Stevie Wonder thanks Steve Jobs for making iOS devices fully accessible

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
On stage at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, Stevie Wonder gave a shoutout to Apple's Steve Jobs for making the iPhone and iPad fully accessible to disabled users.



Highlighted in a report by The Next Web , the blind from birth performer asked the audience to think about helping those with disabilities, specifically calling attention to Jobs.



"I want you all to give a hand to someone that you know whose health is very bad at this time," Stevie Wonder said. "His company took the challenge in making his technology accessible to everyone. In the spirit of caring and moving the world forward, Steve Jobs."



He added, "because there's nothing on the iPhone or iPad that you can do that I can't do. As a matter of fact, i can be talking to you, you can be looking at me, and I can be doing whatever I need to do and you don't even know what I'm doing!"



Apple has made accessibility a primary feature of iOS, adding layers of support to help users with visual, hearing, or motor limitations.



Other mobile platforms offer far less support. Those that do include some accessibility features, such as Google's Android, can be overridden by licensees. The site Android Accessibility specifically notes that HTC, Motorola and Samsung package customization layers and apps on their Android phones that are not accessible.



Stevie Wonder's comments start at about 4:40 in the clip below.



«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    On stage at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, Stevie Wonder gave a shoutout to Apple's Steve Jobs for making the iPhone and iPad fully accessible to disabled users. ...



    Yet another reason why the capacitive home button is such a bad idea and one that Apple shouldn't implement.
  • Reply 2 of 27
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Yet another reason why the capacitive home button is such a bad idea and one that Apple shouldn't implement.



    I absolutely agree with you.
  • Reply 3 of 27
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Testing the web sites I build using VoiceOver is a pretty cool experience?close your eyes and navigate. Although I?m not vision impaired, I can get some sense of what an amazing leap forward iOS is over previous computing/browsing solutions. A blind user can tell a sighted user to go to the third button at top-left, say... everything is laid out the same no matter what senses you use. As it should be!
  • Reply 4 of 27
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Yet another reason why the capacitive home button is such a bad idea and one that Apple shouldn't implement.



    What's the difference between feeling for a physical home button that you have to press and feeling for an indentation that you just have to touch?



    If you rely on this input method for things like voice control, it's far easier not having to push a physical button all the time.
  • Reply 5 of 27
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    What's the difference between feeling for a physical home button that you have to press and feeling for an indentation that you just have to touch?



    Because in "feeling for" a capacitive button you have already pressed it (even if this was not your intention). A physical button allows a user to differentiate between locating and activating.



    Imagine how annoying it would be to use a mouse that didn’t have any physical buttons and activated everything the cursor inadvertently moved over.
  • Reply 6 of 27
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nagromme View Post


    Testing the web sites I build using VoiceOver is a pretty cool experience?close your eyes and navigate. Although I?m not vision impaired, I can get some sense of what an amazing leap forward iOS is over previous computing/browsing solutions. A blind user can tell a sighted user to go to the third button at top-left, say... everything is laid out the same no matter what senses you use. As it should be!



    Introducing the new iPod shuffle:



    The Internet. In your ear.
  • Reply 7 of 27
    I'm borderline legally blind and I greatly appreciate the built-in features of both MacOS and iOS with respect to accessibility. Providing this functionality is something that Apple certainly did not have to do, but chose to do, and that makes Apple a much better company in m book than all the "do no evil" pretenders out there.
  • Reply 8 of 27
    citycity Posts: 522member
    I've seen and photographed Stevie Wonder at the Santa Monica Apple store. That store has a blind sales staff member with Apple uniform dog.
  • Reply 9 of 27
    Steve Jobs & Co. I too appreciate the accessibility options embeded in iOS!
  • Reply 10 of 27
    "I just called to say I love my iPhone . . ."
  • Reply 11 of 27
    Apple has long been supportive and inclusive of users with special needs. I'm glad that Stevie gave Steve & Apple some well deserved public recognition on this issue.
  • Reply 12 of 27
    Erm, Stevie Wonder was not blind from birth. Not that it really matters in the context of this article.
  • Reply 13 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post


    Apple has long been supportive and inclusive of users with special needs. I'm glad that Stevie gave Steve & Apple some well deserved public recognition on this issue.



    I thought this was some kind of a sick joke. We have several deaf people at work who can't use iPhones because they don't have LED notification lights. They have their Berrys on their desk all day and just glance at them to know if they have SMS or emails.
  • Reply 14 of 27
    lilgto64lilgto64 Posts: 1,147member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dunks View Post


    Because in "feeling for" a capacitive button you have already pressed it (even if this was not your intention). A physical button allows a user to differentiate between locating and activating.



    Imagine how annoying it would be to use a mouse that didn?t have any physical buttons and activated everything the cursor inadvertently moved over.



    A mouse that activates every time you touch it is the default behavior for touch pads on windows machines isn't it?



    the tap to click setting - especially on some appliance type systems I have used where it cannot be turned off drives me nuts.
  • Reply 15 of 27
    successsuccess Posts: 1,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TomHicks View Post


    Erm, Stevie Wonder was not blind from birth. Not that it really matters in the context of this article.



    But he was reborn from blindness.
  • Reply 16 of 27
    gordygordy Posts: 1,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by success View Post


    But he was reborn from blindness.



    Oprah?
  • Reply 17 of 27
    successsuccess Posts: 1,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gordy View Post


    Oprah?



    No, Stevie Wonder.
  • Reply 18 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dunks View Post


    Because in "feeling for" a capacitive button you have already pressed it (even if this was not your intention). A physical button allows a user to differentiate between locating and activating.



    Imagine how annoying it would be to use a mouse that didn?t have any physical buttons and activated everything the cursor inadvertently moved over.



    It would be is a non-issue, at least in the context of accessibility in iOS. iOS has capacitive buttons all over of the place on the screen. In accessibility mode, it would require a double tap to activate while for touch-over, iOS announces the function of the button. In normal mode, we'd just accept accidental touches just like we do with on-screen buttons.



    Anyways, I think the odds are zero to something less than nil on Apple employing a swipe enabled home button. If they are making a bigger home button, it's because they think a bigger home button would improve the usability of the device, the usability and durability of pressing the button. Ie, they are making it easier to press the home button, and probably making it more durable.
  • Reply 19 of 27
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dunks View Post


    Introducing the new iPod shuffle:



    The Internet. In your ear.



    That would be seriously f*cking cool. But to be a shuffle, it would require super-accurate and non-clunky voice control mechanisms. It is possible, but would probably require Apple to acquire Nuance or the equivalent.



    On a side note, an iPod Nano running actual iOS with accessibility like this would probably fit the bill.
  • Reply 20 of 27
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Is this a joke!?!



    Android has full voice both ways. iOS has has nearly nothing in this department that I have seen on my iPad 2. This may be the single biggest advantage of Android to my opinion. And Droid has Google Translate. I don't know if iOS has that or not.



    OS X is great with Universal Access except it lacks a huge feature: resolution independence. That would be nice in mobile as well as desktop operating systems.



    Biggest thing though is Android has phones with real keyboards. I use that so I can type without looking. I'm quite surprised here. You'd think Wonder would be rocking a Droid. You can navigate the entire thing with voice either via Google's own tech or Vlingo or Dragon or many other ways. Plus the real keyboard.
Sign In or Register to comment.