Forstall pushed skeuomorphism to the extreme where Apple might as well be handing you the things they’re trying to emulate and call it a day. Ives, given total freedom, took a steamroller to the UI.

The beauty of the early designs (iOS 1 - 5) was the contrast between materials in the UI. Things you could press were shiny and made to look like they had the feel of the glass screen. This was not the usual way to interact with any device at the time, as most digitizers were plastic sheets laid over the glass that had some give. In contrast, things you could not touch were made to look matte.

Between Forstall and Ives, this all got blown up.