back to article Apple: iOS7 dayglo Barbie makeover is UNFINISHED - report

Well, this would never have happened under Steve Jobs. Apple sources have briefed a friendly tech blog that the much-mocked iOS7 makeover is still provisional. When was the last time Apple felt obliged to defend anything? The Barbie-flavoured icons revealed at Apple's WWDC on Monday are merely a "mid-stride snapshot", …

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  1. Ian 62

    What's going on?

    Stock holders.

    They'll have been complaining loud enough and threatening enough that someone's panicked and pulled the release trigger too soon.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: What's going on?

      We've heard news before that Apple are under pressure to release iOS7 ASAP, rather than when they're ready too. Apple are one company who can play on their own terms so "release it when it's finished" has to be the right route here.

    2. Armando 123
      Flame

      Re: What's going on?

      Or maybe, giving them enough rope.

      It's only a beta, and maybe it's a way for them to use the ridicule to tell the suits "See, you people know nothing about this, go back to drinking and golf".

  2. TechnicianJack
    Unhappy

    As a man, I think that the new design has a very feminine colour scheme/look to it. While I don't have an iPhone, I would be unhappy to use a device that looks like this (from any manufacturer). The old design was more of a generic unisex design.

    Also, while it is stated that the app logos were not designed by the app team, the Safari logo stands out as looking 'wrong'. It's almost as if someone drew it with Microsoft paint. The compass and stocks designs also look like they don't quite fit in.

    1. dogged
      Holmes

      A quick glance around the office shows -

      Men - three Galaxy S3s, two HTC Ones, one HTC 8X, one Nokia Lumia 820

      Women - four iPhones.

      Probably not a coincidence.

      1. Peter Storm
        Trollface

        Crikey! So all the men in your office are gay then?

        1. Dave 126

          Oversimplification:

          Man: "Oohh, what does it do?"

          Woman: "Yeah yeah, what does it do for me?"

        2. Eponymous Cowherd
          Joke

          "Crikey! So all the men in your office are gay then?"

          And that from someone who names himself after a raincoat?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Sexist?

      3. Godwhacker
        Paris Hilton

        Are you judging the genders on the phones they carry

        ...or judging the phones by the gender of those that carry them? Neither is a particularly pleasant thing to do

        1. dogged
          Meh

          Re: Are you judging the genders on the phones they carry

          I'm not certain who you're asking but I simply reported who had what, based on gender.

          I also wonder if the earlier poster is of the belief that every man who doesn't have an iPhone is gay. Anecdotal evidence would tend to indicate that the iPhone is actually of more use to gay men because it has a selection of apps targeted at that demographic.

      4. larokus
        Thumb Up

        Don't be upset by your down votes. They came from men in low-hanging skinny jeans. I use the term men loosely

      5. Moonshine
        Pint

        Captain Rum to Lord Blackadder: "You have a WOMAN's PHONE, me'lord."

        1. Shagbag
          Alert

          moving desk

          One of the guys in the office has an iPhone. If he changes to iOS7, I'm going to have to change desks and move away from him for fear of being turned gay.

        2. Matthew 25
          Coffee/keyboard

          Thanks!

  3. jai

    no OS prior to X ?

    precisely zero users to confuse at the time

    you're forgetting that there were a few of use that were using the previous Mac OS, and the preview of Aqua was as exciting and worrying as the new look to iOS 7 is now.

    http://furbo.org/2013/06/11/been-there-done-that/

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: no OS prior to X ?

      LOL mac

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But..

    Wasnt it St. Jobs style to never apologise?

    Anyone rememebr Antenna-gate?

    They're merely folowing the departed leader. Its a design to appeal to young Barbie wannabees as the target market!

    Now move on, you Apple haters !

    1. David Glasgow

      Re: But..

      "They're merely folowing the departed leader. Its a design to appeal to young Barbie wannabees as the target market!"

      But I'm a 56 year old chap....

