Usually, no later than September, Apple should announce a new iPhone and also iOS 7. One of the first true mobile operating systems, iOS, will celebrate this year its 6th birthday.
In 2007 when iPhone OS(which later changed into iOS) was released everybody was excited. It was the mobile operating system that we all wanted to use, but now, 6 years later we couldn’t say the same thing loud. And that’s mainly because the interface is actually the same, with improvements and new features here and there.
For the regular user that only take advantage of the iTunes apps that’s not a problem but for some gadget lovers it is a big one. As technlogy progressed, users started to want to do more and more things with their phones. And among these things, being able to customize your own mobile experience was on top of them. Google acknowledged this and made Android more and more custmomizable. With this ocassion, users started to migrate from iOS to Android, which by the way was mocked by everybody 2-3 years ago.
Apple saw this change and started to turn things around. The first signal was the departure of Scott Forstall in late October. At that time Tim Cook explained that the move was made because he deeply believes that “collaboration is essential for innovation”.
At this time it’s hard to compare Android and iOS. Both operating systems are stable and snappy, but unfortunately Android has a far more modern interface and an unlimited numbers of customizations. For those who don’t have time to play and customize their devices and just want a smartphone/tablet free of bugs which has a rich app ecosystem, iOS is the answear.
But if everything it’s perfect for Apple and iOS works wonderful, why Apple replaced Scott Forstall. Besides the same look and feel of the OS, Android market share rise might be another plausible reason. I don’t think Apple took Android seriously 2 years ago before Matias Duarte and his team joined Google. Now, I believe they got the message and iOS will start to align with Android in terms of interface and maybe customizations. Apple have great ideas and I think they are smart enough to listen their users. And the interesting fact is that millions of users are jailbreaking/unlocking their iOS devices to enjoy more features.
iOS 7 needs to be different because Apple needs to show everybody they are still aiming the technological progress. Apple’s iOS looks right as Nokia Symbian looked years ago when iOS and Android started to rise. It’s just a matter of time until loyal users will betray iOS and for a company like Apple this would not be a good thing. If iPhone lead the way for smartphones in 2007 and the iPad did the same for tablets later, iOS could be a game changer for all mobile operating systems.