Usability-design uberadvocates (and former Apple employees) Bruce Tognazzini and Don Norman recently lamented how Apple seems to have abandoned principles of user-centered design in a scathing but thoughtful article in Fast Company. They point out that Apple has historically been among the best practitioners of these principles, but has lately overlooked them in favor of aesthetics. For example, "Discoverability" of features now takes a back seat to keeping the interface clean. "Recovery" is severely underimplemented as the system lacks a "back" button like Android's. "Consistency" can't be found among the dozens of differently-configured gestures across many touch devices. It's a good read, both cautionary and instructive - and here's hoping Apple pays attention, too!