It looks like Apple is working hard to finish work on the next iteration of its mobile operating system, iOS 7, in time to preview it at the upcoming World Wide Developers Conference, scheduled to take place between June 10 and 14.
A new
report by All Things D cites anonymous sources to indicate that Apple has diverted additional engineering resources from the team working on its desktop operating system, OS X 10.9 (the next version of Apple's desktop OS), to ship iOS 7 on time. The move is similar to the company's decision to divert engineering efforts from OS X 10.5 to complete work on the iPhone in 2007.
The news reaffirms John Gruber's earlier statement, according to which, iOS 7 was running behind schedule, and that engineers had been pulled from the team working on OS X to work on it. Gruber had also added that iOS engineers with carry privileges were using some sort of polarising filter on their iPhone displays, to greatly decrease viewing angles, making it difficult for observers to see the 'apparently rather significant system-wide UI overhaul'. He had also hinted that Apple was likely to announce iOS 7 during the WWDC.
The new report also reiterates that iOS 7 would get an revamped UI that would be much simple compared to the current version of the OS. iOS 7, also said to be codenamed "Innsbruck," is
expected to sport a very flat look, getting rid of glossy icons and user interface elements, and skeumorphic designs, with design guru Jony Ive taking charge of the UI design of the OS, according to several reports.
iOS 7 is also reportedly getting a new icon set for native Apple apps and revamped tool bars, and tab bars among other UI elements across the OS. It's however uncertain if Apple would add settings toggles or some kind of widgets offering glance-able information to the OS. There's also talk of Apple introducing various swipe from left/ right style-options to bring different elements of the OS, much like the notifications center slides down from the top right now, but there's nothing certain on that front.