The word most used is ultra-modern followed by clean, Zen, minimalist and wait for it Windows like.

Yes Apple is catching up with Windows Phone on so many fronts that it must make Microsoft very flattered – imitation is the sincerest form thereof.

Although Apple stopped short of emulating Windows ‘live’ tiles there is lots of room for Android like ‘live widgets’ on its lock screen. The iOS 7 look is not exactly Windows Phone but it does follow its simple and colourful tile approach making the best use of screen real estate.

Windows Phone also had ‘flatness, side sliding windows and larger fonts’ well before iOS 7. During the iOS 7 launch presentation, analyst Om Malik said on Twitter, "Somewhere in Microsoft, they are watching iOS 7 and saying to themselves - WTF. We got this thing right first."

Animated wall papers, auto-updated apps and universal multitasking are very similar to Android.

But that is really where the similarity ends. Apple is unsurpassed as a designer and marketer – its products literally sell themselves where as Microsoft as a more open source kind of company relies on its OEM’s like Nokia, HTC and a few others to invest in the final product. It cannot hope to sell more unless it invests more and it does not have the app ecosystem yet generating enough cash to justify the painful loss leading exercise it would have to undertake.

Samsung and Android (Google) have come closest in matching the Apple machine but still it is two big players versus Apple owning the whole bat and ball scenario.

Commentators have stated the obvious now – but it is worth repeating. Steve Jobs is dead, long live Steve Jobs but he won’t be channelled by Tim Cook. Tim is repositioning Apple as the incumbent behemoth, not the disruptor and moving its strategy to evolution and best product positions. Could just work.