Apple Axes Head of Mapping Team 372
New submitter drkim writes "'Apple has reportedly fired the head of its mapping team following software glitches which annoyed customers and rained mockery on the company.' Mr. Williamson promptly left Apple headquarters in Antarctica, and walked to his home in Middelfart, Denmark."
Nerval's Lobster adds: "Cue is also 'seeking advice from outside map-technology experts' as well as 'prodding maps provider TomTom to fix landmark and navigation data it shares with Apple.'"
Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
Was this guy setup for failure by having to meeting google map standards overnight?
Firing people sometimes is an escape goat for companies mistakes.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Funny)
10,000 miles on Google Maps, just 2 or three on Apple Maps...
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Funny)
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ÂAn escape goat? Is that the opposite of a Trojan horse?Â
No silly... It is what all the hip youngsters use to refer to a site their parents told them about called goatse.cx
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Interesting)
No. Failing to deliver a quality product isn't the problem. The problem is if you promise to deliver a quality product, and then you fail.
It seems to me like Apple wouldn't have made the switch right away on iOS 6 if they weren't confident that the software was ready. Someone had to stand up and say, "This is ready" or "This is not ready". If Mr. Williamson was in charge of it, and he told his bosses with confidence that it was ready, he should be fired. That's pretty straightforward.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
It wouldn't surprise me if he said over and over again "There's no way in hell this is ready", but they deployed it anyway.
They probably also asked him "does it work at all?" to which he responded "sort of", and that was enough for them.
That's how big companies work, they don't give a damn about your input.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
You almost have it right. They certainly do ignore the worker bees who shout "it won't work", but they don't ignore management saying the same thing. Instead, people who never say "it won't work" slowly get promoted over people who do, and you end up with no one in management who will ever say "it won't work".
I'm quite certain that this Mr. Williamson probably didn't say no to his bosses very often, and I don't particularly feel bad for him.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
Quite certain? Really? Quite certain?
And on what, pray tell, do you base this certainty? Did you work for Mr. Williamson? Had you prior dealings with him? Have you worked for Apple and know their management style?
Or is it just some self-justifying "this is the way I believe the world works, and I'm going to cover my ears and shout 'LA LA LA' ever time it doesn't"
I'm quite certain the sun will rise tomorrow.
I somewhat certain that it'll snow later this week
I think that the LHC probably found the Higgs Boson.
I have to f'ing clue whether Richard Williamson was a yes man or not.
And neither do you.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
Quite certain? Really? Quite certain?
And on what, pray tell, do you base this certainty?
The fact his bosses have openly and publicly acted like complete self adsorbed sociopath and will attack people who tell them they are wrong. The saying "Steve Jobs did not suffer fools" means that Steve Jobs did not like hearing things that he didn't want to hear.
Look at Job's actions towards Google and Android OEM's, then get back to us. If that's not enough, go back to Antennagate when he told his own customers that they were the problem. If you don't understand the answer to your question by then, you have a problem.
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And that's the question.
Did they fire a guy who lied to his bosses about the state of his product? (And remember, Steve Jobs, much as I loathe him, would have done a demonstration with this app on stage, it would have gone through a ringer of testing for the man with the kool-aid to talk about, so there's a change in testing procedure here). That would be strongly legitimate grounds to be rid of someone.
Or did they fire him because they screwed up, and want someone to blame?
Or did they just want rid of hi
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I think Google would have been happier to have a longer heads up so they could finish their own iOS app version of their maps.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
"Rich, are the maps ready?"
"What? No, we haven't finished testing."
"Well, we told Google to fuck off this morning, so it's ready. Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone who matters knows that it went out too soon."
(That afternoon in boardroom)
"Yeah, Williamson assured me the maps were ready to go, so we told Google we weren't interested. My stock options just got a little sweeter."
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In the corporate world, managers have their brains replaced with a salad spinner. Thus "There's no way it can be up to the standards of Google maps in just 6 months. We MAY be able to have an entry level prototype ready for internal testing by then. It'll need at least a year for production release and at least two to be better than Google." Becomes "Absolutely! It will be better than Google! I'm CERTAIN it will be ready for full production in 6 months!".
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it's naive to think apple was going to go from 0-60 on a maps app / navigation app that will compete with google maps, when google has been a leader in maps for a decade and has been producing mobile map applications (both web and native) for many years.
i've used apple maps a few times now, and while it's not as good as google, i thought it's pretty well done for a 1.0 release.
it doesn't say much for apple however that they are sacrificing employees in an attempt to fix the problem. like many other folks ha
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
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That's a lot of typing for something you hate to tell. So A+ for the selfless effort.
