I have no other explanation other than "Tim Cook liked this concept and wanted it exactly like this, no more discussion" for the Apple design because there's no way nobody saw the myriad of problems with it
It's funny, i thought about doing a theme for my website that follows the old UI aesthetics (old as in Aero, not as in Windows 95). And now Apple of all things beat me to it.
The only time you can pull something off like Apple's new design is on your own website where you have absolute control over the layout and what's displayed (by ensuring very specific positioning, smooth backgrounds etc). A computer or smartphone is pretty much on the opposite end of control, even if you're Apple.
But not like this. I hate using UIs with text on semitransparent background and even blur won't fix that unless it's cranked all the way up to 5000%. This is not 5000%.
Volpeon 