      Wait! What's this? Lets see! Oh I feel se-ex-ee, What's come over me? Whoa! Here it comes again...bad times deceased, good times released, my confidence is increased...."

      I think I quite like 'em.

  5. teapot9999
    WTF?

    pre-release software may not be final version

    and?

    Twas ever thus

    1. Lutin

      Re: pre-release software may not be final version

      Aye, but remember when you read the article that you've just commented on and it explained that it's unusual for this to be the case for Apple?

      Remember that?

      It's in the article.

      The one you commented on.

      In the first paragraph.

      1. gazthejourno (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: Re: pre-release software may not be final version

        You, sir, restore my faith in commentards. I doff my cap to you.

        1. Steve Todd

          Re: pre-release software may not be final version

          It's not even unusual for APPLE to change things between the first beta and the final release (they've even been known to sneak in whole new features for new devices/hardware that is released at the same time as the code).

          This idea that Apple claim infalability and never change anything or admit to mistakes seems to be wholly made up by El Reg. It happened while Steve Jobs ran the company, it happened afterwards. What they won't do is admit to a problem until they understand what it is and how many people are effected. This seems to really get up journo's noses as they want an instant quote for their rag, hence the antipathy.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: pre-release software may not be final version

            What they won't do is admit to a problem until they understand what it is and how many people are effected.

            affected.

            1. Squander Two

              Re: pre-release software may not be final version

              Depends where Steve's from. In the US, I understand it would be "effected".

              1. ed2020
                FAIL

                Re: pre-release software may not be final version

                In the US, I understand it would be "effected".

                No, it wouldn't.

                1. Squander Two

                  Re: pre-release software may not be final version

                  Fair enough. I don't claim to be an expert on American English, but have been corrected on this point by educated Americans in the past. Course, just cause they were educated in general, doesn't mean they were right about this.

            2. J__M__M

              Re: pre-release software may not be final version

              uffected.

              1. Tom 35

                Re: pre-release software may not be final version

                infected

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: pre-release software may not be final version

              "What they won't do is admit to a problem until they understand what it is and how many people are effected.

              affected."

              No, effected is probably right - these are Apple users here.

          2. Stuart Castle Silver badge

            Re: pre-release software may not be final version

            It's not unusual for any company (Apple included) to change things between the first beta and the final release. Whether those changes are bug fixes, new features or even new graphics. That's the reason we have betas. So a company (or individual programmer) can ensure that the software is tested, it functions well and that users can work with the user interface .

            This last part is actually important (and seemingly forgotten by some companies). You can have the best functionality available in your program, and the program can pass all the reliability tests with flying colours, but if the users have trouble with the UI, they'll think it is (at best) a good product with a bad UI, and, at worst, a pile of crap.

            So, this whole article seems to be saying that iOS 7 has crap icons (and while I like them, I can see why people might have a problem) and that Apple are following normal beta test procedures. Unlike, say, Google who seem to use the "Beta" tag as a sales term to tell people they are getting the most up to date product possible.

          3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

            Creating a commission

            "What they won't do is admit to a problem until they understand what it is and how many people are effected."

            In political circles, the word "stonewalling" is usually preferred.

          4. paulll

            Re: pre-release software may not be final version

            "This idea that Apple claim infalability and never change anything or admit to mistakes seems to be wholly made up by El Reg."

            So, show us where they admit to a mistake. When they changed from proprietary to commodity hardware, where's the quote where they admit they'd been doing it wrong. When they announced the mid-sized iPod touch, where's the bit where they actually say, "Ya, turns out 7" tablets aren't a 'broken' idea. Oops!" Where's the report of Jobs saying, "We'd like to apologise to our loyal customer base for selling them a comms device with a fundamentally broken antenna design." Anything?

            1. JaimieV
              Facepalm

              Re: pre-release software may not be final version

              The Maps statement of screwup.

              http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

            2. paulll

              Re: pre-release software may not be final version

              Downvote appreciated, but why not *really* rub my nose in it by supplying a quote?