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Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
The real idiocy here was the fact that there was some idiot executive that insisted that the wheel be reinvented. They let hatered of Google get in the way of day-to-day business here. They could of made sure the google maps were easy to use on their devices and spent the effort coming up with something that Android doesn't do instead.
They should be firing the person that a "mapping team" was a good idea to begin with.
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The real idiocy here was the fact that there was some idiot executive that insisted that the wheel be reinvented. They let hatered of Google get in the way of day-to-day business here. They could of made sure the google maps were easy to use on their devices and spent the effort coming up with something that Android doesn't do instead.
They had no control over the maps app from google, nor on google's terms for use of google's maps API. There was no way to get key features (turn-by-turn directions) without meeting google's demands (for more user data).
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Informative)
Google offered to do turn by turn navigation for the inclusion of google branding. I don't think it's unreasonable to be expected to give credit to a company who's product is contributing one of the most useful software features to your phone. Apple is just trying to position themselves to defeat Android. It's too late, and they've come to a desperate point where they're trying to do things they aren't currently capable of.
iOS Google maps ALREADY had branding (Score:2)
I don't think it's unreasonable to be expected to give credit to a company
No, it's not. That's why since the launch of the iPhone, Google Maps had a "Google" logo on the map. Applications written that used the mapping framework were forbidden from covering that or the app would be rejected.
Google wanted an even larger logo, which does start to get unreasonable when it's much larger than what you have on Android - but they wanted a lot more than just a logo update...
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Yes, they also wanted the inclusion of Latitude. Which is an opt-in service for the users.
How, again, are those strenuous requirements?
Re:iOS Google maps ALREADY had branding (Score:5, Insightful)
Because they do NOTHING to help users. You know, the poor bastards that actually have to use the maps? How does it help to hide more map data under a bigger logo? How does it help to push a location based social media system no-one uses through the official maps app?
No-one has entitled you to speak for all the users. I am a heavy Latitude user. If I still owned an Apple device, I'd use Latitude with Maps if it was available there.
Besides, the whole "doesn't help the users" argument as it pertains to iOS Maps debacle is completely inane, since switching to obviously inferior-quality data not only did nothing to help the users, it did a lot to hurt them - hence all the vocal backlash from the userbase that is trivial to find online. And what, exactly, the users get in return? A pretty but ultimately mostly useless ability to see 3D buildings in satellite mode, and?..
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And, why would apple be so concerned about not sharing their user data? They suddenly started taking an interest in user's privacy?
No, MickyTheIdiot is probably more accurate: this is arrogance, greed, and ridiculous corporate branding, not a principled stand by Apple.
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
There was no way to get key features (turn-by-turn directions) without meeting google's demands (for more user data).
No, but they could have met Google's demands in the short-term easily enough until they had an alternative ready for release, rather than rushing out something prematurely. When you're already losing market share hand over fist, why give people another reason to switch to Android?
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Interesting)
They had no control over the maps app from google
The old iOS Maps app was written by Apple, actually. Google was only supplying the data.
There was no way to get key features (turn-by-turn directions) without meeting google's demands (for more user data).
The "more user data" part is bullshit. What Google asked is for them to add Latitude support to Maps. Latitude is an opt-in service that lets users (and therefore also Google) track each others' location. Unless users specifically enable it, no data is provided. And, personally, I find it a useful enough service that its absence in iOS Maps is actually a point against it.
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Google wanted to collect more data on iOS users by having Apple integrate one of its user-tracking services directly into the iOS mapping system. Apple was not willing to give a direct competitor that kind
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They had no control over the maps app from google, nor on google's terms for use of google's maps API. There was no way to get key features (turn-by-turn directions) without meeting google's demands (for more user data).
uh, no. the sticking point was that apple didn't want any google branding on the app.
Not reinvention, freedom. (Score:5, Insightful)
They let hatered of Google get in the way of day-to-day business here.
Actually the opposite is true. They let reliance on Google go on for too long, using it as a crutch that hurt day-to-day business for years.
Android had built-in turn by turn for years; not only could Apple not provide it in iOS, but developers could not write apps that provided turn-by-turn directions on top of the built in iOS mapping framework (it was against Google's TOS). So the whole platform was limited for years by Google restrictions on not just what Apple could do, but what any developer could do.
