood of rumors, with images mostly sourced from overseas manufacturing sites, and prognostications from analysts point to a successor to the iPhone 5 and a lower-cost model, the 5C, to appeal to more cost-conscious buyers and geographies.”
“The upcoming iPhones, which based on rumors don’t appear to be much different in size and shape from the current lead model, are the shiny objects attracting attention, but the real star will be the new iOS 7,” Farber writes. “The major update for iOS 7 is mostly design, such as changing the primary font to Helvetica Neue Ultra Light and buttons to rectangular regions without a clear border. Of course, there are numerous usability, camera and other kinds of improvements, but nothing that blows away the competition.”
MacDailyNews Take: That is a lie. Outright. We’ve been testing and using iOS 7 since beta 1 extensively. It is not mostly a “design” update. iOS 7 most certainly does blow away the competition. Either Farber has never used iOS 7 or he has no idea what he’s using/looking at.
Farber writes, “In effect, iPhone users are loyal to the brand (especially those with multiple Apple products), and somewhat captive, so the challenge for Apple is attracting new customers to maintain its growth curve and profit margins. The big uncertainty that will be resolved following the alleged September 10 product reveal is whether the combination of hardware and software — crafted into what Apple touts as objects of engineering and aesthetic precision, beauty and exceptional utility — can excite customers who have many alternatives, and also quiet critics who believe that Apple’s high-growth days are behind it.”
Read more in the full article here.
Not for me. Apple has been hinting about IGZO displays for more than two years. I can wait two more.
you’re waiting to upgrade just for an igzo display? I’ll give you credit for patience
Rocks show endless patience, MacFreek has the intelligence of a rock.
That’s insulting Rocks. 😉
Why not? My current iPhone works well enough and can be upgraded to IOS 7. Only a fool would buy a new iPhone, oops, I forgot, I’m posting at MDN.
GAWD I hate lazy and ignorant journalist. Sadly, it propagates.
From the article…
‘But that ecosystem has become less impregnable as Android has matched iOS in the number and quality of apps available.’
Is it possible to be more wrong?
DoD…Dozy old Duffer
Ow do you feel about lazy and ignorant trolls life the freak?
yes
I have started with iPhone g2, went through 4 droids, now using windows phone and can’t wait for new iPhone, go apple go
Quality, not quantity.
Lisa, please write more about “why.”
The brilliance of Steve Jobs was simplicity boiled down to its essence. Simplicity from a design standpoint and simplicity from a usability perspective. You could come to grips with the original iPhone running iOS 1 (I’m calling it that for simplicity’s sake) right up to iOS 6, six iterations later.
I’ll give you an example. My father, whom I gifted an iPad, has never had to learn how to use it. He knew instinctively by looking at the icons the functions which the associated application performed and could go about doing his tasks with a minimal learning curve. This is true to this day. He has more difficulty navigating the Gmail web interface than using iOS 6. This speaks to Steve’s vision of computing for everyman.
Truly iOS 1 through to 6 are a miracle of the simplicity of design triumphing over fussy animated icons alá Android widgets which to many are an unnecessary distraction. iOS 6 distilled all that was good about design mimicking everyday objects so users of all ages from six to sixty could instinctively understand the function of the onscreen icon.
iOS 7 abstracts away real life imagery and replaces it with flat two dimensional abstractions of the icon’s functions removing another tier of understanding from using the operating system without substantial gains in productivity. It is decoration for decoration’s sake and serves no other purpose than reversing skeuomorphism which is useful in manipulating computing objects by their familiars.
My grand daughters were using the ones we gave them before they could read. However, my retired mom has a harder time because she keeps trying to over think it.
You’re grossly overstating both the value of skeuomorphism how Apple implemented in earlier versions of iOS, and the changes that Apple has made in iOS 7.
Your father (and everybody else’s) will be able to pick up an iPad running iOS 7 and use it just as easily and intuitively as they would have with iOS 6.
