I downloaded iOS 6 for my iPad 2 a few hours ago, and am in the process of doing the same for my iPad touch (Yeah, I am just a bit invested in the Apple ecosystem, known to some as a “walled garden”).

One of the first things that I noticed was that, at least visually, the new OS doesn’t appear any different from iOS 5.1, the prior version.

Which is what I like about Apple.  They will often release an operating system, be it for their mobile devices (iOS) or their computers (OS X) with tons of changes under the skin, but only incremental changes to the GUI (what someone who uses the device sees).  This means that there are all sorts of changes happening under the skin, which the average user will never see, though their presence will enable users to do what they do even more efficiently.

What they do, if I can use a car as an analogy, is tighten things up under the hood, and add functionality–such as the new Maps application or tighter Facebook integration–that the user comes to recognize the more they use the device.