Now that Google is out of the picture iOS users have turn by turn directions. They have vector maps. iOS developers can do whatever they want with the built in mapping framework now, without arbitrary Google limitations like limits on reverse geocoding per day, or having to avoid covering up the Google logo on the map, or (as stated) being able to show turn by turn directions on a map.
Apple should have ditched Google maps much earlier before it got more painful for more users. But the fact is they had to do so, and at least now that it is done Apple can clean up the map data (the hardest part of mapping) and within a year should be essentially caught up for most areas. Already they have better satellite data in many areas than Google does, and they work better in China/Japan for native users (not as well for english users).
Re:Not reinvention, freedom. (Score:5, Insightful)
You think in a year, Apple is going to be caught up to Google who has been constantly working on their mapping data all this time? You vastly underestimate the effort required in this type of job.
Re:Not reinvention, freedom. (Score:5, Informative)
Android had built-in turn by turn for years; not only could Apple not provide it in iOS, but developers could not write apps that provided turn-by-turn directions on top of the built in iOS mapping framework (it was against Google's TOS). So the whole platform was limited for years by Google restrictions on not just what Apple could do, but what any developer could do.
do you think a company should get paid for the software they develop and the services they offer? apple didn't have turn-by-turn navigation because google refused to offer it, it's because apple wouldn't meet the licensing requirements. as far as any of us know and has been reported, the main sticking point was apple refused to have (more prominent) google branding on the app.
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My thoughts exactly except the term is scapegoat.
However it may have been due to poor management on his part though. Developers coming with good concerns and he wasn't taking them into consideration, or bringing them to the right level, because he was too afraid to tell his bosses bad news.
It could also be that there is a disagreement on the design. And after one was chosen he didn't work hard to make it succeed. I have seen this a lot in IT. I disagree with your methodology, so I will follow it, howeve
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We don't know what actually happened. As much as Apple wanted to get away from Google for whatever reasons, they want to make good products even more. Maybe he was fired because he told Tim that his maps would be as good as Google's, which led to Tim dropping Google, and when he didn't deliver good maps, that's what caused the firing. Maybe Tim would have been willing to live with Google a little longer if he thought it was necessary, but he was led to believe it wasn't.
Tell the boss you can deliver, then d
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks. I'm French and honestly didn't know. Scapegoat looks better on paper :)
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This one is pretty entertaining too.
http://www.magicaltimebean.com/escape-goat/ [magicaltimebean.com]
Re:Was it justified (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Was it justified (Score:5, Insightful)
It's pretty likely that the practice didn't start with the bible, but was merely documented in the bible based on an existing practice. Unless, of course, you consider the bible to be Word of God, in which case maybe he did use the bible to instruct his followers to sacrifice goats. He was pretty weird back then.
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Which was later update to the Judas Goat [wikipedia.org]
Re:Was it justified (Score:4, Funny)
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Scapegoats are not escaped goats, dimwit.
Except that when they actually are goats and when they are actually let to escape from you, right? (Now you see why these Judeo-Christian blurbs have never made any sense to me. The whole thing makes about as much sense as the rest of Leviticus.)
Re:Was it justified (Score:4, Interesting)
Not so (Score:5, Insightful)
Leviticus is a complete mishmash of prohibitions, but at least some of them are believed to be simply banning the practices of non-Jahwist religions, and others are deeply rooted in the concept of women as property which still applies in the more backward parts of the Middle East. It's about as realistic as telling us that the Orpheus myth is a warning about the dire consequences of eating food in basement restaurants.
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Leviticus was written down around 500-300 BC, a time when Greek civilization was at its high point, when the Maurya dynasty rose in India and made religious tolerance and public health care the law, when Egyptian and Persian civilization had existed for millennia. Civilized people at the time lived in great cities with art, theater, palaces, public works, codes of law, judges, lawyers, traders, accountants, rest
so (Score:2, Funny)
so apple maps finally told someone, how to go, somewhere ?
Lessons (Score:3, Insightful)
The executive failed to deliver the impossible: a complete mapping system built from the ground up in a year or so. The result is that he gets sacked.
The solution: Apple needs to stop picking fights. I'm sure Google would have given them the full turn-by-turn system if Apple would have paid for it. Apple has great hardware and software engineers. But they aren't good enough to replicate the technology its competitor has spent over a decade developing in just one year.
