John Gruber on last week’s Apple event:
The march of time is inexorable. Product by product, keynote by keynote, we are seeing the post-Steve Jobs Apple emerge. The “This never would have happened if Jobs were still around” vein of Apple punditry will be with us for decades to come. Most of it is deeply misguided. But some of it rings true. Apple today is a different company than it would be if Jobs were still there. No one denies this, inside or outside the company.
But what are those differences? I’m going to go out on a limb and name one: iOS 7.
I’m not going to pretend to know Jobs’s taste — no one could, that’s what made Steve Jobs Steve Jobs — but I can certainly make a guess, and my guess is that he would not have supported this direction.
I think this is really interesting. Makes me wonder what John means exactly by ‘direction’? Aesthetics? Dynamics? Complexity? Lack of stitched leather?
I think anyone who knows anything about tech is aware that iOS is the lynchpin for modern Apple’s success. To move that platform forward—with confidence and sureness—must be incredibly daunting.