The Not-So-Mysterious Case of the Missing .COM Button on iOS7

The Huffington Post reports that “The iOS7 Design is Giving Some People Motion Sickness And Vertigo” while TechRadar reports that it’s “The little things in the new mobile OS that make the big difference” and offers “21 brilliant iOS tips and tricks.”

In our office, so far, the most common observation is that the appearance is – well – different.

“It looks even more friendly, almost toy-like,” said one FairWinds Consultant when asked what she thought about the new iOS7 iPhone operating system.

Know what else is different about the new iOS7 iPhone operating system?

There’s no button for “.com” in the internet browser anymore!

Why? According to Jason Cipriani of CNET, “During early betas of iOS and even onstage at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the .com button was still present at the expense of shrinking down the spacebar. Developers often complained of accidentally hitting the shortcut key instead of the spacebar when typing a search query and thus Apple came up with this solution.” The solution, Cipriani explains, is hidden but easy: simply press the period button until shortcuts to .com, .net, .edu and a few other top level domains appear.

But is there another reason for the switch from a .com button to a top-level domain shortcut? “New gTLDs,” Phil Lodico, co-managing partners answered. “Apple seems to be signaling to its millions of users around the world that, very soon, the content they want is going to be found on other top level domains – generic ones like .SPORT, .PET or .ART as well as company-owned top level domains like .NIKE, .WALMART and .MCDONALDS.”

So even if many are slow to warm-up to the new appearance of iOS7, Apple’s wasting no time in letting users know it’s time to start warming up to new gTLDs – because no matter what how you’re accessing the Internet, they’re coming to a little screen near you very soon.