Curious about how iOS has evolved over the years? The Verge’s Dieter Bohn has put together an impressive visual timeline of how Apple’s mobile platform progressed from the small unknown “iPhone Software 1.0” to today’s iOS 5, offering plenty of insight along the way.
iOS 5, the system currently powering Apple’s mobile devices, offers an easy-to-understand smartphone operating system to new users, a powerful platform for app developers, and a relatively un-fragmented experience across multiple devices. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about iOS is how similar the OS as it exists today is to the OS as it existed 2007, yet the number and breadth of features that Apple has baked in since then is mind boggling. Far from suffering from the “feature creep” that typically bogs down operating systems over time, iOS has managed to stay relatively snappy and is more internally consistent than anything else available today.
Bohn does an excellent job of outlining the platform’s pitfalls as well as its triumphs, and comments on a variety of factors – everything from design to usability to third-party apps, and even offers a few words about what iOS 6 might bring for the future.
The entire piece is far too extensive to sum up here, so I’d recommend heading over to The Verge and taking a look for yourself. It’s definitely worth a look. In fact, it’s among my favorite Apple features of the year.