I can’t believe all the bitching and whining about the look/feel in iOS 7. You’d think Apple had taken away multi-touch or something. Lighting the hell up and actually TRY IT before you bitch endlessly about it. I’ve used it, and it’s very, very nice.
ecrabb, you obviously have very good eyesight, but many of us don’t, and many of the changed features make ios7 more difficult to read (thin characters, removal of shadows, differences of shade etc.). Also skeuomorphism has it’s uses in ease of recognition by the uninitiated and it is the uninitiated that apple needs to capture. Of interest, my wife had great difficulty using a laptop, but since we got an iPad, has hardly put it down, because it made sense to her.
My eyesight isn’t particularly good or bad. I wear corrective lenses for myopia, so reading close objects isn’t as easy at used to be. Still, I have no problem with the changes, either on my Retina iPhone 5, or my iPad mini.
Your comments are actually interesting. On one hand, you state that the removal of shadows and shading has made iOS 7 more difficult to read. On the other hand, you state that skeuomorphism enhances recognition for the uninitiated. Are you aware that the two positions are somewhat at odds with another? Skeuomorphism with a healthy dose of “graphic adornment” actually decreases contrast and readability. There are many elements in iOS which are actually higher contrast then they were in iOS 6, but more importantly, many elements simply read better with the clutter of shadows and other superfluous graphic elements. A shadow doesn’t increase contrast; it reduces it!
Given your somewhat strong opinion about the changes to the look/feel in iOS, I can only assume you’re a developer with access to the beta builds. Is that correct?
Oh, how I wish we could edit comments. The last half of that paragraph should have read:
There are many elements in iOS 7 which are actually higher-contrast then they were in iOS 6, but more important, many elements simply read better without the clutter of shadows and other superfluous graphic elements. A shadow doesn’t increase contrast; it reduces it!
It’s a bloody mobile phone OS! If I want real-life imagery I’ll take a photo with it. What I need is for the button/app icons to show me, in a clear, unambiguous fashion, exactly what the app is. I don’t want fussy, complicated designs just because it allows the app designer to indulge in a form of dick-waving by having the fanciest, most realistic picture of a camera, or a compass, or whatever. It’s not necessary, we’ve been there, now move on to clean, clear design.
Bauhaus, not William Bloody Morris.
Speaking as someone who’s been involved in print and design for nearly forty years, I do have a clue as to what I’m talking about.
Yes, a new iPhone. Yes, a new iOS.
What about what is hiding behind the curtain (iCloud)?
• Several new billion dollar solar powered server farms with fuel cell powered back up. (No one is looking for the others yet. Do you really think Apple will stop at 5 farms?)
• New Mac Pro (possible home entertainment hub)
• iTunes streaming the new 4K HDTV media to the new Mac Pro that feeds the streams to the new 4K HDTV sets you are buying this fall.
• iCloud based iDVD service from Apple’s new iCloud world wide server farms.
• Bio identification with keyless access to car, home, files, credit cards, … from the iOS device in your pocket or wrist.
• (If I stop here, there will still be surprises left for you at Christmas.)
“Think Different”
Yeah, what about those server farms!
What a couple of dicks. You both do this just to get me going.
Yeah – this is what a lot of commenters on MDN have been saying for most of the summer. iOS7 fonts and colors and the coming bumps to the year old iPhone5 are not going to be enough to get people excited to go out of their way to an Apple store. Nobody is going to run to Apple because the “new” iOS opens apps more efficiently. A year is an awfully long time to wait for minor changes to long existing products. It feels like Apple’s been coasting since Jobs passed away. So the phone will essentially be the same but with little bits here and there upgraded but I’m sure they’ll be spin about it being “revolutionary” and “the best iPhone yet” but I think we’re all smart enough to see a company plateauing. Where is the risk taking? Where is the excitement? Isn’t this how all once great companies began to descend, by thinking that what they’d already done was enough and nobody could compete? Why is Apple opening this giant window of opportunity to the competition? I don’t get it. Be bold and excite us! Right now (and next month) we’re set for Apple being timid and cautious and Zzzzzzzz.
