Alessio Bernardelli
Here we go. This must be one of the thousands of posts complaining about the recent upgrade to what was promised to be the most amazing operative system for handheld devices ever made, but I have to say that in my opinion it turned to be a big flop!
When Apple released their new iOS6 for iPhone and iPad I was as excited as I am sure everyone else to upgrade thinking of the expectations set by the media and Apple itself. It promised great things, but delivered very poor results.
So, what’s wrong with iOS6?
I can only speak about my experience with the new iOS, but from the very first few minutes I used it I noticed something wasn’t quite right. My first encounter with the software was Siri for iPad. Useless would be a compliment in this case! I tried it on the simple task to iMessage my mum in Italy, but even giving very clear instructions and speaking loudly and slowly I could get to send, but no further. In fact, when I said send, which by the way was one of the three options Siri gave, it would systematically get back to square one. I know what you’re thinking; “It must be his Italian accent!” But I would refute that! The proof is that when I started working in London, everyone thought I was Welsh. Ok, maybe it’s my Welsh accent then 
He who seeks, finds… not with iOS6 maps!
You must have heard and read about the problems with Apple maps on the iPhone. Yes, the idea of turn by turn directions is appealing, as long as the maps can actually find what you are looking for that is! I needed to find the hotel I was staying in London last Friday, so I copy and paste the address and postcode in the search bar and I get a result (a pin). Success, I think! But soon I realise something’s missing. I move the map around for a while, but I cannot find the tube station near the hotel, nowhere! A thought creeped in slowly… Surely they haven’t got rid of public transport landmarks, like tube stations, have they? Apple would never do something that inconvenient, would they? Much to my horror, they actually did and because I move predominantly by tube in London, the Apple maps have become utterly useless to me. In other words, one of the things I found most useful and vitally important in my daily work was taken, without a word of warning. Why? Because of a power struggle with Google!
But the surprises didn’t end there! I worked out the station I need by the area, so I take the tube and get to the station I wanted, get off the tube and start walking towards the pin for the hotel. The problem was that there was no hotel to be found when I reached my destination, or the one the maps app randomly chose for me! Defeated I had to phone the hotel and ask for directions and it turned out that I was about one mile off target!
Has the big Apple turned into the big Brother?
There is another thing that I noticed only later, i.e. the YouTube app has gone! Another victim of the power struggle that remained nameless until its friends began to notice the gap it left. In all this, I cannot stop thinking about the legendary short video that opened the launch of the Machintosh, that revolutionary computer Job was so fond of. Apple seems to have turned into the big brother of that advert that was meant to represent IBM at the time. They control the market now, but instead of caring for their users’ experience, the focus has most definitely shifted on profit and shares. Steve Jobs would have never allowed the release of iOS6 in its current state!
