Tag: scott forstall

Post-Forstall iOS changes

/ Dave Caolo / 4 Comments

Now that Scott Forstall is out at Apple and Jony Ive has increased influence over iOS, I’ve assembled a list of iOS changes I’d like to see. Of course, I don’t know if Forstall had direct influence over any of these features, nor do I know if Ive can/will change them. But a guy can dream.

  1. The colored status bar. I’ve written about my aversion to this change at length, so I’ll only say that I find it distracting and unnecessary. There’s no need for it and I can’t not notice it.
  2. All the flippin’ leather. Find My Friends goes overboard with the Corinthian leather. I’d like to see it disappear.
  3. The Passbook delete animation. Scott seemed wonderfully pleased with this when he demonstrated it and I suspect it was his doing. Yes it’s fun the first time you see it. After that, you just want to delete the card. That is, if you have any…
  4. Passbook improvements. Passbook is confusing because, when you launch it for the first time, it does nothing. There should be a demo card in there for users to play with.

Would you add anything that I’ve missed?

Will Apple alter skeuomorphic apps?

/ Dave Caolo

Now that Scott Forstall is out at Apple, I wonder if skeuomorphic apps like Contacts, Find My Friends and Reminders will be re-designed. According to Austin Carr at Fast Company, there was a lot of tension at Apple over skeuomorphic design choices:

 “Inside Apple, tension has brewed for years over the issue. Apple iOS SVP Scott Forstall is said to push for skeuomorphic design, while industrial designer Jony Ive and other Apple higher-ups are said to oppose the direction. ‘You could tell who did the product based on how much glitz was in the UI,’ says one source intimately familiar with Apple’s design process.

But before Forstall, it was Steve Jobs who encouraged the skeuomorphic approach, some say.”

Now that Forstall’s out and Ive — who’s reportedly opposed to skeuomorphic design — has taken over his duties, I wonder if less “glitzy” updates to apps like Find My Friends are in the works.