Despite our name, there are plenty of other things that we keep an eye on around here. webOS was one of those technologies that we wanted to see succeed but sadly its days were pretty numbered. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a great deal of stuff Apple could learn from webOS, and perhaps even implement in future versions of iOS.
Lukas Mathis, a software engineer and usability author, has penned an excellent article titled Please Steal These webOS Features.
Lukas Mathis on webOS:
So when I bought a TouchPad after HP discontinued it, I never assumed that I would use it for actual work. But I am doing just that. I’m using it to respond to email, to do research on the Internet, to take notes during meetings. So why was it so easy for me to use the TouchPad for work, but not the iPad? I think it’s because there are a number of things the TouchPad does that make it more suitable for work. Now that it is becoming increasingly obvious that HP won’t do anything useful with webOS, it’s time to start stealing the things it does well. Here are some of these things.
In his article, Lukas goes on to list eight things that Apple should steal from webOS to make iOS better, including the notifications, keyboard, and account management systems, among other things. We highly recommend you head over there and check it out. He hits the nail right on the head: there are a lot of things worth borrowing from webOS that would make iOS even better. We’re huge fans of getting the number pad into the keyboard layout without having to hit a button to change to the keypad.
