Scott Hurff:

Apple's iMessage upgrades show how the company is embracing the ways people have evolved their use of iMessage, and shows a bold willingness to adapt the “most frequently used app on iOS” to the new daily habits of its customers.

This update shows that Apple is keenly aware of the changing habits of their customer base, and I think this is going to be the most important change in iOS since Apple added “swipe up” access to the Camera in iOS 6.

These design details are so, so good.

On top of this, there are two more great additions that I love:

• temporary location sharing, which makes coordinating nights out with friends a lot easier.
• the ability to send/receive text messages on my Mac.

For the first time ever, I'm considering giving up on Google Voice/Hangouts and committing to the new iMessage.

Depending on how techie you are, Apple's WWDC announcements last week left you with one of these impressions:

• “No new iPhone?! LAME.”
• “PATHETIC. Android has had all of that for years!”
• "HOLY. SHIT. MINDBLOWN."

If you're in the first group, you're most likely a consumer and not a developer. We have to remember, WWDC — short for World Wide Developer Conference — is a developer conference. For developers. Not consumers.

If you're in the second group, I got news for you: everyone copies. That's how technology moves forward. The best ideas are copied, remixed, refined, and evolve. As long as consumers win, why do we still need to argue about this?

If you're in the last group, you are either an iOS developer or an Apple enthusiast, and have a solid understanding/appreciation of how Apple does things.

As a developer and user experience designer, my job entails identifying specific user problems, researching/testing the right solutions, and delivering them to the right people at the right time. My passion lies in finding what makes new technology meaningful to real people, not just early adopting techies like me.

With that said, I'll try to break down all the developer stuff into real world examples for you.

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Buzz around the fabled "iWatch" has really hit fever-pitch levels since 9to5Mac's big scoop. Here's an overview of everything that we know, what we should expect, and what I think could happen.

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Microsoft's biggest apologist finally admits that Windows 8 is a total disaster.

If you look back over the decades at the many high-level complaints that have been leveled at Windows, one in particular sticks out: Unlike Mac OS, in particular, Windows has always attempted to satisfy every possible customer need, and as such it often provides multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. The result is a messy product, if you will, one that lacks the singular vision that is typically associated with the Mac and Apple's other products.

There's no reason to mince words: This criticism has always been valid. And if you were to simplify the issue down to a sound bite, you might make the following claims: Windows was designed by a committee. The Mac, by contrast, often feels like it was designed by a single person.

I still believe there's hope for Microsoft and I totally agree with what Thurrott proposes:

I always accepted the messy bits of Windows in the past because the system addressed such a large audience. But given the way things are going, Windows should evolve into a system that is laser targeted to the customers who will in fact continue using it regularly. That's mostly business users, but even when you look at the consumers who will use Windows, that usage is almost entirely productivity related. Windows should focus on that. On getting work done. On an audience of doers. Job one should be productivity.

Everyone likes to compare Apple or the Mac to BMW and, you know what? Fair enough, and if that's true then Windows is obviously GM, the overly-big messy GM of a decade ago. But Microsoft can't afford for Windows to be like GM anymore—just like GM couldn't, for whatever that's worth. Maybe Windows needs to be more like GMC, the part of GM that only makes trucks (and truck-based SUVs). After all, while many people choose to use a truck for basic transportation, they're really designed and optimized for work. You know, as should be Windows.

You can't please everybody, Microsoft. So stop trying. It's time to double down on the people who actually use your products, not some mythical group of consumers who will never stop using their simpler Android and iOS devices just because you wish they would.

Cringly:

What's important to you in the development of a product?

Steve Jobs:

One of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left, John Scully got a very serious disease.

And that disease — I've seen other people get it too — it's the disease of thinking that really great idea is 90% of the work.

And that if you just tell all these other people, you know, "Here's this great idea," then of course they can go off and make it happen.

And the problem with that is, is that there is just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product.

And as you evolve that great idea, it changes and grows.

It never comes out like it starts, because you learn a lot more as you get into the subtleties of it and you also find there is tremendous trade-offs that you have to make.

I mean, there are just certain things you can't make electrons do. There are certain things you can't make plastics do or glass do or factories do or robots do.

And as you get into all these things, designing a product is keeping 5000 things in your brain — these concepts — and fitting them all together and kind of continuing to push to fit them together in new and different ways to get what you want.

And ever day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together and a little differently.

And it's that process that is the magic.

It might not seem like it now but the Touch ID fingerprint scanner has potential to be a real game-changer (assuming it works reliably, unlike Siri). We live in a world of multiple devices, countless apps & social networks...remembering all those logins and passwords is a huge pain in the ass.

I'm reminded of this every time my parents have to call me from the Philippines because A) they forgot their password or got locked out of their accounts for too many failed login attempts.

Identity & Authentication are two things that are due for innovation, and Apple just made the first step towards improving that for mainstream consumers. It might not be a feature that'll make your jaw drop or impress you, but it'll be something you won't be able to live without once you've had it.

teehan+lax:

Sometimes even good ideas need to be killed.

We did this many, many times over the course of this project. Sometimes we were just killing an idea, other times we were throwing out something we’d built.

It takes a great deal of perspective and courage to kill something for the betterment of a product. Even before we came on, this product took on different forms multiple times. It can be frustrating at times, but in the end, if you don’t make difficult cuts the product becomes complex and lacks direction.

Using the product

If you’re spending the bulk of your time looking at sketches or discussing static pages you’re making way too many assumptions. A great product or service works well, it doesn’t just look good. Many UX issues are invisible. They need to be used to be discovered. For this project, mandating usage through posting articles and issuing bugs helped ensure we were using the product.

The whole thing is an amazing read. I love hearing all of the behind-the-scenes genius that goes on behind making a beautiful product. There's just something about watching craftsmen sweat the details that makes you appreciate things more.