In approximately three months, Apple is expected to take the wraps off iOS 7 — and probably OS 10.9 — at the 2013 WWDC. So it’s not too early to consider where Apple has to fix what ails their operating systems, and make them seem more relevant as the competition intensifies.
With the Mac, it was mostly Apple versus Microsoft, a predictable competition since the Windows interface was, for better or worse, a consistent entity. But Android is a far more complicated affair. Apple is not just competing against Google, but with a number of handset makers who produce gear that’s sometimes more than just generic. What’s more, one Android handset may present a very different face than the next.
Samsung puts their own modifications on the OS, HTC has their own variants, and you actually have to go to one of the Google Nexus products to get the pure Android experience. With other gear, Android may be the underlying system, but deeply buried.