" With iOS 7, we have also created the largest number of design critics, UI designers and UX experts in history - Everybody is now an expert and we believe the world will be a better place for it. "
As bad as the critics make it out I wonder if they have seen it used in the wild by someone non-technical. My mother in law asked me about upgrading her iPad on Sunday. She did so and I expected a bunch of confusion and questions re: photo's and email; the two apps she uses most (besides mindless games that aren't affected by any OS changes whatsoever).
Her comment last nigh? "It's really different I really like how they organized my photos for me."
So that's an n of one. But it's closer to observing it in the wild vs. a small circle of tech savvy perfectionists.
If the critics want me to take them seriously they should not focus on themselves so much but the average person and their experience immediately after upgrading, a day later, a week later and a month later. Otherwise, IMO it's just a whiney tech pundit fishing with link bait.
Everybody is an expert in deciding what they don't like. It doesn't matter how much designer-speak bullshit you can spew, if the person using it doesn't like it or finds it too confusing, it failed.