          5. xperroni
            Paris Hilton

            Re: pre-release software may not be final version

            It's not even unusual for APPLE to change things between the first beta and the final release (they've even been known to sneak in whole new features for new devices/hardware that is released at the same time as the code).

            I think that zeroing in on whether Apple has made changes to its products before is missing the point.

            The problem is that up to now, iOS7's design had been described by Apple (at WWDC as well as their own website) as a work of perfection. Both Apple employees and the user base faithful have copiously defended the new looks as the perfect blend of form and function, the ultimate distillation of their deep expertise in design. This included no end of patronizing the ignorant masses on how they can't "get" good design just by the looks of it, and how its true value would dawn on us when it hit shelves / update channels.

            And now they actually come out and say "oh no no no, this is not the finished version, we might still tweak it some". It's the worst kind of about-face, to be all over something and then suddenly dismiss it as a work-in-progress.

        2. Dave 126

          Re: pre-release software may not be final version

          Apple normally pay great heed to the old adage "Never explain, never apologise".

          1. P. Lee

            Re: pre-release software may not be final version

            > Apple normally pay great heed to the old adage "Never explain, never apologise".

            They've just forgotten to, "never let anyone see what you're doing until its done."

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Coat

        Re: pre-release software may not be final version

        Since was COMPREHENSION a requirement for Commentards? Just who do think we are? Hmmm?

        Mines the one with the copy of OS9 in the pocket.

    2. Frank Bough

      Re: pre-release software may not be final version

      You don't have to finish the coded to know what the fucking ICONS are going to look like. Honestly, what's the point of gazillion ppi screens if all you're going to do is put a garish grad across it? I want DETAILED icons not meaningless slabs and blobs (did you see the GameCenter one? WTFF?).

      Ive, stick to hardware.

  6. LPF
    Thumb Up

    sorry

    But this is a complete load of rubbish, The interface looks fine to me , bright easy to use, I think this storm is whipped up by android fans , who yet again are watching iOS leave them in its wake

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: sorry

      Hahaha, well when you think ab....actually, no. Just hahaha should suffice as an answer to that statement.

    2. SteveK

      Re: sorry

      Don't think it is 'whipped up by android fans' at all. We're (actually, I use both IOS and Android devices so don't exactly consider myself a fan of either camp) just saying welcome to the 2010s. Nice though IOS might be to use, it has looked a bit dated for the last few versions, so it's nice to see it catching up with what looks like a modern, clean interface that looks fine to me too. Ok, the colours and icons are not everyone's cup of tea but you'll never please anyone - even Apple bloggist John Gruber did say that Apple people felt the new release would be 'polarizing'...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    mid-stride snapshot

    More like a "drunken stumble".

  8. Mr Anonymous

    User choice

    Don't use one myself, buy can't you change icons/colour scheme on an iphone?

    1. Dave 126

      Re: User choice

      >can't you change icons/colour scheme on an iphone?

      I understand you have to 'jailbreak' it first.

      My Android phone gives me a breakdown of what uses up the battery - the screen is normally responsible for most of it. Without knowing any better, I assume that a white/bright theme would use more battery than a dark theme. Can anyone here confirm or refute this?

      I tend to use the Dolphin browser, but it has an unfortunate habit of displaying a blank white screen whilst it is waiting for a page to load.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Screen power consumption

        It depends on what sort of screen it is. For OLED you'd be right as the pixels are a load of LEDs making light. For LCD it makes less or no difference depending on the backlight tech being used. The LCD blocks the unwanted light from the backlight, so to get red you produce white in the backlight, then block the green and blue parts. The 'depending' part is because some screens have a backlight made of a bunch of LEDs that can be selectively dimmed in the darker parts of the screen, reducing power draw a bit. I think these are more common on TVs than phones though.

      2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: User choice

        An OLED screen will have differing power consumption depending on pixel brightness. LCD power consumption (barring zoning of the backlight) is generally dictated by backlight brightness.

