This article, titled Apple’s War on Skeuomorphism, outlines how recently apple is considering removing some of its skeuomorphs. These are product design elements that hint at something that used to serve a role in past products. An example is pretend spokes on a car’s hubcap or the fake turning of pages animation while reading books on an iPhone .
Microsoft has come out with its Windows 8 OS, and this features very few of these skeuomorphs, instead sticking to a clean modern look.
Apple is considering changing the design of its products to match this, fearing that its own designs are starting to look tacky or outdated. However I feel that these skeuomorphs may be tacky, but they add to the user-friendliness of the product. My grandparents can more easily use an iPhone because these features liken the iPhone to the products it is replacing. For example when looking through Apple’s Newsstand the bookshelf background makes it clear that you are sorting through material to read, making the app more easily understood. Whether this is an important design feature as more people become accustom to this new technology, and no longer need this hint of the past, remains to be seen.