[corporalagumbo]

I think it's interesting, but for me one of Apple's weakest points as a company is its taste in software UI. iOS 7 strikes me as catch-up - Apple is late to a party started by Google and Microsoft, and is trying hard to pretend its been there all along - hard to recognise the hint of insecurity behind their ever-slick advertising, but it's there I think. It's a new area for the company, and a good reminder that Apple has its vulnerabilities. It will be interesting to see how things play out as the design language of the big three (A, G, & M) equalises, norms emerge, and the competition begins to really heat up.

[saturdaysaint]

Unless you're really into 'design inside baseball', these kind of comparisons are pretty moot. Sure, Nexus phones have been riding an interesting line between flat and 3 dimensional for a little while, but they've also had quite a few insecure 're-imaginings' getting there, and the Android phones %95 of people have been using are a hodge-podge of Android and Samsung/HTC/Moto too ill considered to even be worth criticism. When I say 'Android UI', absolutely nothing comes to mind because almost everyone I know uses a fairly distinct Android skin. And I don't know anyone with a Windows Phone that doesn't have a Visual Studio license.

All that to say, for all intensive purposes, iOS 7 will be the mainstream's introduction to flat UI elements. My guess is that Samsung will actually drag Android kicking and screaming further into iOS 7's "flat 3-d" model than Matthias Duarte would like.

[JoelAnair]

Lol at "And I don't know anyone with a Windows Phone that doesn't have a Visual Studio license."

[dferlemann]

If you gonna say UI in general, Apple's iPhone and iPod interface were designed first before Android caught up... Microsoft is even later... just saying. If you are talking about flat UI, then yes, Android advanced it. However, I agree 5c and flat UI make the current Apple reek insecurity.

[corporalagumbo]

I'm not talking about UI in general, I'm talking about taste in UI - style and general good looks. I don't know how everyone else feels on this, but for me Apple has stuck far too long to simply ugly styling on both iOS and OS X to convince me that attractive UI is a part of company culture. Some of Google's efforts (Now, Maps) and where Microsoft is heading (e.g. it's new websites, Outlook, Windows 8.1) have all impressed me much more. I think Apple is clearly trying to retrofit company culture here.

But I wouldn't say Apple "reeks" of insecurity... We don't really have any knowledge about how much they have up their sleeves, and they've had a long time over the last half-decade to lay foundations for future maneuvers. Besides, if they can convince the everyman that they thought up modern design all by themselves, they could gain a massive advantage here.

[iMark]

Don't forget that the advancement of Jony Ive to oversee both software and hardware is still a relatively new development at Apple. All the design changes in iOS 7 have been done in little under a year, following the ousting of Scott Forstall.

Apple are definitely playing catch up on the software design front, but signs are that they're heading in the right direction. iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 will be interesting to watch, to see what the Apple's design team can manage with a little more breathing room in which to work.

[dferlemann]

I have always feel the old skeuomorphism UI is a pretty good design. It's quite unique and doesn't give me "color panic attack" because it has depth perception... I like Flat UI that are simple and clean, like few of Microsoft design these days. That's why I don't think iOS 7 gets it.

I think Apple is trying to capture low-end market using iPhone 5c (well... China), yet the production is not efficient enough to make it significantly cheaper. It's also a failure because Apple consumers are not that price sensitive. In addition to gold version of iPhone 5s (for the vain), and flat UI I upgraded last night, if their only innovation is finger print scanner, I'm not impressed at all at Apple this year.

[threeseed]

In what bizarre universe does the 5C reek of insecurity ? The easy road would have been to release a cheap iPhone.

But instead Apple chose to price it the same as the previous iPhone 5 and expand their margins.

[corresation]

The 5C is a very cheap phone, where cheap is $0 on a contract. That is the pricing that Apple is talking about right now, as the North American market is overwhelmingly driven by contracts.

The 5C is built cheap. It has old, high-yield silicon, a plastic case, and a small screen. It is almost certainly cheaper to manufacture than, for instance, a Nexus 4 (which, as much as Apple wants to criticize "junk", is one hell of a well built device for $199, no contract). Where Apple needs to compete with cheap I have every belief that they will do what is necessary with the pricing of the 5C.

[officemonkey]

>small screen

The 5c has the same size screen as every other Apple phone.

[corresation]

And? What is your point?

[officemonkey]

Apple did not give the 5C a "small screen" to save money. Saying that a "small screen" is evidence that the 5C is cheap is misleading.

[naterator]

I assume he was talking not just about UI functionality, but UI look and feel. In that later respect, MS and Google definitely were ahead of Apple. Hell, the design trend is even called "the metro look" by some in the design community.