Skeuomorphism was important to transition users from physical objects to virtual objects in a meaningful way. It enabled you and I to understand what tap/touch/pinchNzoom etc are.
Now that we know what virtual objects are about, we can move to a design scheme that's made for virtual objects.
I inherently don't like the phrase 'Flat Design' - there is so much more to this.
I'm not convinced iOS 5-6 was skeuomorphic to begin with. Aside from a few effects - camera shutter and page flips comes to mind - the core workflow is pretty abstract.
in many of the comparison screenshots of ios 6vs7 it looks like they just switched from textured background to a solid background, and left the workflow the same. Not an eschewing of skeuomorphism but a change in visual style.
I have a feeling that in a few decades we'll be looking back on the 2010s like we do the 80s and 70s, and "flat design" would be one of the trends that mark this decade.
This is understood. The point I'm making is that I believe flat is not inherently better or even good. Its a fad right now that apple is using for a good half step to a realtime 3D UI.
Sku was teaching designers to fake dimension by hand, flat will aid them to getting to the point of texturing real 3D objects. And if you think iOS7 doesn't still use 3D space to make skumorphic metaphors you haven't looked at Safari' tabs yet.
In this context, what do you mean by 'realtime' 3D? You can already use 3D transforms to your heart's content without any stutter, since at least the iPod 3G / iOS5.
Now that we know what virtual objects are about, we can move to a design scheme that's made for virtual objects.
I inherently don't like the phrase 'Flat Design' - there is so much more to this.