Re:Lessons (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple shot themselves in the foot on this.
Option A) was to negotiate with Google (which they did) and accept paying more money and letting Google put their logo somewhere (which they didn't).
Option B) was to to let it ride with no navigation (their contract with Google for just map data still had a year or two left before renewal) and work on their own map/nav system in the meantime, launching it when it was ready or the contract was up.
Option C) was to abandon common sense, drop Google because they are evil, and quickly roll their own "superior" map/nav system on a greatly accelerated timespan. And pray that it's not a horrible, brand-damaging mess. Oops!
You forgot option D (Score:5, Interesting)
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Option E: Buy Garmin. Don't get criticized for shipping jobs overseas by running a mapping company from Europe like Tom Tom. Plus Garmin is better than everyone else, with their full suite of GPS-related products.
Wrong (Score:3)
Option A) was to negotiate with Google (which they did) and accept paying more money and letting Google put their logo somewhere (which they didn't).
iOS has ALWAYS has the Google logo on maps. Google wanted to increase the size.
Also would paying more money have allowed iOS developers to also be able to provide turn by turn directions on Google maps? Because that was forbidden before. If not you only slightly helped the platform for a single app, not all of them.
Option B) was to to let it ride with no nav
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iOS has ALWAYS has the Google logo on maps. Google wanted to increase the size.
Do you actually know that? My understanding is that they wanted the app to be called "Google Maps" and not "Maps," and possibly wanted the Google logo to be more opaque instead of the previous transparent gray-on-gray that the old Maps app used. Of course, no one knows if that's really true, it's just rumors.
It already works really well for many people, especially the U.S. - it mostly needs work in Europe. But the actual navigation is very good.
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. I've actually used the turn by turn navigation in the US. While it was kind enough to take us past our destination, so we knew to stop and turn into it, it had decided that
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The executive failed to deliver the impossible: a complete mapping system built from the ground up in a year or so. The result is that he gets sacked.
This is where the word "no" comes up. As an executive, part of your job is to say "no" to impossible projects and explain why the answer is no. That's why you get paid the mega-ducats, FFS.
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hint for the Exec folks
If you hear the Mission Impossible theme from your employees then THE PROJECT IS DOOMED
If you see a bunch of short swords RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
for further details read the Yourdon book DEATHMARCH
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The solution: Apple needs to stop picking fights. I'm sure Google would have given them the full turn-by-turn system if Apple would have paid for it. Apple has great hardware and software engineers. But they aren't good enough to replicate the technology its competitor has spent over a decade developing in just one year.
Apple _was_ paying huge sums of money to Google for map data. They had the choice of continuing to pay to Google (which might have been a bad strategy, considering that for example Samsung doesn't seem to want to sell batteries to Apple anymore), or to do something about it. Short term pain, long term the right decision.
And mapping data is not "developed over a decade". It is developed, and then it is permanently updated. So starting from zero you are not _that_ far behind.
Middelfart actually has a train station (Score:2)
On a major line, too! If only Apple maps had a "transit directions" feature...
Impossible (Score:5, Funny)
That's impossible. Apple maps says Middelfart is south of Antarctica. Sheesh.
I like the new maps.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally I still like the new maps app. Even on my old iphone4 it's faster and easier to read and does everything I want. It's even got more features than the previous map app.
Then again, I live in California and don't suffer from the bad map issues that other regions have had.
Let's hope apple learns from this lesson. Old Jobs hasn't been in the ground long and already their first "convenience over QC" choice has come back to bite them. Jobs was a QC /fanatic/ and would not have let the shitty maps slip out (Or stay there for long) even if staying with google was a thorn in their side.
And it was a thorn. Google is a competitor now. Google also wanted better terms if apple wanted to add new mapping features. Apple decided that it was not worth it.. And they were wrong.
I think if Jobs was still here he'd have slapped people around, re-negotiated with Google, and quickly have a patch issued to revert the maps. We'll see if apple continues to stumble in this very un-apple like manner.
With any luck google will issue a new maps app and everyone will be happy.
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Yep, the new maps app is great... It's only the data which is a problem, and given that people have spent years not complaining about tom tom's data, it would seem that the data isn't that bad either, though I'm sure there's room for improvement. Then again, I'm sure there is on google maps too... just look at vladivostok to see that.
Re:I like the new maps.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Jobs was a QC /fanatic/ ... .
