Why iOS 7 is the most important bet Apple recent years

Today, the owners of millions of iPhones and iPads will be asked to update iOS with a touch of a finger. On Friday, millions of new iPhone owners will begin to receive their pastel rainbow coloured phones already up-to-date. In these two days, the world will be introduced to iOS 7. And how they react will be crucial for the future of Apple more than it could be for any other phone. – ventuno

 

by Giuseppe Catalfamo

 

This is a pro-Apple article. And also pro-Android. Calm down.

 

Last week, Apple introduced two new iPhones to the world. One of these is nearly identical to the current one, the other has a slightly different appearance. Apple will sell millions of both of them. And both will be far less important and critical than iOS 7.

 

A lot has already been written about the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C and when they are released, as normal, there will be a crowd of people huddled together to receive the "five" (in all senses) from the staff of the Apple Stores all around the world. But unless those people have paid special attention to Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, they won’t have the slightest idea of what they are buying. It is not "my" teasing, Americans themselves make fun of American "sheep", and Jimmy Kimmel makes a spectacular example:

 

The iPhone of last year:

 

The iPhone of this year:

 

But seriously an iPhone is not only an iPhone, it’s more than a collection of pieces nailed together in the form of a square. It’s what’s inside, and how you can interact with it, that matters. And iOS 7, which will be released either tomorrow or in conjunction with the new phones later this month, is the most important change that Apple has made for a long time.

 

The iPhone was an example of consistency, of family-feeling, in the design of devices in recent years. This was neither random nor a failure, but simply experience and a marketing strategy. The iPhone 4S was identical to the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 seemed different, but only slightly so that you can easily identify it with clarity as the usual iPhone. The iPhone 5S will be exactly like the iPhone 5.

 

2 + 2 = 4. Easy, understandable, familiar.

 

Apple keeps its hardware, the iPhone, consistent because to do anything else would be crazy. Six years after its release, it remains one of the most popular pervasive consumer products of all time. If your product is universally loved and insanely profitable, there is very little incentive to change dramatically once every ten years, let alone every year. Until people stop buying iPhones, the only thing that Apple needs to do is to make enough micro-adjustments to make it seem current. This is what it does. It is not a criticism. It’s business.

 

The iPhone 5C is the old iPhone 5 but in a package that is much less expensive to produce. If it were to sell millions of copies it would be an example of good business practice. Truly!

 

The consistency was also maintained thanks to iOS. Apple’s mobile operating system has gradually added features over the years, but was always cautiously behind the competition. Almost every iteration of iOS was quite similar to the previous one, to avoid frightening the users. And for a good reason! The hallmark of iOS is that it teaches users how to use a cell phone. It’s intuitive, it appears to have been made for "knowing how to already use it". Our mother can use it without having to call for help.

 

And then there is iOS 7.

 

Why this revolution? Because unlike the same iPhone, iOS suddenly felt boring and stale next to Android and Windows Phone. It has become a thorn in the side of Apple that was so big that the old architect of iOS, Scott Forstall, was fired (also for other reasons …). And iOS fell under the domain of Apple design guru Sir Jony Ive.

 

Apple needed to change iOS in such a dramatic way for all the reasons that led it to never changing the iPhone. It was losing. Accepting the challenge, then, they decided to take a big risk.

 

Consumer technology has reached a point where the hardware is last in the decision-making structure. The decision of which smartphone to buy doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you can do with it, whether it’s iOS or Android, with what kind of applications can be run, what kind of ecosystem you are joining. This is the part that Apple is changing, and is the first big change since the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. It won’t be the last.

 

That’s why it doesn’t matter which phones Apple announce, whether they have fingerprint recognition, a chip under the skin or a chemical analyser. The phones that Apple present are in no way as important as the software that will make them work. It’s iOS 7 that will convince people to buy iPhones in the coming years, and iOS 7 that will run iOS millions of phones that are all around the world.

 

It doesn’t matter if you use Android or iOS. If one stops evolving, in the long-term also the other will stop innovating.

 

Do you agree with this analysis?

 

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Giuseppe Catalfamo (@Joe_Catalfamo) is interested in technological transfer towards companies and people. Normally he deals with RFId, mobile, internet and startup while the rest of the time is spent studying everything that is "cutting edge". Professor of the Dark Arts in University, he is currently working on a PhD. Although a management engineer, he enjoys talking about algorithms and stuff like that.