Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes For Maps App, Recommends Alternatives 451
TheBoat writes "Tim Cook has apologized for the company's Maps app in iOS 6. 'We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.' Cook said the company is continuing to work on the app, but recommended several alternatives in the meantime: apps from Bing, MapQuest, and Waze, or the map websites of Google and Nokia."
This is unusual for Apple, but not unprecedented. Steve Jobs acknowledged reception issues with the iPhone 4 in 2010, but he wasn't quite so contrite about it.
Where's Steve? (Score:3, Interesting)
Steve Jobs never would have apologized. While he was certainly one to recognize errors and correct them expeditiously, he'd never own up to it in public. His sometimes boisterous show of unwillingness to compromise is partly what has created Apple's entire image as a "no compromise" company.
Tim Cook is certainly a different guy, with a different approach. I feel he has somehow cheapened the iGadgets with this move - first by releasing a product that never should have made it through validation, and second by apologizing for it in public.
Re:Bye Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
Tim Cook goofed.
Because he's not a lying egomaniac? I hope you were being sarcastic, but you can never be too sure.
I appreciate his honesty and willingness to be forthcoming about a flaw in their product.
Re:Really bad in Canada (Score:5, Interesting)
At least 688 out of the 2000 towns are searched for on not even on the map ... you get the same CLGeocoder Error Code 8 whether you manually search for it through Apple Maps (watch the iPhones consol because it logs those errors) or whether you do it using your own code in an App.
I agree they do not have good source data, however it's not hard to find good source data either. These missing towns for example are on every map I have ever seen.
Re:Somewhere, Google is Smiling (Score:3, Interesting)
" An iPhone 4S with iOS 5 has great maps"
No it doesn't... It doesn't even do basic turn-by-turn routing. Something standalone GPS units and Google Maps have had for years.
Re:Bye Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
So you're saying they've adopted the Microsoft way: release software which is horribly bug infested, let the user's who've paid for the product tell you what's wrong, then go about fixing the problems you either knew about or were too lazy to fix in the first place because you saved a few bucks by not doing testing.
Re:Really bad in Canada (Score:1, Interesting)
Even if Tom Tom was "largely to blame" I wouldn't blame them, it wasn't them trying to sell me an iPhone, was Apple. It wasn't Tom Tom who tried to pitch the iOS6 maps as a great new feature, it was Apple. It isn't a Tom Tom product, it's Apples. Seriously, doesn't matter who's giving the data what matters is who is "selling" the product that shouldn't be in the first place.
Danger of confusing Apps with Operating System (Score:3, Interesting)
Apple screwed up (although they are haldly unique) is pushing the concept that an Operating system is a bunch of personal and productivity applications. Road Navigation software is not part of the operating system.
The OS is the core environment, utility, houskeeping software, and desktop. Marketing idiots have confused the common consumer into thinking an OS also has programs for adding glitter to ponies.
As seen here, when an app breaks the perception becomes the who OS is flawed.
Re:Bye Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
as someone who bought apple shares before 2007 - i can only hope that fucking up then throwing money at problems to fix them carelessly is not the long term post steve jobs plan.
Good, fast and cheap; pick two! Fast was a necessity and they obviously didn't spend enough money to make it good. Now they have to. They went for what their executives called "good enough" knowing that it certainly wouldn't hamper sales, and it hasn't. Apple has never had free navigation so even a crappy app is better than what they had before. They are receiving negative press over this but I don't see a whole lot of Apple users jumping ship. Like the Samsung commercial, Apple users are saying, "we'll get that fixed next time."
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
You know how long it took Google and Nokia? (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple iPhone users have no idea what they're talking about.
Fixing a buggy application can be done in a point release of software. The app is irrelevant, everybody, their dog and their dog's fleas have map reading software. What they don't have is good data. Why? It's expensive.
Fixing terabytes to petabytes of poor data is an entirely different matter from upgrading a map reading application. There are really only 2 companies with good data. Google and Nokia. Both have been buying, assembling, collecting POI data and updating and fixing base map data for years.
To fix this Apple are probably going to have to spend a fortune on large amounts of data, infrastructure to handle it, thousands of people to manage and check it. Both, expensive and slow. Then there's the weird melting 3D world that's going to have to change entirely. They'll have to decide if it's worth doing it properly or if they still think they can do it on the cheap.
Looking at what they have right now [tumblr.com], it absolutely will not be "fixed next time".