This article seems to sum up some of my other complaints fairly well: http://wolfslittlestore.be/tasteless/
Meanwhile, young people are highly ripe for bailing out of iOS, now that Samsung has some cool factor, Android's software/gaming ecosystem is growing richer, and the golden manacles have been feeling tight on the tech-savviest generation. (Guess who's doing all the jailbreaking? It ain't the boomers.)
Old folks may be the bread and butter today, but I think Apple knows that iOS is at a crossroads when it comes to winning the future. (I may be futilely rooting for the open web, but I've still got my popcorn.)
Also, have you seen how many elderly Asian tourists are using the iPad as the only digicam they can comfortably use? (Not sure if this is also a trend in other countries.) That's obviously the opposite of "cool", but these are $500 in revenue per user. The new lock screen and camera of iOS 7 are less discoverable.
Apple is the prestigious brand. Having a budget line compromises that image.
Go to a Mercedes dealership. You can buy a $32k C-Class or a $132k CL.
For that matter, go to an Apple Store. You can get a $400 iPod or a $90 Shuffle.
Or a $3000 Mac Pro or a $600 Mac Mini.
I found that they were very hesitant to engage with the phones, they have a preconceived notion that touching the wrong thing could break the entire device (which is generally an incorrect assumption but not completely).
The way to get around that fear, of course, is to make sure all the steps are followed in order in the way they were taught, eg: To Make a Phone Call: 1. Press the green icon with the phone on it at the bottom left 2. Press the picture of the star to bring up your favourites 3. Press on the name you want to call. 4. When you're finished, press the big red button.
In that example the four steps are largely unchanged, and every identifiable interactive element (green icon with phone, star, names, red button) has the same general description.
But everything has changed slightly - the green icon isn't the same colour, the star is a bit different, the names now have photos next to them and the red button is a big red strip.
This isn't a big deal for you or me, but it is certainly a big deal when they're looking for the clues in the interface that they are used to.
But things like "Slide the grey button to the right to unlock the phone" and "slide the green button to the right to answer the call" have changed significantly. There's no more grey or green box - there's no box to unlock and the green box is now a big green line.
My grandfather is doing pretty well with his iPhone by muscle memory, but he literally has a piece of paper in his phone case with all the steps written down in order so he can refer to them if he gets stuck.
Changes on this scale break the muscle memory that they've been trained to use, but more importantly makes the steps he's been taught incorrect. It's no small feat to have to learn everything over again. Especially so when things aren't brand new anymore and the changes are only slight.
Does that answer your question?
I think it's telling when your own developing base has to post to forums asking simple questions like:
Where did my spotlight search go?
How do I rate songs?The only thing 'telling' is that somehow you're surprised by this.
For me usability is probably the best way to substantiate a design criticism.
These comments about the older generation dealing with flat design are also VERY valid. Apple hasn't gone too far into Metro territory, but it will be interesting to see how the useability end of iOS 7 goes over (never mind the criticisms of the look).
Either way, I think Apple needs to polish what they showed at WWDC. Let's start with the arrow pointing up on the lock screen lol.
It turns out that perhaps I was giving them too much credit.
I'm sorry I just don't see why many of these things are so terrible. It's like every designer thinks their personal taste is an objective standard...
"The title bar is white, the tab bar is white. If I blur my eyes, I don't see the distinct areas."
"The Safari icon went from something beautiful to this"
"48px roundrect? Terrible."
"Really Apple? Icons on people's heads? HAS YOUR VISUAL DESIGNER LOST THEIR SENSE OF TASTE?"
"And most of it sits on ugly rainbow puke, again."
These all seem like whiny statements of personal taste to me. I don't use my phone with blurred eyes, I have set photos of people to my phone wallpaper (covering their faces - the horror!), transparency doesn't look remotely like any puke I have ever generated, etc, etc.