"When the iPhone came out, nobody used touch devices. The signaling benefits of skeumorphism were very useful, especially since most iPhone buyers were buying their first iPhone."
I would hope so, the iPhone _was_ the first iPhone. It was not the first touch screen device, or the first smart phone.
The point was two-fold: first, existing touch-screen devices had tiny installed bases. He didn't say there were no touch devices, just that (approximately) nobody was using them. Second, people buying iPhones now are often existing iPhone users, and so they are already familiar with the way iOS works. Obviously, that wasn't the case in 2007. Both of these factors contribute to skeumorphism having been useful in the first iPhone and less useful now.
I think a limited amount of skeumorphism is still useful and quite valid, I think however giving everything a texture to match what it would be, or the tape deck motif of the podcast tool is less useful, in fact, I think its distracting, maybe even for new (read non-technical) users. Everyone knows what the play, pause, stop, fast forward and reverse signs look like, are the spinning reels needed?
It raises another question, when does chrome become just a distraction, rather than easing the user into using the product?
The problem with the podcasts app wasn't the reel to reel nonsense; it was that the damn thing didn't work. Ditching the skeuomorphism happened in the same release as serious upgrades to a working functionality.
The Footnotes..
1. Yes, I know about the LG Prada That’s why I said “nobody used” as opposed to “none existed”
2. And the end of skeumorphism does not mean flat design; things like gradients and shadows have their place
I did read the footnotes, that doesnt mean the statement was invalid, so there author is treating iPhone as a synonym for smart phone, or there was somehow another iPhone before the first iPhone.
I would hope so, the iPhone _was_ the first iPhone. It was not the first touch screen device, or the first smart phone.