You definition of either Quality Control or fanatic differs from mine. In particular, Apple has NEVER been about QC. You don't buy Rev 1 of anything Apple unless you are a dyed in wool fanboy. You don't load x.x.0 of any Apple OS unless you are a dyed in wool masochist.
Yeah, Apple eventually gets it right, mostly. But they've never adhered to the 'fix it before it ships' mentality.
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Right, which is why they are routinely at or near the top of hardware reliability and customer satisfaction ratings for OEM's.
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i worked at another larger mobile device manufacturer at one point in my life. they were generally pissed that apple got away with shipping such crap. the sort of things apple gets away with because they are apple are the same things that would be a disaster for other companies.
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It wasn't "convenience over QC" ... it was pretty clearly "greed and arrogance over QC". It was most definitely not convenient to release their own mapping application early.
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I would too, except I went from high res full color imagery in my area to low res greyscale imagery.
Yes, really. It's like going through a time warp. The quality of the app is not bad. The quality of the data and imagery is a travesty compared to what Google offered.
I still get shivers when I go for the Map app .. (Score:2)
It was the 3rd most useful feature for me, after the actual phone/sms components of the phone!
Keep the firing going (Score:5, Funny)
That wasn't a purple flare. (Score:2)
Re:Keep the firing going (Score:4, Informative)
Some people tried to take a photo with their iPhone 5 of him leaving Apple headquarters but there was a huge purple flare over most of it so you can't even tell who it is. They must have been holding it wrong or the sun in that part of the US actually is purple.
Silicon Valley resident here with a helpful local geography lesson.
Around here, Apple Headquarters is in Cupertino, Sun was in Santa Clara, and "All Things Purple" (Yahoo) is in Sunnyvale.
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Wrong problem? (Score:3)
Whether it was his call or not is another matter.
Re:Wrong problem? (Score:4, Informative)
It would have been wiser to let it mature a bit more like Google did.
Huh? Google maps was full of errors and omissions when it came out. It improved over the years.
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But it was better then anything else that was out.
So In would expect the next map to be better then the current ones. Not perfect, just better.
I think Apple was concerned more about looks then accuracy.
I think Tim Cook is on the second letter.
Google Maps was bad when it first appeared (Score:5, Informative)
I was a frequent user of MapQuest when Google Maps appeared and for a good while there were glitches with Google Maps just like Apple is experiencing so I stuck with MapQuest. Google Maps are only as good as they are now because of all the time invested but even now they get it wrong. I was visiting a friend in Alabama and Google put his street address two miles away from the actual location.
The major loss with Apple Maps is the lack of public transport directions and for that reason alone, Google Maps needs to return. Until then, my phone is staying on iOS 5.
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> Until then, my phone is staying on iOS 5.
i'm considering attempting to install iOS 5 on my iPhone 5 for this reason.
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I used Mapblast (which became MSN Maps) because Mapquest's interface was TERRIBLE. But I agree, Google maps wasn't very good in the beginning either. :-P
I guess that just shows how old I am
Does this Google statement make sense? (Score:2)
Google was quoted as having said that they have a 400 year advantage [telemapics.com] over Apple maps.
Questions are:
Is this true?
Does it make sense?
Is there a way Apple can reduce these several centuries into a few years?
I'll answer myself on that last question:
Yes they can; by throwing one tenth of their $120 billion at the effort. I'd be happy to be part of it.
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Well, being a software developer, I can believe that Google has a 400 year lead if you stipulate that Apple has to *fix* the product it has now rather than develop an entirely new one.
That said, I expect if Google really claimed it had a 400 year lead it probably meant 400 man-years.
Taking the fall... (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem wasn't so much that the Apple maps were terrible. With a few notable exceptions it actually wasn't bad for a first attempt. Remember, Google Maps wasn't very good at first either. The problem was promoting the Apple Maps as this awesome, fantastic piece of software. Someone in the Apple management chain needed to say "Uh Tim, maybe we should dial back the excitement a bit on this maps thing. Have you seen it? It needs work.". Evidently nobody did so Cook rolled it out thinking it was great and it wasn't.
Cook looks like an idiot, and by extension so does Apple, so something had to be done about it. He can't allow that to happen. If they lie to him about Maps then how can he trust them to tell him the truth about the next product? If I were him I would have done exactly the same thing. He needs to send a message to management that this sort of thing won't be tolerated. If the product is not ready then fine, we'll figure out something but don't bullshit me and leave me hanging out to dry in front our customers. It might seem harsh but these people are getting paid a ton of money to make the right decisions. If you screw up you're gone.
