Apple announced their iOS6, along with OSX Mountain Lion, and bunch of new hardware on Monday. Amongst the new features announced were features that already exist on over platforms but now they do on Apple’s platform as well. Take do not disturb for example! This feature is nothing new, and platforms like BlackBerry have had it for years, so what makes it awesome on iOS?
The smart thing that Apple has done is that instead of bombarding folks with a ton of new features that will never get learnt (and thus used), they slowly introduce them so that users’ expertise grows with the platform. Its true that Android lets you configure anything and everything, but half the folks that own an Android phone don’t know how to use half of its features. They are just happy either because they know they are not sandboxed or that they do not have an iPhone like everyone else.
Apple created the original iPhone with just the bare functionality needed to make it usable. Granted the whole iPhone design was new, awesome, game changing, and infinitely intuitive, but the actual functionality of the phone was nothing new. This let buys get used to the platform and grows with it as new features came out.
So while ‘Do Not Disturb’ is a welcomed addition to iOS6, its not an earth shattering feature….and since its one of only a dozen visible changes to the platform, most anyone who needed the feature will know how to use it.
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