What is the "reason" Apple has not allowed custom text alerts until iOS 5?

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I'm thinking marketing. Everywhere you go you now hear the tri-tone, and they use it in pretty much every tv show or movie, even if they don't have an iPhone.

 

i suppose they don't want an iPhone making fart noises when recieving messages.
too much customization allows for people of bad taste to maybe ruin the user experience.

that's why we don't have custom springboard themes, etc.
that's why we didn't have wallpapers for ages

 

they need features for the next iOS versions.
But if you want them now, just jailbreak your device and have fun

 

hell no.

looking at the jailbreak section makes me cringe. 99% of the themes are ugly and make the phone look like garbage.

 

Doing exactly what you want with your own device ruins the user experience? I'd say the opposite is true.

You want some stupid song or sound effect as your ring/text tone? Cool, go for it, it's your right.

 

The reason = sonic advertising

 

I'm guessing you've never developed an OS or integrated app. Look at all the things that have been added / improved since the original iPhone, but that doesn't answer your question.

Since nobody here knows the answer I'll make a guess that it's a feature Apple didn't believe was important enough to prioritize. Or perhaps that now there is real competition and Apple is adding more sizzle to the steak.

Personally, custom anything is just embarrasing. I cringed every time my boss got a call announced so thoughtfully by AC/DC. And unless you have a very narrow group of friends the song that spends a week on the charts and means so much to you is unknown or ridiculed by others. But if you must, Katie Perry Firework away!

 

Looking at the iTunes store makes me cringe, 99% of the music out there is garbage, so they should take away the ability to add music as well?

 

Yep its much better being in a group of 5 people all with iphones and you here the tri tone and all 5 people pull out their iphone to see if they are the ones that got a text message.

 

That's why I'm using the Old Spice Whistle or Mac boot up bong. Classic.

 

You've been voted down by some, but you're spot on.

In the section to post jailbroken home screens, there's some horrendous examples of themes, and the most hilarious thing is that the people sporting them are proud of them.

iOS, as it stands, is not an ugly OS by any stretch of the imagination, yet people mutilate it in the name of customisation by changing it into some red/black, 90 degree angle cornered box, horror.

And the obsession with HTC style clocks on lock screens is hilarious too.

I'll check back later to see how marked down I am ...

Aye, so I will.

 

Hmmm... I disagreed with one of your statements, answered the question you asked, and then gave a personal opinion. Was your response directed to someone else?

 

Someones opinion on how something looks can't be deemed "spot on". It's an opinion...obvious many others disagree with the 2 of you. Just a preference, nothing that can be a 'fact'.

 

Only Apple knows the reason.

My guess would be that since they have a small development team it wasn't a priority.

 

This is the most likely answer.

Copy and paste is my favorite example of the "Apple should have..." complaint. No one seems to remember that all of Apple's competitors took longer to fully implement it than Apple.

 

Simple, they want everyone around you knowing you are using an iPhone.

 

So they can introduce it now as a new feature and everyone will lose their minds over of how revolutionary it is

 

I too have asked this questions countless times. Can't wait for iOS 5!

 

Theming the only thing you can do with jailbroken iPhones eh? I themed occasionally but stayed the stock look 90% of the time. Jailbreaking is much much more, you should do more research before making ignorant assumptions.

 

You know, I say it's their {the customer's} phone, if they want to make it look ugly, let them. The real reason {if Apple doesn't allow themes cause it would make their phone ugly} is Apple wants their phone to be an advertisement for them and if they allow people to uglify it, it makes a bad ad. Not saying that Apple doesn't allow it cause it might uglify their phone, just if it making the phone look ugly is the reason Apple doesn't allow it it's because they want the phone to be an advertisement to sell more phones.

That being said, I totally agree about the ugly HTC style clock! I hate that thing, it makes the phone look like it's got these freaky big eyes (like some kid's robot or something). It's just plain ugly (if I had an Android phone I'd hope that it is customizable to find some other way to display the time since supposedly that is one of Android's strengths is being more customizable. And that would be one of the first things to go on my phone).

Anyways, I think it's mostly cause Apple likes to hold things back and then get people all excited when they finally introduce it. It allows them a lazy way of adding "new" features. That being said it doesn't bug me too much, I like the phone how it is (I even enjoyed it without copy and paste though I thought that was a very valid complaint from the anti iOS crowd) and at least I know if a feature is really popular it will eventually get it. So it's not like I feel I can't enjoy the phone even though they haven't added some feature that would make it more useful.

 

Yep it's marketing. Apple will sale old ideas as new because they know people will eat it up.

 

The worst thing that could happen to the iPhone would be themes. Part of the thing that makes an iPhone an iPhone is it's look.

The only way this should ever be allowed is if they are made by Apple and Apple only. Or else you start getting crappy sports themes made by idiots who can't use photoshop to save their life and it look like a 3rd grader made it.

 

Marketing.

But I think it would be cool if there was an theme store where developers can sell them. Kept it controlled and monitored like the apps and I'm sure everyone will be happy, I think sooner or later they will do somthing like it.