Microsoft’s latest phone chief says Apple’s iOS is ‘boring’

“Microsoft Corp.’s top mobile-phone executive said its Windows Phone operating system has an opportunity to lure away Apple Inc. and Google Inc. users because it offers a more exciting and smoother experience,” Scott Moritz and Dina Bass report for Bloomberg.

“Apple’s iOS software is ‘boring,’ with icons across the bottom that offer little information or flexibility, said Terry Myerson, vice president of the Windows Phone division, at a conference in New York,” Moritz and Bass report. “Google Inc.’s Android is ‘a mess,’ with too many different versions of the operating software in use, he said.”

Moritz and Bass report, “The Redmond, Washington-based software maker had 2.6 percent of the smartphone operating system market in the fourth quarter, according to research firm IDC.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, boring a massive hole straight through your mismanaged company’s blackened heart.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Pridon” for the heads up.]

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55 Comments

      1. So true. Here is the play out as it occured.
        1. Lawsuit filed against Samsung, creating a media hype.
        2. Release of iphone5 was o.k. and the 4s kept selling at a steady pace.
        Since then, apple stock has continued to dropp at a surprisingly fast rate. From 700 in 9/2012 to under 400 in 4/2013. When you consider that the iphone sales make up 47% to 50% of the whole apple market.

        Don’t be surprised to start seeing this brand come in with lower-priced iphones and lowered priiced products, as well.

  1. Donkey Boy Moritz!!!! The donkey who couldn’t get 1 Apple doomsday prediction right at TheStreet, was thrown out covered in Zune brown, comes back for more FUD and cluelessness.

    So befitting of Bloomberg to hire a deadbeat with the worst Apple credentials…

  2. I love the way iOS is boring. No crashes, easy to use, best of the world.

    Seriously I tried Windows 8 and RT and Phone. All of them are terrible. Unusable if you ever used iOS.

    Stay boring, Apple. (May be some UI overhaul would be welcome.)

    1. iOS is boring like my new thermostat is boring. I haven’t given it a thought since I installed it. It just works. My old thermostat was exciting. We were jumping up to adjust it and change the programming every few hours. I’ll take boring.

        1. Only downside is that it may not reconnect to your network automatically after a power failure. If you’re not home and it’s winter time in a cold climate you could freeze some pipes.

  3. He is right to an extent. It is boring, but that’s the way it was designed. It’s so simple and out of your way because the apps are the focus. iOS is largely nothing more than a gateway to your apps. If you prefer something else then you can choose another operating system. There is no reason to be offended by this, it’s more of a backhanded compliment than anything. Apple should be proud to have the “boring” OS.

    1. A huge +1. People who say that iOS is boring simply don’t get it. The OS is SUPPOSED to get out of your way and fade to the background – it is all about the APPS.

      Microsoft (and Android geeks who constantly say that iOS is “stale”) simply don’t get the concept.

  4. This from the folks who brought all of us that smashing break thru, the Zune. And a CEO who sticks his tongue out. Classy. What will they think of next? Oh, yeah. a phone. Whew. The creative juices just keep coming.

  5. Yea, the rush of impassioned phone buyers are just busting down the doors of their local Microsoft store. Well, more like a few finger prints on the phones in their stores. Impassioned !

  6. Dated, I would say. I’m hoping for a significant revamp, but I know it won’t happen… that’s not Apple’s style.

    Now, let’s talk about those annoying flipping boxes on Windows Phone. Blech. I’ll take my dated interface, thank you very much.

  7. (clown voice)
    We are selling millions and millions of phones a year; Apple is selling….. um, er, ah, hmmm..
    ….
    ….
    ..
    .
    iOS is boring!
    (/clown voice)

    I like their strategy, I like it a lot.

  8. The Windows design aesthetic is non-existent. Windows simply has no taste and has been designed from an engineering rather than designer’s perspective. It has a terrible UI that is tasteless which doesn’t put user friendliness at the forefront. There is absolutely no thought given to ease of use, except within the confines of what a geek would love. MS is still stuck in the 90’s with a distinctly backward looking UI that forces users to conform to MS’s failed precepts of usability rather than fostering a UI that can be understood at a glance and is consistent from app to app and from generation to generation.

    iOS is superior in every way to WP8 which at heart is a clunky interface that displays apps in a long alphabetical list borrowing the concept of the Start Menu listing in Windows XP. Apple’s UI is elegant and conforms to Apple’s HIG. Why break conformity with Apple’s HIG for the sake of change? It brings no benefits and inflicts unnecessary pain on the user.

    That’s the difference between MS & Apple. Apple thinks about its users and enforces change only when it makes sense from a design perspective to do so. Apple is careful that changes do not break conformity with existing UI precepts in a major way as that would have the effect of discarding a user’s learned habits for zero gain.

    MS is in the business of selling software. If it didn’t totally redesign the newer iterations of its software and at the same time deprecate the older versions, no one would want to upgrade. It’s the enforced cycle of software upgrades that motivates MS to break with proven design principles rather than bring anything new to the table. MS feels it’s still in a monopolistic position and can force changes on its users no matter how badly received those changes might be.

    1. “The Windows design aesthetic is non-existent. Windows simply has no taste and has been designed from an engineering rather than designer’s perspective.”

      Well said.

      A key distinction that separates Apple not only from MS, but all comers.

      Apple blends form with function better than anyone.

  9. An OS can’t be boring. I don’t want to be entertained by my OS. I don’t even want to be aware of my OS. The *platform* is exciting based on what you can do with it. For example, just before coming here, I ordered a Bluetooth OBDII transmitter for my car (GoPoint). It allows your car to send all of its diagnostic and sensor information (along with error codes) to your iOS device providing all kinds of real-time diagnostics. Everything from telling you the Ethanol level of your gas, if you left your gas cap loose, and how much range you’ve got or why the check engine light is on.

    Whether it’s controlling my home theater, whole house entertainment system, alarm, or any of these things that simply aren’t available on Windows Phones (and many not available on Android either), it’s anything but “boring”.

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