Apple’s new iOS 7 – a challenge for app developers

The Apples App Store has become a industry of its own as more than $10 billion has been paid to developers for its 850,000 apps over the past five years. The platform has created multimillion-dollar businesses such as Rovio, maker of Angry Birds, Instagram, the photo-sharing app.

For the tech giant, App Store business turned to be of a great value for its smartphone and tablet segments as it differentiate them in a industry with a growing competition. As hardware becomes less of a advantage against its rivals, Apples radical changes of iOS will determine whether Apple retains its role as the innovation leader of the technology world. Companys CEO Tim Cook has called iOS 7 the “biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone”.

As well as a new visual language, iOS implements new touchscreen commands and a simplified user interface. To fit with this new updates, app developers must change the way they design and build for Apple’s platform. Many of them complaint they were caught by surprise as Apple released the update in June instead sometime this autumn.

Therefore, the new operating software is the biggest test for the iPhone maker of whether Apple can sustain the interest and vision provided by previous CEO Steve Jobs.

After first weeks of testing the new software, developers outside Apple are polarized in their opinions to the redesign. Some are hurrying to reconfigure their apps to fit the new aesthetic. While groups of designers praise it as a step forward, others have accused Apple for copying Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Google’s Android mobile operating systems.

The parts of iOS 7 that have been criticized by designers, can be fixed before its final release. Apple will try to teach its customers new kinds of touchscreen gestures and navigation styles by including them in its software, which will give app designers more freedom to experiment. “People were starting to feel limited by Apple’s old design and function,” says Suhail Doshi, founder of Mixpanel, an analytics service for app developers. “With iOS 7, developers now have the opportunity to keep pushing the fold on design.” he added for Financial Times.

Apple shares declined 0.8% on Friday. The tech giant has been struggling by 21.56% year to date.