The thing is that the previous years of invites haven't really had any deeper meaning, going back to 2010 or so. They've just been getting more and more stylish in representing "a lot of apps".
2010: Tube tiled with app icons
2011: Apple logo "window" into space tiled with app icons
2012: Apple logo made up of translucent round rects (stylized app icons) of various colors.
2013: Translucent round rects stacked on top of each other
I was thinking of an exception but it turns out it was instead a poster they put on the outside of the Yerba Buena Center [http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/09/yerba-buena-stretched-ic...] - the background was a load of stretched iPhone apps - hinting at them 'stretching' the iPhone to create iPhone 5.
That's been the case as far as WWDC, but other press events have had strong hints in the invitation. It could be that this is one such invitation—or maybe not? That's the fun of watching Apple. :)
There has been, to an extent, with other Apple events. The 'Let's talk iPhone' event [1] showed 4 app icons which basically said the date, time, ___location and the fact that it was to do with the phone itself.
Exactly, that came to my mind too. Specifically, Harmattan's in-built apps came with color schemes for broad categories: blueish for communication, orangish for productivity, purplish for media etc.
It seems that Apple has already begun a similar and slightly more subtle approach in iOS 6 with their colored status bars. Communication apps (Messages, Contacts, Phone, Mail) have a blue status bar; Information apps (Safari, Weather, Stocks) have a black status bar. I could see Apple expanding upon this design premise to subdivide apps into their respective content areas like Harmattan.
I'm not a designer, and especially not one with skills in color taste...but what would be the point of this? I mean, this splash of color is helpful for the Facebook and Twitter apps, which feature streams that can be mistaken for each other and also for the times in which I've opened an in-app browser window.
But for Apple's core apps, such as the Map app, it's pretty clear that I'm in the Map app and not in Messages. Furthermore, Facebook and Twitter have about 3-4 years of color-branding experience on their side...in that, I automatically recognize their respective shades of blue as belonging to them.
In addition, this color-splash for core apps seem to add a few negative consequences:
1. It couples colors to apps in a way that may be detrimental for the operating experience in general...for example, if I've been "trained" to think that "green" means "Message" app...that causes a bit of a disjoint for third-party messaging apps that do not use green.
2. Will "danger" buttons (such as "Delete") no longer be red, in the case that one of the core apps has red as its splash color?
3. Will the use of color be so critical in distinguishing the core apps that color blind users will operate at a disadvantage?
Honestly, if Apple releases an entire new look for UIKit without breaking retro-compatibility, I think the iOS team can be commended as one of the most impressive engineering teams in the world.
Why? Apps have already pretty well silo'd off their designs from the base looks and feel of iOS, and the ones that still rely heavily on it will probably be grandfathered in with the old look.
My guess is the core UI (home screen, title bar, alerts, notification center) will simply get a face lift, while individual apps will need to update to take advantage. I doubt we'll see a Metro style overhaul.
The Play Store on Android is designed exactly this way as well. I don't really have any strong opinions on whether it's good or bad design, but it's interesting to see the top mobile OSes start to converge in this direction.
It would be nice if the WWDC invite could somehow be interpreted as having anything at all to do with their PC products and/or their OSX operating system.
Not only does it appear not to, but prior to this comment, the string "osx" is not in this comment thread anywhere.
Yeah I don't give two shits about the new iOS stuff. However I'm in the market for a new laptop and a I want a retina macbook. These rumors of the hardware refresh are killing me.
Clearly Microsoft has started this trend toward flat design and away from skeuomorphic design. Mcrosoft calls this authenticly digital" in their talks and documentation on the metro design language [1].
It's funny that blogs and articles about this upcoming change never even mention Microsoft or Metro. Apple copying Microsoft creates cognitive dissonance [2], it is counter to the strong belief that Apple is the industry leader in design.