      3. Lord Elpuss Silver badge
        Boffin

        @Dave 126 Re: User choice

        "...I assume that a white/bright theme would use more battery than a dark theme. Can anyone here confirm or refute this?"

        Depends on the screen tech. With a simple (one backlight) LCD it doesn't matter whether a pixel is white, black or anywhere in between. The backlight brightness is the same for the whole panel, and all the pixel switching does is effectively 'mask' the backlight to varying degrees to get different gradations between black (opaque pixel) and white (transparent pixel); so a completely white screen will use the same energy as a completely black one.

        With OLED it certainly does make a difference. Each pixel illuminates independently, so a white pixel will use energy whereas a black one will not.

        Some types of LCD also have backlight arrays where the screen is backlit in zones; a zone which is completely black generally has the backlight switched off for that zone (with the added benefit of improved contrast), whereas as soon as pixels are activated the backlight for that zone is switched on. This will save energy, the degree of saving depends on the granularity of the backlighting array. The more zones, the more energy can be saved (but the more complex & expensive the panel) As far as I'm aware this tech is not yet used in phones, although I could be mistaken.

    2. Irongut

      Re: User choice

      Why would Apple let you change the perfect icons that were designed by God, approved by Jesus and possessed with the Holy Spirit? Why would you even want to?

  9. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
    Headmaster

    "Barbie-flavoured icons"?!

    When was the last time you ate a Barbie? I was aged one and I can't for the life of me remember how it tasted.

    (There are inferences to be drawn, but doing so would lead to me being modded.)

  10. frank ly

    The plan is obvious

    Jony Ive and a team of Apple engineers lock themselves away inside Apple headquarters for a week and have pizzas delivered. One week later, they emerge with a 'newly developed' set of icons and maybe some UI tweaks that are well thought out and generally accepted as very good indeed.

    Tim Cook announces, "See, we listen to our user's concerns about usability, clarity and compatibility, unlike SOME companies who make changes."

  11. Chris 171
    FAIL

    Skins?

    Seeing as with Symbian you can skin your phone and icons with alternate designs easily, Im highly surprised apple does not offer similar, being that their all revolutionary and that.

    Feel the white hot flames of innovation!

    1. Captain Hogwash
      Facepalm

      Re: surprised apple does not offer similar

      When did you ever hear of a cult fostering individuality?

    2. Martin
      Headmaster

      "...being that THEY'RE all revolutionary and that..."

      Sigh.

      The first two items on the grammar t-shirt....

    3. Henry Blackman

      Re: Skins?

      So the introduction concept of the interface being reactive to a user's choice of background image was lost on you.

      iOS is about getting things done, not wasting time playing with it.

    4. larokus
      Pint

      Re: Skins?

      Yes I remember doing that on symbian. You can also install 3rd party skins on android with any CM or AOSP rom.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Knocked together too fast

    Basically Apple redesigned the interface of the most popular mobile phone skin in seven months. That's a tall order, and I'm not too surprised they needed to draft in extra help-remember Apple's marketing team aren't exactly amateurs at graphic design themselves. It looks better now (better than my Nexus 4, I think, and much friendlier than WP8) but I'm glad they admit it's not finished.

    I think they messed up on planning and forgot that people would focus on the home screen. The apps inside look very nice but the home screen really does look unfinished. There's a good blog article on this by Matt Gemmell, comparing screenshots of a range of apps look like with iOS 6, and it's definitely to iOS 7's advantage.

    1. Dave 126

      Re: Knocked together too fast

      Yeah, the individual app screens (the Calender, for example) look good, simple, clean, very Braun... but that home-screen looked a mess.

      Someone dropped the ball.

  13. Matt_payne666

    I know when I have a presentation to give I tend to dig out my best screen shots and my most completed ideas...

    Im not sure how big business works, but if I had a team of designers, Id probably get them to mock up some static slides of how I envisioned the finished thing to look, not get the canteen staff and marketers to knock up some pictures...

  14. Ben Holmes
    Angel

    "What on earth is going on?"

