[TheOtherHobbes]

Two theories are that Apple had to put something together quickly as a headliner because Apple Intelligence was clearly going to be a dud. So this is basically a hacked-together panic project.

Or someone high up has a Vision™, and they're so set on that Vision™ they're not listening to what underlings and users are saying.

Consider a parallel reality in which Apple did the next round of updates as a maintenance release and added some minor new features and UI tweaks. Would that have been a more positive outcome for the company?

My guess is there would have been some grumbling about not having anything new to offer, but also relief that bugs were being fixed. It would have been a bit of a non-event.

This seems more like a seismic negative event, with a lot of criticism from all quarters. (And some stanning, but less than usual.)

[thewebguyd]

> My guess is there would have been some grumbling about not having anything new to offer, but also relief that bugs were being fixed. It would have been a bit of a non-event.

Depending on what Google has to say about Pixel & Gemini in August, I think it would have been much more than grumbling. Apple is in a damned if they do damned if they don't situation. Under the surface of liquid glass, there really isn't even anything new coming unless they have some hardware limited features planned for the iPhone 17 launch.

It's clear this "redesign" was as you said, a panic project to cover for not delivering on AI, again for a second year and having nothing to show for WWDC. Just coming out with "we fixed some bugs" would cause a PR shitstorm. Even more so if Google gets any further ahead integrating Gemini into Pixel w/ personal context like what Apple wanted to achieve with Siri/AI, plus their own redesign (Material 3 Expressive, which is actually looking really nice IMO).

> This seems more like a seismic negative event, with a lot of criticism from all quarters.

Except from normal users/non enthusiasts. My kids and her friends all installed the dev beta and are absolutely enamored with liquid glass and think it's the coolest thing ever. Mind you, these are generations of folks that weren't around for Vista/7 Aero, etc and are now obsessed with that era from a fashion and design POV. "Fruitigier aero aesthetic" and all that. These are also people that would never switch platforms no matter what Apple does because of iMessage and social status/social pressure, so Apple is in no danger of losing any marketshare over this unless Google/Android somehow becomes "cool" again and can generate enough social pressure amongst the youth.

[int_19h]

> Except from normal users/non enthusiasts.

My wife is emphatically not a tech enthusiast. She hates what she's seen on the screenshots and demos so far, and is dreading the moment when it's out and she'll have to update.

[CRConrad]

> It's clear this "redesign" was as you said, a panic project to cover for not delivering on AI, again for a second year and having nothing to show for WWDC.

Hm... So is their current system universally regarded as absolute shit, or what? Or does everyone[1] think it's pretty great now, but will switch to "it's shit!" immediately as of the WWDC?

Like, WTF is wrong with "We have a great system, it's still just as great, and even better now that we've worked mostly on stability and bugfixes."?

Are corporations nowadays all freaking Cinderella, or what?

___

[1]: Well, everyone who would consider buying into the Apple ecosystem.

[Fluorescence]

> someone high up

Has to be. It has that Musky smell of banning yellow safety paint i.e. too stupid to be a team effort.

Legibility issues with translucency is such a basic thing and I expect Apple designers have gone deep on the topic e.g. mathematical models using human colour perception to determine hard limits for different type weights. I don't think the heavy frosting in past versions was an accident.