iOS 7 faces delays due to Jony Ives’ massive graphic overhaul
When Jony Ives took over as the lead UI designer for iOS last year after Scott Forstall got the boot, most people were automatically thinking of a massive graphical overhaul for the next version of iOS, and it sounds like that’s the case. The launch of iOS 7 is being pushed back until September as Ives replaces the familiar pseudo-realistic page tears and stitches with a more modern, minimal and flat, almost Windows Metro-like design.
Citing sources “with knowledge of the matter”, Bloomberg suggests that Ive’s demands could see the software “at risk of falling behind,” as he pushes to scrub all traces of Forstall. Indeed, the sources explain that he’s been massively revamping iOS, “shunning realistic images” and “exploring more dramatic changes to the e-mail and calendar tools.” It sounds like, in other words, a major “screw you” to skeumorphism.
That fits with rumors that circulated earlier this week, when 9to5mac suggested that the next iteration of the mobile OS would banish real-life elements (iBooks looking like a wooden bookshelf, say), but also remove all elements of gloss and shine, too. The idea, so the rumors have it, is to make the software more sleek and usable going forwards, but, apparently, leave enough to be “familiar”.
Bloomberg also reports that Ive is methodically reviewing each and every new design for iOS 7, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the clusterfuck that was Apple Maps last year. Combine that—unsurprising—attention to detail with a complete overhaul, though, and it’s no shock to hear that the project is at risk of being delayed.
Notes