Apple Launches New App Store Feature Section for Alternative Maps

BC2009 said:

I think this is Tim Cook's way of diffusing the press. If Apple does these things then what does the press have left to write about? The story suddenly becomes old news.

However, I would like Apple to keep the pressure on the Maps team to get things fixed. I am also glad that I do not work on that team right now. I don't know if this is falling on Scott Forstall or Eddy Cue or both but somebody is getting verbally whipped right now if Tim Cook is writing these kind of open letters and Apple is suggesting alternatives to their first-party Maps.

As an aside: the new maps has been fantastic for me so I cannot complain about it. I love the new features and since this news I have used it more often to see if I could spot a problem, but so far, so good.

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no one is getting whipped. everyone knew that maps was crap for a lot of areas. the only way to fix it is to release and fix the errors. that's how google did it years ago. google maps sucked when it first came out

in places where the maps are good people use it for the navigation which the previous app didn't have.

most of this is blogger hysteria like antenna gate. which wasn't a big deal either

Small White Car said:

Apple is and always has been a hardware company first. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just teasing you.

So, no, you're not supposed to believe it.

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Well that's not what Steve said. Steve always said Apple was a software company. And around here Steve is GOD.

This is getting depressing now.

Two things


1. this doesn't solve any issue with Map Kit and/or location based apps.

2. As I wrote in another thread - the subtext here is that (in my opinion) Tim doesn't believe there's a quick fix here. It's not going to be 1-2-3 months away. If it was a relatively quick fix - then there wouldn't be a letter or this new section - they would ignore the problem and deal with the head only to quickly have the solution.

No - these two tactics (again, to me) imply that there is a LOT of work to be done and it's going to take "awhile."

Keebler said:

I respectfully disagree. I think it's great they apologized. Most companies get arrogant when they get big and don't admit to any wrongdoing.

I really don't want to spin this into a FCX thread, but you can probably agree they screwed that up and took months to admit and release changes.

At least they manned this one up, admitted it and said they're working on it.

Kudos to that (and of course no kudos for doing it in the 1st place! lol

As someone else mentioned, I've used it locally for navigation and it's been perfect, but these have been short trips and nothing too in-depth.

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Oh, I definitely think it's GOOD that they've acknowledged the issues and said they're working on it. No problem with that!

What I'm iffy about is them basically saying "Go use one of our competitor's products and get back to us later" with a whole featured section in the app store.

Douglascraigen said:

I also have had no problems with iPhone 5 or iOS 6. I love em both. That being said, Im proud to be part of a company that is so good at what they do most of the time and yet admits when they mess up (abet not very often).

Ps. I have no problems with Apple Maps and Im happy with Apple getting ride of the crappy google maps that were built into iOS.

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If it had been released as 'BETA' you'd be correct. But as it stands the official status is "Apple screwed up".

Apple's play here is that people will try other apps, and realize that the built-in app is actually really nice, and that all GPS navigation solutions have data problems.

I've been led astray many times by Google Maps and my TomTom GPS. My personal favorite was a few years ago when I printed off some Google maps directions and halfway through our trip we found out that the "toll" the directions listed was actually a ferry, which was definitely not running at midnight when we got to that point in the directions. Brutal.

Of course Google's data is more mature but people are acting like Google Maps are perfect and Apple's data will lead you off a cliff every time you use it.

nia820 said:

No its not unwarranted. Maybe where you live it works. But for most small towns and outside America its horrible. According to apple maps I live in the middle of no where.

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Sound like, from your second sentence, that your third sentence may be true.

There are many perks of living in rurals areas. Expecting similar treatment that city-folk get from a corporation is unreasonable. You WILL be last on their list of priorities. It may not be fair to you, but you also don't have to fight for parking spots just to go grocery shopping, so there is a trade-off.

Edit: didn't see the "outside of america" part originally. Obviously what I have written above would not apply in that situation.

Waze is fantastic. It was my go-to navigation solution.

And I have not used it since upgrading to iOS 6.

Rogifan said:

Bye bye Scott?

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Doubtful unless there is an internal power struggle. My guess is that Forstall was being groomed as Tim Cook's successor, and may still be. Dealing with a PR disaster is something that a CEO needs to be able to do. Steve Jobs could get away with being temperamental because he was a once-in-several-generations type of genius, and he had reset his career after being tossed out of Apple the first time.

