Acclaimed designer Yves Behar says Apple is behind on software

Designer Yves Behar, who has worked on products such as the most recent OLPC laptop, the Jawbone line, and Ouya game console, has criticized Apple for its software design. Talking at the 100% Design exhibition in London, Behar told Dezeen that Apple was “a little bit behind” when it came to software. The designer believes that hardware and software should be designed alongside eachother, and pointed to a lack of congruence between Apple’s philosophies for both sectors.

Regarding Apple’s tendency towards skeuomorphic design (mimicking real-life materials and products) in its software, Behar says “obviously they didn’t go there with the hardware, so why did they go there with the software?” Verge reader Shtekeris recently illustrated Behar’s point perfectly by removing all the skeuomorphism from Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion, resulting in a design that he says “suits the hardware so well.” Behar, however, has a vested interest in the two fields working harmoniously: he formed a user interface group at his Fuseproject design studio to work towards multi-disciplinary collaboration.