[throwaway98604]

It's only partially about taking the morally high ground; I'm afraid Apple is going to start losing significant market share.

i.e. I always hear of friends and colleagues who switch from the iPhone to Android (and not vice-versa). And from what I've seen Google is also actually making significant improvements Android's API instead of Apple's method of just making aesthetic changes (and some argue making it worse).

[jemeshsu]

You must be kidding if you think iOS 7 is just aesthetic changes. So Apple iOS engineers took one year leave and left their designer colleges update iOS 6 to new look?

[throwaway98604]

Significant consumer-facing iOS 7 Changes:

    UI
    Inter-app audio
    Background fetch
    P2P (arguably, this isn't a new feature, it's essentially a wrapper to dns_sd)
    Airdrop

Significant KitKat changes:

    *Actual* SMS/MMS API
    Storage access framework
    Printing framework

Plus, Inter-app audio and Airdrop are essentially wrappers to P2P (which is also a wrapper to dns_sd), so the only real added feature was background fetch.

You could say the same about KitKat (except for SMS), so really it boils down to this:

iOS 7:

    UI
    Background fetch

KitKat:

    SMS/MSS API

Which Android still wins, IMO.

Plus, Android already has way more features than iOS already, not to mention the ability to install unsigned software, NFC, custom lockscreens/launchers and who knows what else.

[jemeshsu]

Both are mature OS, ground breaking features are not expected. I'm not familiar with Android, but iOS tends to introduce new and improved API in each release that makes app development easier, there is lesser need to go down to core OS to develop your app. Beside what you mentioned, new in iOS 7: TextKit for fine typography control makes it easier to write text layout and editor; SpriteKit which is higher level framework for writing 2/2.5D games; game controller framework for standardise interface to game controller; 64-bit support; Open GL ES 3.

[eonil]

Do you really sure that your users want them?

It can win just for your hobby or taste, but not for end users. And end-users define the business. Not your taste.

[throwaway98604]

I mean, the only advantage the iPhone has over Android at this point is the brand name. Android wins in all other categories IMO.

[threeseed]

Apple made significant API changes as well.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/releasenotes/General...

[Apocryphon]

Has Apple lost market share in terms of users who purchase apps or make in-app purchases?