iOS - The Rant
So, from Windows Phone which I really like to the middle ground. iOS.
I could go on for days about iOS. At the end of the day, the good and the bad would probably ultimately balance out. And that is also iOS's biggest problem. iOS does nothing for me. It neither excites nor disappoints. For all people complain that Android is a rip-off of iOS... I often find myself feeling iOS is a rip-off of windows. At the end of the day it is a desktop full of static icons. I actually laughed when it was Microsoft who was the first to abandon this UX, as they were the ones who profited most from it in the past.
Anyway, I'll start with the bad. Like RIM before them, Apple ushered in a totally new era of mobile devices with iOS. Without RIM, smartphones would likely still just be slightly smarter feature phones, and without iOS we would have a radically different Android and a completely different eco-system. But like RIM, Apple became tied to their success.
Planned obsolescence failed. Yeah, they still replace the hardware every year. But the platform is what they're pushing now, and the platform isn't changing the way that the hardware (and underlying firmware/software) used to... heck the hardware isn't changing the way it used to either. Their OS hasn't fundamentally changed since release, and it is starting to feel and look dated. They have added features, they have fixed bugs, and they have provided minor improvements. Again, this is the identical problem RIM is having. RIM hasn't truly updated their OS UX in far too long. Where BB looks and feels outdated everywhere and feels out of place on a touch device, iOS is only currently suffering from that first point. And their premium price point just drives the users away quicker. Most jump ship to Android so that they can get a slightly different experience and keep many if not all of the apps they know and love.
Innovate or die. That is the nature of this business.
As a developer... and one not in it for money. I find iOS apalling. Apple has done their best to sugar coat Objective-C, and it must be working because boy oh boy are there lots of people willing to suffer through it. As a lover of watching software evolve, and thus a fan of watching programming languages evolve, Objective-C feels like a language trapped in the 80's. I'm not saying older programming languages aren't useful. In fact I prefer them in a very limited set of scenarios such as smaller libraries and smaller chunks of low level functionality. But we are talking about feature rich applications, with UI's and workflows and thousands of potential states. These are the places where you want those lower level libraries managing your memory so you're less prone to mistakes reusable frameworks to keep your investment time down. And those are luxuries Apple doesn't give you.
The good? I can go on about how I hate Apple's philosophy until the cows come home, and how with iOS they break virtually every tradition they've ever had. But they do use good hardware, many of their products charge you a premium (iPhone, laptops, desktops), but others are comparatively a steal including the iPod and iPad lineup. The design of their devices is outstanding. And iOS is probably the most intuitive touch first OS in mass circulation. The app selection, while not a core component of the OS is astounding and a valid point for consumers nonetheless.
I may have been brief in my praise, but you should concede that the pros still kind of balance out the cons. Not a bad choice, but if they don't start breaking out of their iOS mould, they'll go the way of black berry, or if they managed to stay prominent they'll be thought of like Microsoft with Windows.
I could go on for days about iOS. At the end of the day, the good and the bad would probably ultimately balance out. And that is also iOS's biggest problem. iOS does nothing for me. It neither excites nor disappoints. For all people complain that Android is a rip-off of iOS... I often find myself feeling iOS is a rip-off of windows. At the end of the day it is a desktop full of static icons. I actually laughed when it was Microsoft who was the first to abandon this UX, as they were the ones who profited most from it in the past.
Anyway, I'll start with the bad. Like RIM before them, Apple ushered in a totally new era of mobile devices with iOS. Without RIM, smartphones would likely still just be slightly smarter feature phones, and without iOS we would have a radically different Android and a completely different eco-system. But like RIM, Apple became tied to their success.
Planned obsolescence failed. Yeah, they still replace the hardware every year. But the platform is what they're pushing now, and the platform isn't changing the way that the hardware (and underlying firmware/software) used to... heck the hardware isn't changing the way it used to either. Their OS hasn't fundamentally changed since release, and it is starting to feel and look dated. They have added features, they have fixed bugs, and they have provided minor improvements. Again, this is the identical problem RIM is having. RIM hasn't truly updated their OS UX in far too long. Where BB looks and feels outdated everywhere and feels out of place on a touch device, iOS is only currently suffering from that first point. And their premium price point just drives the users away quicker. Most jump ship to Android so that they can get a slightly different experience and keep many if not all of the apps they know and love.
Innovate or die. That is the nature of this business.
As a developer... and one not in it for money. I find iOS apalling. Apple has done their best to sugar coat Objective-C, and it must be working because boy oh boy are there lots of people willing to suffer through it. As a lover of watching software evolve, and thus a fan of watching programming languages evolve, Objective-C feels like a language trapped in the 80's. I'm not saying older programming languages aren't useful. In fact I prefer them in a very limited set of scenarios such as smaller libraries and smaller chunks of low level functionality. But we are talking about feature rich applications, with UI's and workflows and thousands of potential states. These are the places where you want those lower level libraries managing your memory so you're less prone to mistakes reusable frameworks to keep your investment time down. And those are luxuries Apple doesn't give you.
The good? I can go on about how I hate Apple's philosophy until the cows come home, and how with iOS they break virtually every tradition they've ever had. But they do use good hardware, many of their products charge you a premium (iPhone, laptops, desktops), but others are comparatively a steal including the iPod and iPad lineup. The design of their devices is outstanding. And iOS is probably the most intuitive touch first OS in mass circulation. The app selection, while not a core component of the OS is astounding and a valid point for consumers nonetheless.
I may have been brief in my praise, but you should concede that the pros still kind of balance out the cons. Not a bad choice, but if they don't start breaking out of their iOS mould, they'll go the way of black berry, or if they managed to stay prominent they'll be thought of like Microsoft with Windows.
Comments
Post a Comment