Apple borrowing from OS X team to expedite iOS 7 redesign

With Jony Ive leading the iOS team for a much-needed overhaul of the interface and design elements, we hear that work on the next version of the iPhone OS has reached a crescendo.

Apple’s iOS 7 is said to be a significant overhaul of the OS that is seen on iPhones, iPads and touchscreen iPods. AllThingsD reports that Apple is gathering additional engineers and UI designers from within the company to get a preview of the OS ready for the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June.

What changes will iOS 7 bring to this iconic interface

Ive, who is the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Cupertino, is overseeing UI design. Sources say the new design is sparse yet elegant, which is something of an Ive trademark. iOS 7 will reportedly have a flatter design that eschews skeumorphism to go for a simpler aesthetic. “You know Game Center’s green felt craps table? Well, goodbye, Circus Circus,” another source added.

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With Apple not having changed much in the OS’s look and feel since it debuted in 2007, critics feel it is time to give iOS some new UI elements as well as a redesign. This is especially true at a time when new OSes are arriving on the scene. Whatever the changes, one can expect Apple to retain the stellar hardware-software optimisation and the intuitiveness of the UI that are so crucial in the overall iPhone experience. “The key question here is whether those changes deliver on the core Apple promise of improving customers’ ability to make productive use of the device and deliver a clearly superior experience,” Forrester analyst Charles Golvin told AllThingsD. “Presumably they don’t need the flashy stuff to realise that vision,” he added