This colour scheme seems possible to me, especially with the latest iPod Touch (and Nano) colour schemes and the rumoured iPad and iPad Mini bodies that pictures emerged of a few months ago. I wonder in the hardware refresh in November will reflect the new colour scheme? I'd like a more colourful device range.
I can't help but notice these layered colors look like transparent cellophane. Maybe this is the metaphor, app controls, etc, are reflective transparencies layered atop data?
I know its a little odd, but im hoping they take design cues from the password entry screen on the iPad, thats is by far and away my preferred aesthetic for the OS. Its pretty much perfect for its job, visually attractive, simple, uncluttered, easy to use and does precisely the job it was meant to do.
It could be simpler, but I think that would detract from it.
I was actually just thinking today how I hope they don't switch to opaque folder icons. While it would look less cluttered and adittedly nice, I find the visual cues as to what apps are contained in the folder far too useful.
I really hope the changes aren't extreme. I'm not a tech geek and I work in finance in a non-technology role (I'm only on HN for my consumer-level interest in tech, and the conversation here is better than other forums like reddit). I am pretty much the mainstream consumer and I actually like iOS a lot as it is. I hope Apple aren't making changes for the easily bored tech geek/pundit crowd who require change for the sake of change. They're not idiots so I'm confident that whatever changes are made will be well thought out, I'm just a tiny bit concerned because the only people on the web that are vocal about it are the tech geeks.
I think I'm representative of the engineering tech type. I'm looking forward to some UI updates to help refresh the look of the product. I love the hardware, but after seeing and using Windows phones with the Metro UI and recent improvements in Android, there's a lot in iOS that's dated.
I'd like to see a rethink of how certain things like notifications are accessed. Swiping should be from the bottom, not the top. It's very hard to stretch one handed to access it. We should be able to set custom default apps. Being able to have micro views in apps that can display on the lock screen would be great.
So I'm with you, I don't like change for the sake of change. But as a 5 year iOS user myself, there's definitely room for some updates.
As yet I'm not aware of any circumstance where Apple has been reasonably accused of catering to techies. They polish for the masses (which is a good thing, imo, because their stuff ends up being better even for geeks). I wouldn't worry too much. They might change the UI, but it will probably just be a matter of adapting to a new look, not a paradigm shift in how you use stuff. You'll be fine.
I think the iOS team is facing a tough (and interesting) problem. They need to keep the edge they have in terms of app quantity and specially quality, so introducing big changes that break or degrade how apps look or behave and require big changes by developers can jeopardize their advantage.
On the other hand change in unavoidable. They cannot stop in time. Each iOS version that gets released with minimal changes is another catch up that will need to take place in a later version. The more changes are delayed the bigger they get. Android and even Windows Phone are moving forward and so needs Apple.
I think that there can be a certain feeling inside Apple that is not exactly change aversion but maybe is something close. They got iPhone so right and had so much success with it that maybe there is some fear that introducing significant changes can mess things up...
Look, there is simply no chance that Apple is going with flat UI and color coded icons. The changes wont be extreme, Apple is not going to fire their graphics department so they can implement flat squares. Yes they will get rid of the kitch.
Think how many peoples' apps would break if they went to Flat UI, think how many users they would alienate? Think how iOS is supposed to have some kinship with OS X design ethos. Is anything in OS X flat?
Linen is staying. Drop shadows, gloss and rounded corners are staying.
Apple isn't going to go Metro-flat, but the next version of iOS will definitely be flatter.
The OS X comparison you are making is bad because before now Jonathan Ive wasn't in charge of user-interface design, Scott Forstall was. Both of them have drastically different aesthetic design tastes.
It's well known that Jonathan Ive finds textures such as the linen and corinthian leather tacky. They will be removed.
2010: Tube tiled with app icons
2011: Apple logo "window" into space tiled with app icons
2012: Apple logo made up of translucent round rects (stylized app icons) of various colors.
2013: Translucent round rects stacked on top of each other