Yesterday Steve unveiled the new iPod lineup, a completely revamped Apple TV and unsurprisingly a new iTunes with social networking capabilities and a brand new icon.

Like many of you, I am not convinced that Apple is going the right direction with this redesign. Of course, it would be silly to argue that the new icon is horrible, because frankly, it is not (Windows icons anyone?). I won't go as far as looking into the stylistic details neither; why keep the same old musical note for an application that can manage e-books and movies goes way beyond my grasp. But that's not my point: It's the departure from Apple's own HIG (Human Interface Guidelines) for OSX that shocked me the most.

You don't need to be a designer to notice that the icon is standing out among other Apple applications (iChat is an exception that confirms the rule). Where is the realism Apple got us used to? Where is perspective? Details? And If they decided to drop the CD in the iTunes icon, then why would they keep the ink for Pages and the compass for Safari? Could it be the new direction Apple will be taking for all its future icon redesigns? Hope not.

Bottom line, unless Apple redesigns all its default OSX icons, or resurrects the old icon in a 10.0.1 update, I think their interface design consistency could be seriously put into question.