I bought my first cell phone in 1984. And less than half a dozen later, until 2007. Since then, I have bought/upgraded every iteration Apple produced. I, more importantly, my family members, are expecting me to continue my habit this fall. Not that I expect anything totally revolutionary, but compared to the first 23 years, it will be.
Prior to the iPhone, only a broken, lost or just damn crappy product/service would I have a reason to get a new cell phone.
Unlike the crap in the past, I just don’t use my mobile phone to make calls. Every iteration has expanded our use of our Macs, our iPads, our iPods and our iPhones.
Imagine if Steve didn’t just imagine. The only thing that we would be disappointed in and still be screaming about, was dropped calls.
The mobile phone industry had over a quarter of a century to get it right. And if it is anyone that will be really disappointed this fall are all those companies that for the last half a dozen years still can’t get it right even after they steal the blue prints.
iOS7 will be available for older iPhones as well, so How is it a selling point for an iPhone 5S? Maybe another Siri-type bonus? Apple needs to be bold! Waiting 2 years in between REAL upgrades is painful! And disappointing!
I like some of the functionality improvements of iOS7, but absolutely hate the new look. No, it will not be enough to lure significantly more new buyers to the iOS ecosystem. Apple will have to do that with more hardware choices.
The same old “cult of Mac users” argument. Jesus, with the millions upon millions of iPhones sold, you’d think these journalists would try and come up with a different angle to dog Apple. These are the guys that said nobody wanted iPods. That the “halo effect” was just a notion floated by Apple, not solidified in real numbers. That Windows would live on forever and that nothing Apple ever could do or produce would change the world as we know it. Yada, yada, yada…
The fact is, and MDN has this right, Android as an operating system is flawed. Sooner than later, consumers en masse will recognize this as Android/Google takes longer and longer to mature and offer users what is available on iOS devices months if not years ahead of time.
This isn’t the computer age where M$ gets a pass at copying Apple’s OS verbatim within months and have it preloaded in a monopolistic way on ever machine, but Apple produced devices. This is a much faster and more fluidly moving market where a solid OS and constant innovation to meet the needs of consumers carrying personal electronic devices that communicate and operate flawlessly is the measure. Sure Samsung and Android have made great grounds in marketshare through the now proven illegal method of copying iOS. They’ve done a great job of avoiding stifling litigation, but that’s appears to be coming to an end, as well as, the continuation of a maturing smartphone market happening at the same time. Anyway you draw the lines on a graph, Apple’s upside potential is far better perched for the future than anything else on the market. Soon customers will have a clear choice between “know” junk and the industry’s state-of-the-art products. Once that happens, good luck to Android/Google/Samsung (et al.) with either their thin or no existent highly litigious profits.
Where, oh where, can I get an analyst job? Apparently, I just need a conduit from mouth to anus to public, and it matters not what comes out. And look, a paycheck and a public showing of said sputum.
There. I’ve described 99% of analysts.
Maybe someone could film the Analysts version of The Human Centipede…
Yuck!! Pass the mouthwash!
Please read my lips, people will queue, just as they always do.
I hope Apple is not as complacent as you are. Expecting record breaking crowds to show up for spec bumps will ruin a great company, must stay alert and be bold.
Who said record breaking crowds?
Other than Apple, could you name a cell phone company that launched with a queue?
Yes.
I’m ordering the 5S the first moment I can for in-store pickup.
I am sick of hearing Rim Cook talk about all the new things that Apple has in the pipeline, where are they? The new iPhone is for me, a yawner. A bigger screen is needed, but none is forth coming. iPhone C and S or whatever they’re called, big deal. More of the same, SSDD
U is for Uncertainty! The core of FUD.
yawn