Is this the future of Apple?

vansmith said:

That's a bit of a stretch since, if Apple is pushing to move to minimalist designs in their software, they are taking a page from Google's book. It's also important to see how design is a two-way street - Apple serves as inspiration for others just as much as others serve as inspiration for Apple.

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Apple has always produced beautiful, simple designs, now it's been moved to the software as well. Was Jony I've put in charge of Human Interface software to copy Google? Don't think so. To compete and stay ahead, yes.

Checco said:

Was Jony I've put in charge of Human Interface software to copy Google? Don't think so. To compete and stay ahead, yes.

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iOS 7 has the new sharing functionality, control centre, flat icon design, AirDrop and live wallpapers on the locksreen - all copies of functions in Android. Sharing is central to Android, control centre is a clear copy of rich notifications and the settings panel, flat icons are central to the Android aesthetic, AirDrop was implemented as Android Beam back with ICS and live wallpapers have been around for a while. On top of that, the new multitasking look is ripped straight from WP8.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, this isn't a criticism since everyone adapts everyone's ideas. My concern is with thinking that innovation and copying only work one way.

Van, Agree with everything but one question. I thought Airdrop has been in OSX a while, since Lion or ML. Are you talking about something even older?

vansmith said:

As I've mentioned elsewhere, this isn't a criticism since everyone adapts everyone's ideas. My concern is with thinking that innovation and copying only work one way.

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I was really only referring to styling - agree on functionality & innovation and we enjoy better products as a result.

Sorry Gray on White causes issues for MANY people. Should those people be told go buy a Google device? Not fair and not very smart either.

dtravis7 said:

Van, Agree with everything but one question. I thought Airdrop has been in OSX a while, since Lion or ML. Are you talking about something even older?

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AirDrop was only introduced into iOS with version 7. True, it was in OS X years before that so I suppose determining who came first (as if that actually mattered) depends on whether you equate mobile and desktop solutions.

dtravis7 said:

Sorry Gray on White causes issues for MANY people. Should those people be told go buy a Google device? Not fair and not very smart either.

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I've noticed that Android has two colour designs - dark grey text on very light grey or very light grey text on black. Many applications can switch between the two. This would be a nice addition to iOS.

vansmith said:

AirDrop was only introduced into iOS with version 7. True, it was in OS X years before that so I suppose determining who came first (as if that actually mattered) depends on whether you equate mobile and desktop solutions.

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That was what I thought. I never much had a use for Airdrop so only tried it once and forgot about it! Grin

vansmith said:

I've noticed that Android has two colour designs - dark grey text on very light grey or very light grey text on black. Many applications can switch between the two. This would be a nice addition to iOS.

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Bring it on! Choice is a nice thing as everyone is different.

The new AirDrop feature is nice if you have an iOS device that supports it. You could actually force AirDrop on with a terminal command on older Macs even if they did not support it. However, I have not seen any such hack available for an unsupported iOS device. I would love to have it on my iPad 3 for example. Would save me the trouble of using Drop Box.

With an IOS device I can see it's usefulness for sure.

It would be really useful if they let you do iOS - OS X (and vice versa). I know why it's not that way (wouldn't want applications to have access to the file system now) but I really hope Apple finds a way to make it so that you can go across environments.