Too little too late (Score:2)
It seems like firing people is now a way of solving problems at Apple. I can't recall too many high profile firings during Steve Jobs tenure (may be I am not digging far enough, but still). Wonder what that means.
That said, primary failure of new Apple maps is not in what it does, but what it does not do. As driving maps go, they are fine. They have their share of errors, but so do Google maps. In fact just yesterday Google maps insisted that a whole block of streets was open and available for me to drive t
Lots of people fired at Apple under Jobs (Score:5, Informative)
I can't recall too many high profile firings during Steve Jobs tenure
You mean like Mark Papermaster [nytimes.com] over the iPhone 4 antenna issues? Or the Mobile Me team lead?
Oh.
Has everyone here got some kind of amnesia? Because Jobs stories are rife with him firing people that displeased him. The current firings seem quite mild by comparison.
Oddly people now seem to think Apple under Steve Jobs was some kind of perfect mecca of products without issues and never an employee fired. That was never the case, but Apple Haters sure like to claim it was.
Tim Cook next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Anybody thinking Tim Cook should remain CEO of Apple needs their head read.
I think that is wasn't the man in charge of Maps that should have gotten the ax, but the guy that decided to drop a working product in favor of a broken product and then stood on a stage and claimed it was better then all the rest.
I know the decision to drop Google Maps all began with Steve Jobs, however after his passing and Tim Cook taking over certainly there should have been some review of the companies projects to determine if Apple should stay on the same course. At some point I am sure someone must have fired up the Maps app and realized it was no-where near ready for prime-time.
If Tim Cook is going to blindly follow in Jobs footsteps and not make any executive decision that didn't originate from something Jobs began then I think he should step down or be ousted. Any sane CEO should have yanked the Maps product from the iOS 6 release schedule for lacking to match the quality of the app it was replacing. Yes, maybe it would have looked like egg on his face for postponing a highly publicized new feature, but it would have been far less worse then issuing an apology for releasing the app in the first place.
And what the f*ck about iTunes 11? There is only 2 days left in November and Apple still proudly boasts it is coming in November. Just like they proudly boasted it was coming in October. I think iTunes 11 is another fiasco in the making.
You can't just keep firing your top exec's without realizing that that man at top needs to start taking responsibility for the state of the company he is supposedly running. Apple doesn't need a caretaker, it needs a leader, Cook is not a leader.
Just a sign of bad management (Score:3, Insightful)
With Steve Jobs no longer in the picture its only natural for Apple to have minor shifts in direction and to be making a few bad decisions along the way. Steve was a visionary for the most part, but honestly I'll never understand his sudden switch from a 'product oriented distinction' market to a 'throw Apple under the bus' with the 'Thermonuclear Campaign against Android' market. I used to love Apple products, but now I just can't. I just wish Apple's current management would go back to the old style of creating good quality products, and let the people simply choose the better product. But today what we have is what we have, a company continually making mistakes and placing the blame on those who were not truly in control. Control is at the top, and the top is failing miserably at the moment.
Apple, please, please, please, prove me wrong. If not its just a matter of time before the shareholders speak up. [Un]fortunately I have already spoken, as my broker knows very well that he will get fired if he invests anything of mine in Apple.
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TomTom said, "don't ask steve-steve, he's dead as a nail-nail."
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If Jobs was alive, the guy would've been shot at dawn and his family billed for the bullet.
At least they wouldn't have to dig out the (dusted) building plan to include it in his severance package. You know, so that he would find his way out.
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The joke is that the iOS 6 maps app couldn't find the right place you're looking for. Often mocked by the Motorola ad which touts the superiority of Google's maps (but which really turns out to
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Re:Antarctica? Middelfart? (Score:4, Informative)
In a moment of seriousness, he was fired BECAUSE Apple Maps are providing faulty and at times outright insane directions. He was the guy in charge of making Apple Maps, as the summary says.
So the joke is that he used his iPhone to navigate home to Middelfart from Antarctica, and obviously was told the distance was short enough that he could just walk.
FYI, they're about 10,000 miles apart.
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Microsoft has been trying to kill Google for years. Ain't gonna happen. Google will only die when it gets fat and complacent, and when technology changes such that they don't need Google as much anymore.
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