Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is still about three months away, but that hasn’t stopped the whispers and murmurs regarding iOS 7. Numerous sources are reporting that Apple is behind schedule in developing the next iteration of its mobile software.
Specifically, Apple bloggers John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Rene Ritchie of iMore are claiming to have information about the production cycle for iOS 7.
“What I’ve heard: iOS 7 is running behind, and engineers have been pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it,” Gruber wrote.
Just a few weeks ago we learned that Apple’s hardware design chief Jony Ive would be replacing Scott Forstall as the development head for iOS 7. Ive is allegedly pushing for a simpler, “flat” design, and iMore’s Rene Ritchie reports that this executive shakeup could affect production of the software. Namely, the departure of Apple executives such as Forstall and previous Maps chief Richard Williamson could push Apple to either drop features or extend the production schedule, according to Ritchie.
“iOS is a continuum, not a set of static things,” he wrote. “There’s a roadmap. What didn’t make it into iOS 6 goes into 7, what doesn’t make it into 7 goes into 8.”
Apple is expected to introduce major design changes with iOS 7, although no information has been specified or confirmed. Gruber, who has allegedly learned about the OS from iOS engineers familiar with the software, mentioned a “rather significant system-wide UI overhaul” in iOS 7.
This isn’t the first time Apple has had to push back production and shuffle engineering sources for a major software release. Back in 2007 Apple delayed its Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard update to focus engineers on iPhone software.
via iMore, Daring Fireball
