Over the last decade or so Apple has pushed skeuomorphism into every part of their operating systems, both Mobile and Desktop. This design ethos was nurtured and implanted by Scott Forstall. The underlying reason that Apple used skeuomorphism is so that users know instantly what they are using and can relate that to previous, pre-pc devices. But now we are in a time when the people who are using these devices weren't around with pre-pc devices. So now Apple doesn't need to use skeuomorphism to teach, they can banish these cheap clones and start designing innovative and inspiring user interfaces that match the hardware that has been improving year on year whilst the software has remained stale for the last few years.