    If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

  15. SW10
    Angel

    If you want good-looking...

    Aqua.

    Now *that* was a UI. And it had, er, transparency...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I hated early Aqua

      It just looked excessive, and the stripes were just absurd. I've really liked Apple's progression in general UI-Leopard and Lion both did a good job at smoothing things down.

  16. Haku
    FAIL

    Looks like they stole the icons from a Chinese iPhone knock-off.

    Either that or someone in Apple is severely colourblind.

  17. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Trollface

    primarily designed by [...] Apple’s marketing and communications dept, not the app design teams

    A shocking admission, Apple actually let app design teams touch a prototype iShiny.

  18. davemcwish

    Here's an idea

    Why not have the ability to bulk change the pallette and icons via a user option. Then you could have 'Classic iOS', like v6 and 'New iOS' with the flat icons and palette of v7 . Not sure what to call that functionality, how about Themes ?

    1. Justice
      Joke

      Re: Here's an idea

      Themes in iOS7??? You crazy man!!!

      You can't even change the voicemail number on their overpriced junk, and you want themes???

      Send that man into the corner with a jailbreak.

      1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

        Re: Here's an idea

        Can't change the voicemail number? Apparently you can..https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3412917?start=90&tstart=0

        Although I expect that's a requirement of the GSM standard rather than a choice by apple..

        1. davemcwish

          Re: Voicemail Button

          I may be thick here but after I got my 4s off fleebay, I stuck a Virgin Mobile sim in and the voicmail button worked first time. Why would I need to change it ? Do the other providers supply crap sims ?

          1. Michael B.

            Re: Voicemail Button

            You can use alternative Voicemail providers, Hullomail is one that comes to mind, that give you additional options such as emailing an mp3 of the voicemail to you.

            In these cases you need to change the voicemail number to use their services.

    2. rehtech

      Re: Here's an idea

      i agree and second that opinion.

  19. xyz Silver badge
    Gimp

    All together now....

    Sing, if you're glad to be fanbo-ay

    That 5 year old lass next door to me is obviously ahead of the pack when it comes to design...she's got pink, and unicorns and rainbows and everything!

  20. Frankee Llonnygog

    I have a sneaking suspicion ...

    ... that there may be more to iOS7 than new icons, and that swapping out a few PNGs is something that can be done relatively easily.

    I guess focusing so relentlessly on the most trivial aspect of the new OS provides some satisfying opportunities for snark . However, I presume the Reg will at some point delve a bit deeper into the bits that techies really need to know about. Perhaps when the icon-baiting page views drop off a bit

  21. DZ-Jay

    It went something like this...

    Cook - "We gotta do something! This Samsung ripping us off has got to stop! Google, Nokia, HP, they can't leave us alone! We gotta do something. Get me Jony!"

    Cook - "Jony, is there a way to make our look and feel 'copy-proof'? You know, add some fancy DRM or something that would prevent others from copying it...? Is there?"

    Jony - "Hmmm, I don't think it works like that, sorry."

    Cook - "Argh! There's gotta be a way!"

    Intern #1 - "Sir, I think there may be a way..."

    Cook - "Give it to me!"

    Intern #1 - "You may not like it..."

    Cook - "I'm desperate, hit me!"

    Intern #1 - "What it... What it we made the screen... ugly? What if we designed it so crap-tastic, that nobody would touch it?"

    Intern #2 - "With funky psychedelic colours!"

    Intern #1 - "And tiny illegible fonts!"

    Intern #2 - "And weird indecipherable icons!"

    Intern #1 - "better yet--cute, childish my little pony icons!"

    Intern #2 - "Yeah!"

    Cook - "You know, that is so crazy, it just might work!"

    Cook - "Jony?"

    Jony - "I'm on it!"

    Cook - "Oh and Jony, don't forget to write it up as the pinnacle of design... You know, for the snobs..."

    Jony - "Got my thesaurus and Architectural Digest right here."

