Apple paid Microsoft something of a compliment on Monday when it unveiled iOS 7, the latest iteration of its mobile device operating system–which looks an awful lot like the software that runs on Windows Phone. That may sound like sacrilege to Apple’s true believers, but the evidence speaks for itself. The crisp, clean lines on iOS 7 apps and the overall simplification of its imagery and other elements speaks directly to the designs Microsoft has moved toward for the past couple of years.
The Nokia Lumia 925 Windows Phone
Photograph by Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
If Apple, the tech world’s de facto purveyor of good taste, has moved closer to Microsoft’s design, then it follows that Microsoft must be doing something right. Microsoft needs this kind of affirmation as it continues its seemingly quixotic bid to become a serious player in the mobile market. And recent market data suggest that, like the talking guy in the Monty Python plague cart, Windows Phone is “not dead yet.”
