> like copy & paste I think they want to get it right
This "they want to get it right" thing is nothing but apologetic stupidity.
Apple is not a magic company, they have a priority list and a limited number of resources to address that list.
Sometimes, features have to fall off the wayside. I suspect that copy and paste and notifications have been judged less important than other features, because frankly, Android's notifications have been perfect since day one, so it's not like there is no precedent.
Apple will always prioritize critical scenarios over nice to have. None of these things are technically difficult, it’s just time. I’m willing to believe they released too early, but at some point you have to start learning from real users.
The iPhone also didn't have copy and paste for a while. And the trade-off with more options is they're work to maintain and users are confused by them.
5 years of iOS work and the only thing you can find is "notification center"? It's not even a copy. It's not close to what it is on Android.
I just stop here. It doesn't make any sense to argue about this anymore. I just hope this copying just stops and everyone can have it's own innovative feature and not copied crap!
While the feature set may not have been perfectly filled, I think that you're highlighting areas where their 'perfect the first time' philosophy clashed with customer frustration. They hadn't figured out how to do copy/paste 'perfectly', so they didn't do it. Same with multitasking. While I agree, these things were not perfect even when they did launch, Apple has always preferred to leave out a feature than to push something out half baked. This is why they still haven't integrated NFC into the iPhone.
I don't see how any of these features are examples of Apple "suspending their priorities" (Assuming that means making sacrifices to design/usability). In most cases it is quite the opposite, where they delay the release of a feature like Copy/Paste or multi-tasking until they get it done the way they want. Apple was mocked consistently for not having these features, if they really cared about comparison charts wouldn't they have rushed something to market?
Same with adding carriers. It isn't like they chose AT&T for an ideological reason, they were just the most pliable carrier in 2007. A lot of the other stuff seems more like design choices you would make after using your product for a while e.g. notifications and the camera button.
If anything the most blatant "ripoffs" were of Camera+ more so than anything on Android, everything else seems like normal evolution.
i don't want to focus too much on why i think you're being downvoted but i would say it's probably because your message came across as quite reductive.
> engineers don't work on something that's useful for everyday users, instead prioritizing what they find exciting and cool
i get this, to some extent. i really do. but i don't think WebAuthn, sign in with apple, ios 14's recent microphone and camera usage indicators, etc. are not huge steps forward in terms of mobile privacy & security. (rough double negative. you get me.)
i am pretty sure Apple knows about everything you stated, and would wager they are developing, or at least R&D'ing, effective, polished, "Apple" solutions to these problems.
clipboard is a bit of an obscure one, but is absolutely a problem and must be addressed. but Apple is in the business of juggling user experience and privacy. it's quite difficult, because you don't want to get in the way of the user's intents and make things way hard to do. but you also don't want to make things so easy that bad actors can get away with bloody murder.
granted, they still can, if they really want, but it's way harder. and slowly apple is killing the mice. it's a cat and mouse game. i think they're doing exactly what they should be.
could they be doing more? hell yes. they should -always- strive to do more. but right now, this is better than last year, and the year before that, and the year... yknow.
Apple could've thrown copy and paste into the first iPhone, but they didn't because they didn't feel they had it right.
They might be in the process of actually designing an interface for formulas that actually expands the reach of such functionality. You know, something that the "I'm bad at math" crowd could actually dig into, make use of, and learn within.
If you release a basic not-that-hard-to-implement version of the functionality, it's WAY harder to drop in a new, innovative model afterwards. I think there's a lot of sense in waiting until they can get it right, if they're planning on doing something different with it--which, judging by the other UI departures they've made, I wouldn't be surprised if they are.
> Apple simply knows too much about good design to have made an app this awkward without it being intentional.
It is intentional. It's intended that Reminders is first and foremost a to-do list, hence the basic entry mode being entering a lists of things to do. Notice:
* You don't need to tap "+" to create a new task, you can tap the empty line at the end of a list
* Pressing the "return" key on the virtual keyboard drops you to a new task creation
Everything else (timed reminders, geofencing, notes, changing the list, changing the priority) is considered secondary. Reminders maps pretty directly to Mail's Todo lists.
tl;dr: "manual mode" reminders is a simple and fast todos list, whereas "automatic (siri)" reminders is a secretary taking your appointments, issues happen when trying to use one for the other.
The reason you couldn't cut and paste was that Apple doesn't release a feature until they polished it. They didn't let you make apps until they'd made the App Store, and there was a year of complaining, but when they finally did it they nailed it. Ditto cut and paste, which now works better on the iPhone than it does on anything else.
This is exactly what I meant by apple pushing their own agenda instead of making user experience the priority.
They are pushing this new notification thing which is pretty out of touch with how people actually use the phone--they think interacting directly from the notification is how people want to use it, when most people feel claustrophobic and would rather see the whole thing before making any action--and because of this, it introduces another step for people who just want to open the app and do the damn work
In some ways I think this is the environment Apple has cultivated (maybe not deliberately) over the years. Basic features like cut & paste are left out, and then announced in a later version to as though it's this great innovation. Not that this particular app is such a basic feature, but illustrates the reasons why there are so many single-function utility apps. And of course the danger of them for their developers, if they rely on them for their livelihood, is that Apple will at any moment swoop in and copy the most popular ones. For the record, I'm not sure there's anything wrong with that on its own, but there is when Apple doesn't let developers access iOS as deeply as they do themselves.
Maybe because it's possible on competing smartphones?
I was curious about the new features in IPhone OS 3 and decided to take a look at the list. Copy and paste? MMS? Voice memos? Search? You've got to be kidding me. The competition has had that stuff for ages.
If Apple couldn't deliver that stuff on day one that's fine, but it should have been released in an update shortly afterward. It's absurd that 2 years later people are still waiting for basic functionality that's been available elsewhere the whole time.
Don't get me wrong. Although I choose not to use the iPhone, I still like it. Despite the fact that it does some very basic things badly or not at all, it does have some neat features and has driven the competition to work a little harder. The iPhone made mobile app stores commonplace. The 'find my phone' and 'remote wipe' features are very cool and I haven't seen those on another phone. I'm looking forward to how the competition responds.
What does bother me, though, is all the Apple apologists coming out of the woodwork to brush all of their faults under the rug. Apple does some good things and some not so good things. In my opinion, a lot of the features in this update are things that people should not still be waiting for. I also think we don't need to be in the habit of excusing the lack of background applications. We're so fond of innovation, yet this missing features prevents the kind of innovation happening on other platforms.
This is dreadful. I'm not an Apple user, but I suspect Android is not far from implementing similar "features". No way this is just "for technical reasons", it's clearly an agenda.
Ask those Mac users if they're using the platform because their job requires them. You may be surprised.
I haven't ignored that Apple disagrees with me, that's a fact, since they shipped the toggle. I'm arguing how they should spend their developer's time.
>Would a better notification system be developed within that time?
How about basic functionality, like being able to close a notification without some serious mouse gymnastic? That bug is 3 years old.
Or having your music player display how much of the song has been played without requiring a hover, like any sensible music player has done since forever, iTunes included.
Or a System Preferences/Settings that's not a flabbergasting disaster.
I've been asking these people for the merits of Apple's decisions for years, and all I ever get in response is "Apple knows best, I don't need these features."
This "they want to get it right" thing is nothing but apologetic stupidity.
Apple is not a magic company, they have a priority list and a limited number of resources to address that list.
Sometimes, features have to fall off the wayside. I suspect that copy and paste and notifications have been judged less important than other features, because frankly, Android's notifications have been perfect since day one, so it's not like there is no precedent.
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