iPhone Update Fails to Exceed Consumer Expectations

For nearly 100 days, iPhone users have been waiting for the new software update – iOS 7. While Apple has done their best to reinvent the design for users to utilize creative new features, the overall update lacks a structure that favors organization. Old content appears the same but packaged in a new way. This allows users to feel a rush of excitement at the idea of having something “new” – not to mention free. All one has to do is plug their phone to a charger, ensure Wi-Fi is connected and in no time they’ll be cruising through the bubble-like applications, a fluorescent shade surely stimulating to the eye. However, when it comes down to the facts, what aspects of the software are truly different?

Besides the convenient ability to swipe apps closed at the easy lift of a finger and perhaps, the creative, concise ability to access our music, flashlight and calculator at the same time – I’m weary of iOS 7’s true benefits for iPhone users.

As a college student, it is important for me to have an organized phone because it’s not only used to contact people but compute my general schedule, meetings and e-mails. If I cannot control how to access these important tools, my whole week begins to feel out of control. What I was expecting from the new software update was an improved, organized system. Yet, the app updates still collide with the message and phone notifications I receive. A missed call from my mother disappears among the news updates from CNN. It’s incredibly overwhelming.

With Apple’s brand-new software, I’ve began to wonder about each company’s priorities when updating their systems. Do they concentrate on the substance of what they’re offering or its appearance? While it’s obviously important that the content has changed for the serious iPhone lovers, this has seemed to take the backseat to its visual aspects.

The long anticipated wait seemed to fall short for me. Has my anticipation been building up just so I can FaceTime now without video? The issue with editing a mass produced product is that they have to pretend it is changed without really changing anything.

It’s a complex and silly idea but people love the having something new without the hardship of actually adjusting. Apple, a company still growing and prospering for their inventive nature, is well aware of this fact. It does not seem that this will ever change as long as iPhone sales continue to soar.

Consumers are always hungrily searching for the next new (and better) product without considering what’s even being sold to them. An update for a cute keypad is exciting but hardly necessary.

mbisha@ramapo.edu