Apple's WWDC 2014 was pretty uneventful considering it is comfortably the most watched and scrutinized developer conference in the world. There has been little backlash against Cupertino, something that regular WWDC viewers will know has been a common occurrence. Typically after the event, there are more discussions on what Apple hasn't done compared to what it has, but this year is different.
In fact, this year's WWDC has been accepted with a shrug of knowing as most commentators have either praised Apple or offered a "wait and see" opinion. With no products to launch and incremental (albeit) important changes to software, one could argue that there really is nothing to grumble about from WWDC 2014 and the real test for Cupertino will be during the Fall when its new products are launched.
There is one dissenting voice though from The Wall Street Journal, where Gordon Kelly believes Apple has made a "massive mistake" with iOS 8. Sure, Mr. Kelly likes the OS, but he envisions problems when Apple inevitably launches a larger screen iPhone around September. It is widely expected that the iPhone 6 will sport a 4.7-inch screen, while there are persistent rumours that Apple will also launch a phablet iPhone too.
Everything changes with the iPhone 6... Not only because Apple is widely known to be increasing the screen size from 4 inches to 4.7 inches (a sizeable jump in its own right), but because the company is keeping the distinctive, large, circular and utterly outdated home button.Where others have moved on with space saving rectangular buttons or ditched them altogether to enable ultra-thin screen bezels, Apple persists and it means the 4.7in iPhone will be as long as many 5in Android handsets. In fact it may not be much shorter than the 5.5in LG G3. All of which means Apple's mantra that you can reach the top corners is about to go out the window and the big flaw in the otherwise impressive iOS 8 is that hasn't been taken into consideration."
Gordon Kelly has a point, although he is probably expressing it a touch too exuberantly and is basically saying Apple's compact ethos will go out of the window because the home button will make any large iPhone even bigger. Possibly all true, but does that constitute a massive mistake (Kelly's words not mine) from Cupertino? The answer is of course no, something to be wary of certainly, but hardly something as drastic as a massive mistake.
There is also the possibility that Apple will ditch the Home Button for a large iPhone in favour of something more ergonomic. It would be a radical change from the company, but there is nothing saying that iOS 8 is only functional with the current circular Home Button. Mr. Kelly's attention to detail is admirable, and he has a point, but perhaps the Journal was looking just a bit too hard to find a problem with WWDC.
