This article from GigaOm certainly poses interesting ideas for the future of the iOS platform, but I am still skeptical. If Johnny Ive is truly delivering this new design at WWDC next month, I have a few friends that are going to be very busy real fast.
How I see this shaking out is more than just the native application space. If the flat, Windows Phone-like design is the future of mobile, it will affect all web design as well.
As responsive design takes over, it certainly stands to reason that a tiled, flat design is the way to go. There are a few devs at my office that aren’t convinced of it’s superiority yet. They think that we are changing our platform to accomodate something deemed a “fad”.
I can’t say I’m convinced either, but until a product design choice is universally adopted the same could be said for many ideas. if we want to be leaders, we have to step out there and try something bold.
Have fun designers.