Quit Hating on iOS 7 & Be Constructive

(Update, you can discuss this post on HackerNews here)

Last Saturday, a tweet from Cory Bohon grabbed my attention and, apparently, a lot of other people felt like me – take a look at its faves and retweets:

As a company that is totally focused on mobile customer feedback and communication, we wholeheartedly agree about this. Yes, iOS 7 has some inconsistencies, some rough edges and some bugs, but it’s not constructive to just HATE on an entirely new OS in public on Twitter.

Especially when it’s so easy to do something constructive!

Do you want to actually effect change? Here’s what you can do:

If you’re a consumer with bugs, feedback or suggestions about iOS 7, go here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

If you’re a developer with bugs to report, you can use Apple’s bug reporter here (requires an Apple ID): bugreport.apple.com

We believe in the power of customer feedback – real people read these bug reports and suggestions and want to make amazing products. You can be part of the solution to the problems you’re experiencing and help every customer of Apple in the process.

“Haters gonna hate” – but is that who you are?

In working with thousands of companies making apps, the phrase “haters gonna hate” comes up a lot. For any product or service that achieves a modicum of success, there will be a group of people who choose to vent, complain and badmouth you. But our belief is that this group is very small and it’s dwarfed by the people who actually care about your product enough to feel strongly. For those customers, making it super easy to listen and responding to them is crucial to ensuring that they feel heard.

We suspect that most of you out in Twitter-land complaining are closer to “Apple Lovers” than “Apple Haters.” If you’re frustrated because you love the company, their products, and their employees then you owe it to yourself to take advantage of constructive channels for sharing your opinion.

Take the extra 30 seconds and give them constructive criticism in a channel that they’re listening to and have set up explicitly to make better products. They’re listening and working as hard as they can on developing an amazing experience. They do care what you think. After all, this is a company that was founded by someone famous for answering emails himself and currently run by someone who cares enough to show up at stores on launch day.