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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
> 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.
>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.
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.