    ---------

    dZ.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What never amazes me is how Android / other phone users feel so compelled to chime in with any article about Apple. If one person chooses an Android and another chooses an iOS device - neither is 'wrong' - it's just their choice.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Trollface

      KUMBAYA!

    2. larokus
      Stop

      So people buy iOS devices not THINKING it is superior??

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Why do all my coworkers lick their Ardroid phones...

      ...and rub them against the office window, begging, pleading, praying that the Android OS will eventually wake up and realize that it's been brought back to an area with several bars of signal strength. It literally takes them several minutes of phone rubbing antics before the stupid phones reconnect to the network. This is universal for a dozen coworkers with Android phones. My office overlooks the windows. I see thus Android flaw played out daily.

      iPhones just say, "Hey, the signal is back." Instantly.

      Point: neither OS is perfect. iOS is about to take a step towards Win8 Metro GUI. Yuck.

      1. Oninoshiko
        Joke

        Re: Why do all my coworkers lick their Ardroid phones...

        Have an android. Never notice a problem with this... maybe you should stop hiring from the short bus?

  23. KierO
    FAIL

    Not convinced..

    The reason jobs was successful?.....He kept to simple pricinples.

    1) Make it attractive.

    2) Make it easy to use, for anyone.

    3) Make sure it works well and is well tested and refined before release.

    Now he is gone, the Apple "Business Men" are reverting to stereo-type: Lets give our shareholders what they want and take on board lots of customer "feedback" about the software, change it to try and meet everyone's conflicting requirements and release it quickly.

    I have worked for a much smaller software company that did all of the same stupid things, and it is almost dead now because of it.

    I don't much like Apple, and don't use their products any more, but I respected Jobs for having the balls to tell people "this is the way we are going to do it" and then making sure it was ready before it was released.

    1. DZ-Jay

      Re: Not convinced..

      I agree. The new look smells too much of designer masturbation for the sake of being different. It reminds me of those logo-type boutique mission statements that El Reg is so fond of ridiculing.

      dZ.

    2. Steve Todd

      Re: Not convinced..

      Released? I don't think that word means what you think it means.

      1. DZ-Jay

        Re: Not convinced..

        Yes, released.

        For all the apologizing that everybody seems to be doing, saying that it is just a developer preview, that the design is still in flux, that it's merely a "mid-stride snapshot," yadda, yadda; the fact is that Apple released this design to the world: they put it squarely on the front page of their web-site, added a new section showcasing the new design, and made TV commercials for it. The new design was released, even if the software was not.

        This was not a half-baked (well, aesthetically it is), let's-show-what-we-have-so-far effort--they thought they were done with it and were very proud. It may have been rushed, but they were satisfied with it enough to announce the new design publicly, outside the context of the WWDC, and to wax philosophically to the world about it.

        If they change those icons now, or tone down the garish design before the actual release of the software, it'll be precisely due to the vociferous criticism and ridicule they have just received--it won't be because they planned it that way.

        That, or the entire effort was an unmanaged and confused mess of people doing their own thing without communication or coordination, and completely lacking someone with a bit of taste and sufficient power to stop them from showing a half-done product.

        Either way, it's a new kind of Apple, and it's that pretty.

        dZ.

  24. Azzy

    Apple has lost it's way without their messiah...

    If Steve was there, he'd have made the marketeers walk the plank (off that yacht that he never got to sail) just for daring to think about designing an icon...

    And the people who talked to that blogger? Yeah, them too.

    Flattening the styling on the layouts is fine - whether your have flat or faux-3d buttons is a matter of fashion, and fashion is dynamic. In the 00's, starting with WinXP's restyling, faux-3d was in fashion, probably in part because computers had reached a point where they could do that and have the result look decent. Now tastes have moved back to a flatter styling (we can all theorize about why - but really, it's fashion - rationalizing only goes so far). Steve might well have come around to this - but if he was in charge, the flat icons that went out on the developer preview would have actually been good.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Childcatcher

      Re: Apple has lost it's way without their messiah...

      starting with WinXP's restyling, faux-3d was in fashion

      Fracking kids, know nothing about the eighties... Motif (widget toolkit)

  25. Mike Moyle
    FAIL

    For what it's worth...

