Apple by now has updated much of its own iPhone and iPad applications that area available on the App Store, with the two major holdouts: iBooks and iTunes U (also pending in the update queue: Find My Friends and Keynote Remote, a Keynote presentation software companion).
Now, Jony Ive’s been feeling your pain so today Apple issued a pair of long-expected updates bringing iBooks and iTunes U in line with the general iOS look and feel.
The revamped iBooks “has been updated with a beautiful new design for iOS 7,” says Apple. The refresh includes a completely revamped iBook Store.
Did they kill the page curl? Read on for the full breakdown…
Rumors were true: this is the new iBooks app icon.
As the screenies top of post and below clearly show, the bookshelf is gone so this new iBooks now resembles Apple’s bundled Newsstand application, for better or worse.
And this is the new iPad UI.
In case you were wondering about that iconic page curl, a feature Steve Jobs himself conceived, Apple fortunately hasn’t pulled it from the new iBooks.
As for iTunes U, there’s a corresponding flattened icon.
And a few iPhone screenies.
“This version of iTunes U has been updated for iOS 7 with an all-new look and feel,” release notes read. Apart from iOS 7 aesthetics, there don’t seem to be other changes in iTunes U version 1.4.
And here is what it looks like on the iPad.
Do you like the new iOS 7-friendly design in iBooks and iTunes U?
I know design is a matter of personal preference – and I’m all for Jony Ive’s minimalist approach that gets rid of all the clutter in favor of white space – but I would very much love to see the new iOS 7 keyboard in these apps.
Also completely iOS 7-ified recently: Remote, AirPort Utility, Trailers, Podcast, Find My Friends, iWork and iLife suites and other Apple apps.
Can you now please replace that faux stitched leather in Find My Friends with something, you know, flat?