Among Steve Jobs ’ many philosophies at Apple was give customer what they postulate , not necessarily what they want . He famously say , “ hoi polloi do n’t get laid what they desire until you show it to them . That ’s why I never bank on market research . Our project is to read things that are not yet on the page . ”
At WWDC this week , Apple gave us a ton of features that were already on the page . Several chapter back , in fact . One of the main feature of Io 18 is a whole newfangled level of customization that permeates the entire interface , from the Home Screen layout to the Lock Screen , icons , and the Control Center . It does n’t even have a fancy name , it just falls under the umbrella ofCustomization .
iOS 18 literally looks so good!pic.twitter.com / A0yj1Qs4AG
On the surface , it ’s all upright . Apple exploiter have been clamoring for Android - like customization for years and Apple dead delivered it in iOS 18 :
All of these have been on wish tilt for year , and for the first time ever , your iPhone is as endlessly customizable as an Android phone , maybe even more so . Out of the box seat , you could customize the look of your iPhone ’s Home Screens in a wide variety of ways — but after seeing what some former beta adopters have made , maybe it ’s not such a well mind to give users so many choices .
This is not a jailbroken iPhone .. This is iOS 18 . 😮 💨 pic.twitter.com / l9BwX9GGGJ
Of course , as with all options , you’re able to ignore whatever you do n’t desire ; but so many options create unneeded optic chaos and confusedness . Where Control Center used to be a controlled lean of buttons and luger , it ’s now several page of alternative with a somewhat unclear hierarchy . We ’ve been necessitate for this layer of customization on our iPhones for years , but now that we have it , it feel cheap , convoluted , and a slight un - orchard apple tree - like .
It goes back to Steve ’s mantra : what you think you want is n’t always what you need . The feature that mother the most buzz — iPhone Mirroring , Safari Highlights , Math Notes — aren’t thing we knew we want , but will likely become part of our workflow . That ’s Apple at its good . This other stuff that have users change the colour of image ? Not so much .
But that ’s how it is these day . Now , Apple tries its good to strike a balance between what exploiter want and what they call for , while still delivering delightful and rotatory features . Tim Cook has delivered some incredible mathematical product and extend to carve out new and exciting path for Apple , most notably with Apple Intelligence , another characteristic of iOS 18 .
It ’s insufferable to imagine what Apple would wait like under Steve Jobs in 2024 . I ’d like to think he ’d be on board with Apple Intelligence , Vision Pro , even the many Apple Pencils . But one thing I know for certain — he’d never allow us tint our icons .