More likely, Maps will become its own division. It really can't be someone's side job. It's that important in the long run.

Skika said:

Apps available in the Apple app store are Apple's competitors?

Do you read the stuff you write?

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Duh.

Example: Amazon has the Kindle app in the App Store. Do you think Amazon and iBooks/the iBookstore aren't competitors?

Rogifan said:

Well that's not what Steve said. Steve always said Apple was a software company. And around here Steve is GOD.

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This map thing has made me realize that Apple is great at hardware, and great at software. They are, however, mediocre at services. The actual maps app is great, the service behind it is what is lacking.

I just don't understand it when companies make these types of damaging mistakes when the average person could have easily weighed the pros and cons of keeping or deleting the Google Maps.

Delete Google Maps
Pro:
*we will introduce our own app and compete with Google

Con:
*we will really upset MILLIONS of people who rely on Google Maps if our Maps app is not up to par
*people who lose their iPhones won't be able to pinpoint its location as accurately

Keep Google Maps
Pro:
*We will still introduce our own app and compete with Google
*It will give us one more year to work on our app and improve it
*People will have an alternative in case they don't like our beta Maps app and will simply revert back to Google with much less, if no, backlash
*People who voluntarily choose our app are more likely to report problems so that we can improve it as opposed to people who are upset at us because we forced it on them

Con:
*the license will expire soon

I'm sure others can come up with a list on their own but ultimately, I don't understand how Apple concluded it would be best to force a beta app on people as opposed to the alternative. All of this embarrassment could have been avoided.

Should just pay Google what they wanted for their maps program with turn by turn and called it a day.. but no Apple had to be stubborn about it and now look where it got them. Sorry apple but your best days are behind you now.

rorschach said:

Oh, I definitely think it's GOOD that they've acknowledged the issues and said they're working on it. No problem with that!

What I'm iffy about is them basically saying "Go use one of our competitor's products and get back to us later" with a whole featured section in the app store.

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But because the apple map is native, you WILL go back to it whenever you click on a link for a location. You can buy whatever map you want, but sooner or later, you will end up with Apple maps, and at that point, if it works, you will stick with it.

It's like iTunes. It's not the best, by far, but it gets what you need done, and it syncs with your other stuff easily enough. The other apps work better, but meh, this is good enough.

I think they just should have stated that they are working as hard as they can to fix it and left it at that!
By recommending alternatives people won't use Apple Maps as much so consequently won't get fixed as soon!
Bad idea, IMHO.

That Maps app store section looks terrible! That shade of green... the overly realistic looking pin... the green to white gradient of the buttons on the bottom...

really Tim Cook apologizing!? it is so un-Apple like. You will never hear Steve Jobs apologizing and admit any flaws. He might give you a free bumper but never admit that the iPhone 4 have a antenna issue. Steve Jobs says that you are holding your phone wrong. So whoever like to hold their iPhones, the wrong way here is a free bumper for you or a case.


Hey Tim Cook how about giving us a free Tom Tom or Garmin apps!

nia820 said:

i agree. I regret upgrading to Ios6 everyday.

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Google Maps' web app is surprisingly good. Plus, it's also in Google's interests to release a native app for iOS.

lzyprson said:

I've seriously had no problems with Maps, and I have used Voice Navigation almost daily since the release... Apology unwarranted!!

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Seems to depend on where you live. Obviously lots of us are having issues.

I haven't had too many issues with the maps app either. The only issue I have is it doesn't auto 're-route'. Some time ago TomTom had their app on sale for $19.99 and I bought it, I stick with that. The iOS 6 app isn't bad.

The only other beef I have though, is you have to be very specific. Yesterday I was wanting to check out the new iPhone but the interstate was jammed from a major fatal accident so I was going to look for an alternate route. I typed in 'Apple Store'. I got some Apple store 1,000 miles away in Texas. When I typed 'Apple Store West County', I finally got the one I was looking at and was able to look at the map and see the best route around.

Samsung would never do something like this. Kudos to Apple.

gmanist1000 said:

Because they would never suggest using competitors... oh wait.

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They do make money of the paid downloads... those are not really competitors. The real competitor doesn't even have an app available.

Means nothing until they allow user assignable applications. If google does release a Maps App I would like to be able to make it default on my iPad.

Let's call it defeat. Ok?