    While I am not a fan of the color choices made -- and I *DO* maker my living as a graphic designer/illustrator -- I feel that I should point out that, if you take a couple of pieces of paper and block off the two totally unnecessary toxic-waste green bars on either side of the picture in this article, the visual effect of the UI is not as bad. Those bars appear to have been added for the sole purpose of making the whole illustration as eye-searing and unpleasant to look at as possible, in an attempt at biasing the viewer.

    Propaganda is one thing, but SLOPPILY DONE propaganda is just totally unacceptable!.

  26. MissingSecurity

    This reminds me...

    I did a networking diagram for basic setup of our software in common facilities. It gave a general IP scheme and connections. The Marketing idiots wanted to SIMPLIFY it and it makes no sense. How can you just draw a few boxes with a cloud around it and call it good?

    ITS NOT FOR FUCKING MARKETING MORONS, ITS FOR THE TECH IN THE FIELD.

  27. Belardi

    Japanese Colors

    If we were all Japanese, these colors would feel right at home...

    Watch most Japanese game shows, anime and commercials.... color explosions.

  28. menotu

    Why are you surprised??

    New mangement.. Excel based..

    . Barbie ios7 how could you argue

    unless of course you are a dyed in wool iSheep.. they will be thrilled.. they are lining up today as required ... COMPLY AND BUY

  29. J__M__M

    So did people back in the day make all this fuss every time a new rotary phone hit the market in a slightly different shade of flat black? Or did they just pick the damn thing up when it rang and not worry about it?

    Can we quit being so lame and get back to arguing about things that matter? Things like sports cars, hard liquor, golf clubs, electric guitars, cheerleaders, paint sprayers, pocket knives, go-karts, sprinkler systems, saturday cartoons, cuts of meat, baseball bats, rope swings, lawn mowers, Christmas trees, sports wagers, illicit drugs, slip n slides, fireworks, motocross, surf boards, shotguns, jet boats, pool cues, land mines, lawn darts, comic books, dune buggies, sniper rifles, chain saws, fishing poles, fighter jets, barbecues, stereo systems, hand tools, and skateboards?

    Please?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Alien

      No!

      Let's listen to Roger Waters instead.

      And when they found our shadows

      Grouped 'round the TV sets

      They ran down every lead

      They repeated every test

      They checked out all the data on their lists

      And then the alien anthropologists

      Admitted they were still perplexed

      But on eliminating every other reason

      For our sad demise

      They logged the only explanation left

      This species has amused itself to death

      No tears to cry

      No feelings left

      This species has

      Amused itself to death

  30. Tom Melly

    A Design Classic

    Well, I think it's a wonderful look - clearly inspired by a classic of interface design:

    http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/07/a-tribute-to-the-windows-31-hot-dog-stand-color-scheme.html

  31. rcp27

    Stop Press! Beta software unfinished! Pope seen entering Catholic Church! Evidence of bear faeces found in woodland!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      More like: Stop press, most valuable computer company in the world lets the wrong business division design the visuals for its new OS and then advertises them heavily as their next big product. Very questionable judgement, either if it's true, or that they lied about it if it's not true.

    2. Darryl
      Thumb Down

      Funny - I don't recall Apple ever doing up commercials about beta software before, or figuring it so prominently on the front page of their website. Face it, they really honestly meant it when they said that this was what IOS7 looks like. Trying to cover their (and your) asses by retroactively claiming that it's just beta just makes you look like an apologist.

  32. Phil Atkin

    I for one welcome our new gay pink gradienty overlords

    Because they give you a fluffy gay pink phone with one hand, and a man-sweat stinky big-ole-pair-of-bollocks Mac Pro on the other. It's a WW1 shell case in shiny black ceramic stuffed full of GPU and extruded aluminium. It's totally, 100% dude, and is built for hitting 7 stone weaklings over the head. The chicks can keep their MacBook Airy Fairies and their phoney wonies, we men will have out iPads and our Mac Pros.

