

Disappointments of iOS 6 - bane
http://mashable.com/2012/06/16/disappointments-ios-6/

======
jinushaun
The author confuses feature fragmentation (iOS) with API fragmentation
(Android). I'd much rather miss out on Siri than not be able to install the
latest hot new app because I'm running an old version of the OS.

I find that #1 and #2 are the only reasonable complaints. They're playing
catch up to Android nowadays instead of leading as they did 5 years ago. Even
though I'm an Apple fanboy and Android has a lot of problems, I can no longer
automatically recommend iOS to someone switching from a basic phone.

My primary concern with iOS is that, now that it is an "established" OS, Apple
has fallen into the feature-driven update cycle that plagues a lot of software
and hurts usability: adding new features to sell an upgrade instead of fixing
old features. I fear that iOS will turn into Windows. There are so many
interaction designs that, while amazing, beautiful and intuitive in 2007, are
no longer that. iOS has accumulated a lot of cruft over the past 5 years and,
more than new features, I'd like to see Apple reinvent the phone again.

------
gks
"We're stuck with it for another 18 months"

uh... I'm not so sure this is a "problem."

I'd rather be "stuck" with a solid, stable, and useful operating system on a
device that needs to be reliable and always available.

Am I disappointed in iOS6? Yes, but not necessarily am I concerned that I'm
"stuck" with it.

Primarily my disappointments are pretty geeky.

1) Not enough major advancements (inter-app communication)

2) It seems a bit weird to introduce so many non-developer features in the
keynote, at a developer conference.

Regardless, I don't think we're "stuck" with it. I think they need to up the
game for iOS 7 though, and if they don't then we may have a bit of a problem.

~~~
josteink
I think the authors point is that Apple used to _lead_ , but with iOS 6 you
can clearly see Apple being the laggard.

That makes him uneasy about Apple's (and iOS's) future. Remember how Microsoft
used to kick ass? Remember how they used to drive/dictate how the entire PC
industry was supposed to run? You remember that?

Slowly but surely they stopped doing that. Anti-trust lawsuits didn't help
either. And where has that landed Microsoft today?

A cautious company, almost afraid of releasing a new version of MSIE, a web-
browser, a minor component of their OS, which isn't 100% standards-compliant
and with only the correct draft-specifications included, because last they
they released something which did something differently than Firefox, the
entire internet hated them for it.

A software company afraid of releasing software. At this point they are a
turtle hiding in their shell. Not a very interesting thing to follow.

Apple isn't quite there yet, but it has been clear from the last years' (lack
of) progress and development, that iOS is at a clear standstill. It makes you
wonder why and what the future holds.

So his point was not if iOS 6 is terrible or not. His complaint is basically
that he expected _better_ from Apple. And now Apple is seemingly no longer
able to deliver that.

------
batista
> _"We're stuck with it for another 18 months"_

Better than being stuck for 4 years, are most Android users are, with the
majority of devices out there, even new ones, not having the latest version
(or not even the one BEFORE that).

~~~
justinschuh
Four years? Do you expect anyone to take that kind of hyperbole seriously?
Android 1.0 was released just shy of four years ago, in September of 2008. Are
you seriously trying to claim people are buying 1.0 devices? And yes,
Gingerbread is the by far most common version in use right now, but it's
barely 18 months old. Meanwhile ICS is fast becoming the norm for new devices.

Seriously, Android fragmentation is an issue, but you'd be better served to
keep your criticism at least in the same universe as objective reality.

~~~
batista
> Android 1.0 was released just shy of four years ago, in September of 2008.

Well, two+ years then, although it seemed much longer in my mind. I remember
having an Android phone back in the day, I've had 3 versions of iOS and 2 iOS
devices since then.

According to Wikipedia, 20% still use Froyo (mid 2010) and 65% use Gingerbread
(late 2010).

> _Meanwhile ICS is fast becoming the norm for new devices._

With only 7% using it as of now, despite it being 8 months out already, I
wouldn't hold my breath. And even if it catches one 6 months from now, the
next version will also be similarly stalled, and so on.

~~~
justinschuh
>Well, two+ years then, although it seemed much longer in my mind. I remember
having an Android phone back in the day, I've had 3 versions of iOS and 2 iOS
devices since then.

That's still absurd hyperbole. You're claiming that more than half of Android
users are on a 2+ year-old version, but the figures you're citing show 75% are
running an 18 month-old or newer version.

>With only 7% using it as of now, despite it being 8 months out already, I
wouldn't hold my breath. And even if it catches one 6 months from now, the
next version will also be similarly stalled, and so on.

That number is for devices seen in circulation by Google Play. It makes sense
that you'd see lower numbers for the newest version. Existing user haven't
upgraded phones yet and old inventory takes time to clear out. More
importantly, most handset manufacturers haven't been through a holiday buying
season with ICS yet (because Verizon had a Samsung exclusive but shipped after
last year's holiday buying peak).

So, I appreciate the gist of your argument, but you undermine your point with
hyperbole and outright falsehoods. Objectively speaking, fragmentation and
version updates are a difficult problem for any manufacturer, and even Apple
is not immune. For example, I had an iPhone 3g that became pretty useless
after the iOS 4 update, meanwhile I had over a year left on my contract. All
in all it was a very bad customer experience even though I did receive the
newest version, whereas I'm extremely happy with my Galaxy Nexus running ICS.

