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I think this nostalgia is useful for reminding us there are aesthetic forms beyond what Jony Ive et al happened to design and became the dominant form factor. The 2000s explosion of MP3 players had a lot of little ideas like the iRiver Clix had 'press the side of the device' as a navigation system

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I think the irony was that Jony Ive's design was best when juxtaposed.

Sleek minimal material design on the device that grants you access to a skeuomorphic, bevelled and highly-three dimensional interface (on a flat surface) is complementary.

You "feel" the leather grain thats merely visualised because the device leaves nothing else in your mind, you just have the physical touch of a premium material in your hand and nothing else to distract you from the visual.

When that's applied to everything it turns into a bland nothing.

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