    The new Apple - masculine and feminine sides in perfect balance.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't like it

    It doesn't go with my angora jumper and the whale song theme in the office.

  34. Dieter Haussmann

    How did we get to the point where people worry what pallette the icons on their telephone are made up from? I think the new look is a pleasant change and a change is as good as a rest.

  35. Dana W
    Meh

    It does not matter what it looks like. No matter WHAT it looks like the screaming Android trolltards here will piss and whine about it.

    They were ready to hang it before the first screenshot. So why bother arguing with them?

    Arguing with trolls is wasted effort. And it only took me 20 years of the internet, and ten of BBSes (and an extra four or WoW somewhere in between) before that to figure it out. I guess I'm a slow learner.

  36. Gil Grissum
    Pint

    Unfinished

    So an unfinished OS is what we can expect from Ive? That worked out really well for Apple maps, considering how Tim Cook was touting it's superiority to Google maps. Words he eventually had to eat, as Apple maps shortcomings became quite apparently obvious. Let us hope that iOS 7 is a more finished product than Apple Maps was, particularly if it's going to be running on an iPhone 5S with slightly upgraded specs, same size screen, and pretty much the same case design.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    baby out with the bathwater

    I suspect the reason they went for flat icons is because the current icon style would not work with their new parallax gimmick. The parallax is supposed to give the impression of depth to the display. The current icons, with their raised-glossy-button-shine, would look fake against the parallax background i.e. you would realise that the glossy button had no depth to it. If they removed the glossy shine to the existing icons they would look flat; people would immediately notice and object on principal. So they had to completely re-design their icons without the glossy shine effect.

    So it looks like to me that their whole design philosophy got compromised by someone's over enthusiasm to have the new wizz-bang parallax effect incorporated. Sounds like desperation is causing the design wheels to come off at Apple.

  38. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    Barbie Colours available now

    Under Settings, General, Accessibility, set 'Invert Colors' = ON. One may program the Home button triple-click to toggle this setting.

    Would it really be all that difficult to provide more than one user delectable theme? It seems as if there's a band of GUI Nazis running around imposing their weird-ass Win8 Metrosexual, now iOS7 Klaus Barbie, Flat / Non-skumorphic belief system on all of us. They must be enjoying the reaction because it would be trivial to avoid if they wanted to avoid it.

    I don't like Nazis.

  39. Sandra Greer
    FAIL

    What are they thinking?

    If you have watched any commercial TV lately, you have seen Microsoft's ads for its fondleslab. The colours used are the same garish ones in this preliminary sketch. The icons shown contain more garish flat colour and less information. The current ones contain more muted colours and also use black or dark tones to give much better contrast. I am one of those complainers who hate white type on bright backgrounds, and require contrast. I also hate gumdrop colours. I am a female Apple fan, but this sure is a downer.

  40. gregthecanuck

    Oh dear - is this the start of "design by committee"? Perhaps not but this doesn't bode well for the moment.

  41. Alexis Vallance

    Computer manufacturer in beta release shocker

  42. rehtech
    WTF?

    has people forgot android Jelly bean 4.2

    find it odd that people are slating iOS7 agree its icon are not the best but being android / iOS / BB 10 developer i can whole heartedly say iOS SDK is always was AND is the best SDK compare to android,

    not coming to icon does any one remember Google Android 4.2 MISSING "whole MONTH"?

    if not here is to refresh your mind:

    https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39692#c17

    1. Martin Chandler
      Mushroom

      Re: has people forgot android Jelly bean 4.2

      Yeah man, Android sucks so bad!! I'll take IOS any day!! PS have they fixed Maps yet? Surely it hasnt been a month already since that broke?!?

  43. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    *FLAT* design...

    I said *FLAT* design vocabulary, not 'FAT' design.

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