Neil Hughes
Under the control of lead designer Jony Ive, iOS 7 will reportedly see a significant overhaul that is expected to bring about new looks for the native Calendar and Mail applications for iPhone and iPad.
Ive is said to be implementing "dramatic changes" to Apple's mobile operating system, according to unnamed sources who spoke with Bloomberg. Specifically, Ive has reportedly eschewed the "skeuomorphic" designs embraced by his predecessor, Scott Forstall, such as the wooden bookshelf look found in the current Newsstand folder of iOS 6.
Skeuomorphism is a term used to describe design elements that are made to resemble real-life objects. Examples of these can be seen throughout iOS, including the felt poker table feel of Game Center, and the leather-like textures featured in the Find My Friends application.
Ive is said to be an opponent of skeuomorphic designs, and reports from last year indicated he planned to remove such elements from iOS. Ive took over Apple's Human Interface responsibilities after Forstall, the previous chief of iOS development, was fired from the company.
Apparent sweeping changes being made to iOS 7 could cause delays, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. That echoes earlier claims that indicated development of iOS 7 was running behind schedule, prompting Apple to reportedly have OS X engineers pulled from their work to pitch in on the company's mobile efforts.
The report also repeated a detail earlier revealed by John Gruber of Daring Fireball: Those testing iOS 7 allegedly have a special film over their iPhone screens to obstruct what others can see, heightening security surrounding the development of Apple's next mobile operating system.
Apple still reportedly plans to release iOS 7 as soon as September, meeting the company's own internal projections. But deadlines for submitting features for testing are said to be at later dates than past releases.
"Ive is also methodically reviewing new designs, seeking to avoid a repeat of last year's release of map tools that were widely panned, and he's encouraging collaboration between the software and hardware divisions, which operated in silos under co-founder Steve Jobs, people said," author Adam Satariano wrote.
In the cards are said to be even "bigger shifts" for applications such as Mail. But those plans may not be ready for the launch of iOS 7, and could debut in future releases, Wednesday's report indicated.
One future possibility cited in the report is gesture control. It was said that Ive has met with makers of gesture technology, exploring ways that users could control devices by moving their hands and without touching a screen. Such features are not expected to be introduced with iOS 7.
Apple has promised to showcase the next major version of iOS 7 and OS X at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, scheduled for June 10 through 14. Tickets for this year's conference sold out in a matter of seconds.
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139 Comments
There's a difference between gratuitous skeuomorphism (damn but that's a hard word to type!), for instance the truly nasty faux leather Address Book in recent OS X versions, and the discreet depiction of real life elements to give clues to a program's function. In recent years Apple has gone really overboard with the nasty stuff, and I'm greatly looking forward to the prospect of a sleeker Jony Ive version.
So... "Ive is also methodically reviewing new designs, seeking to avoid a repeat of last year's release of map tools that were widely panned, and he's encouraging collaboration between the software and hardware divisions, which operated in silos under co-founder Steve Jobs, people said," author Adam Satariano wrote. I probably buy a good amount of what is said in this article... and then when you come across a quote like this it makes me think said author has no clue what he's talking about and sort of discredits the rest of his thoughts. Jony is responsible for design and now creating a consistent feel between the software interface and the device. The problems with Maps had nothing to do with any of this... the problems were bad data. The problems with Maps are going to be the responsibility of Federighi and Eddy Cue. His second point about silos was a result of the arrogant madness of Forstall... maybe it came out of a Jobs trait, but it was certainly Forstall that caused the core siloing problems.
[quote name="bobringer" url="/t/157298/dramatic-changes-to-apples-ios-7-said-to-include-calendar-mail-app-overhauls#post_2319711"]So... "Ive is also methodically reviewing new designs, seeking to avoid a repeat of last year's release of map tools that were widely panned, and he's encouraging collaboration between the software and hardware divisions, which operated in silos under co-founder Steve Jobs, people said," author Adam Satariano wrote. I probably buy a good amount of what is said in this article... and then when you come across a quote like this it makes me think said author has no clue what he's talking about and sort of discredits the rest of his thoughts. Jony is responsible for design and now creating a consistent feel between the software interface and the device. The problems with Maps had nothing to do with any of this... the problems were bad data. The problems with Maps are going to be the responsibility of Federighi and Eddy Cue. His second point about silos was a result of the arrogant madness of Forstall... maybe it came out of a Jobs trait, but it was certainly Forstall that caused the core siloing problems.[/quote] I took that to mean Ive wants to make sure new software isn't released with lots of bugs. If big changes are coming they need to be thoroughly tested and retested. As far as silos, from what I've read, it was Jobs who was big on that. Probably why Ive wasn't really involved in software design while Jobs was around. In Jobs mind hardware and software design were two separate things.
I don't care about skeuomorphism. If that's is the only changes the Ive is pushing, then Apple has problems. Contacts, calendar, mail do not work and does not have the functionality of OS X applications. Calendars, only two alerts, no custom repeats. Contacts: No ability to search within groups, no ability to move contacts into groups, or multiple groups. Mail: No rules. Especially because the need for a laptop is supposed to no longer be required, iOS 7 apps need all the functionality that would be expected in a laptop version. Nothing short of full functionality is acceptable. Then, additional functionality is apps in iOS 7 need to be able to share data between apps. Siloing of apps has significant downsides. Then iBook and ePub. Taking notes and organizing notes on reading materials is a needed function. This can be done either by enhancing iBook or by allowing other apps to supplement iBooks, but it is required for books which are to be digested, not just tasted. The ePub and Apple's implementation needs to support math notation fully; Kindle is better at this point.
Hoping that the SNOOZE function will be added to the calendar app (same for putting it back into OS X). Also, maybe the search function for old emails and contact can be improved. Would really love to see Contacts show 2 columns, e.g. Name and Company when phone is in landscape position.