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Indian iPhone Users Discuss Apple's Poor Services Performance: 'Apple Maps is a Joke'
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Really? Because every iPhone and iPad launch in the US that I worked at had HUNDREDS of Indian nationals and their families buying the limit of 2 each (including kids paying with cash while the parents stand there with 2 each from different transactions) and refusing AppleCare to send back to India.
I like offline maps, too, especially when going into an area you know will have crappy cell service (e.g. the Smokies). Apple Maps has a similar feature, but it happens automatically. So it’s great if you are in an area you frequent a lot and then your cell coverage goes out. But the lack of deliberately being able to save offline maps for a specific area is maddening.
I know Apple wants to make everything seamless and “just work”, and in many cases that’s a fantastic design ethic. But in other ways it drastically limits the usefulness of certain Apple products/services for anyone other than a complete novice. Which is why my #1 wish for Apple is that they’d bifurcate their design/usability strategy:
- Make the default for all products and services be a seamless/automatic mode for general users.
- Create a pro mode in the settings for all processes that allows savvy users the ability to customize their experience and dramatically increase the utility of most Apple products/services.
Yes, some people really think Apple Maps is still useless.
Note: I am aware that Apple Maps is not perfect on the whole planet but it sure is in most Developed countries.
"Herp, you can only expresses yourself 100% in line with what you're saying, GOTCHYA, derp."
Siri understanding "Indian" is a tall order. There's soooo many dialects and full languages spoken in India beyond just Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Sanskrit... over 20 languages officially. Many others unofficially. It seems a running joke among Indian ex-pats is that they speak English to each other because they don't understand each other without it -- we are talking over a billion people here speaking different languages...
That said... too bad on the Maps. In the US and Canada, I've found their driving directions to be considerably smarter than Google's as of late... especially when dealing with 2 one-way roads next to each other and which you should be on to properly arrive at the destination.
That said... too bad on the Maps. In the US and Canada, I've found their driving directions to be considerably smarter than Google's as of late... especially when dealing with 2 one-way roads next to each other and which you should be on to properly arrive at the destination.
I can see the directions now. "Get on the roof of the train at Hyderabad Station..."
Because they've been asleep at the wheel and they have their autonomous Lexus driving them around, they don't need Apple Maps so they don't need to optimize any of those apps.
About a year ago the Apple Maps data for the area around my condo regressed to about summer 2010 - you can clearly see the in progress repairs to neighbouring parks from the 2010 winter Olympic games amenities. The 4 year old TD Bank next door has disappeared, the new roads for the condo developments to the north have all vanished, probably a dozen or so newer residential towers still show long closed retail stores in their place.
It's simple. Apple does not *really* care. I have reported a wrongly positioned street number (in Europe) 5 times within the last 3 years or so, and they never bothered to correct the error.
Apple Maps is a joke in a bunch of other countries as well, it's sadly not exclusive to India.
I think it is partly from protecting their natural resources (commodities and human) that they do take such an approach, and I don’t take a view of that as a bad thing in itself, just that it makes it difficult for a business to establish a presence there. Ultimately it is of course India’s Sovereign right to keep a tight control over international business conducted within its territory if it so wishes. I just think Indian customers need to realise that there is a trade off for this policy and that is Apple is less able to get a foothold and make a profit there, so it is only logical they will invest less of their resources into a tailored Indian experience than they would if India was an iOS stronghold.
You’re certainly right on the brand damage from this. Certainly in the bigger cities Apple should be really laser focused on getting the experience out there for Indian customers to experience. Unfortunately they aren’t brilliant in markets where they’ve got a dominant position - better than some would say (in my personal experience) but not outstanding.
Yup. That pretty much sums up the majority of you lol
[doublepost=1517351800][/doublepost]Apple Maps obviously works best in G7. It's so so in China but quite good in Japan. All of the Japan metro stuff is solid. When I'm in Korea/China I use native solutions not Google nor Apple.
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Many Americans know but don't care cause it works fine for them. I use it here cause it works best here. Google Maps sucks in Los Angeles, and the app itself has UI and battery drain issues. If/when I go to India, I'll use Google.
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This and for some reason, I've only ever seen one Indian person using an iPhone, even among the many I know or see in the US who can afford one. Dunno why.
I laughed at Facebook's plan to build a restricted ISP in India ("Internet.org" aka "Free Basics"). Government just banned it.
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They aren't interested and have the unique problem of being a high-end brand. They're the most valuable company in the world despite this loss.
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Exactly.
India of 2018 is where China of 2006 was. The next decade will be transformational in India. The government of India has made it easy for Apple to open name brand retail stores and has been heavily encouraging digital payments since Nov. 2016. If Apple doesn't want to step up to the plate, then that's okay because it's Apple's loss. Apple may have considered India a loss, but it's also losing China too.
CMR India said. "At the same time, the typical segment buying Apple products isn't that typical Indian user. But, no brand can afford to underserve a segment -- big or small," he added.
Ha! Well Apple can certainly afford to underserve whomever they want, and they do. Case in point: Nepal. Key features in iOS flat out don't work in Nepal, just because the user is based in Nepal. Facetime and Messages activation is one example.
Ha! Well Apple can certainly afford to underserve whomever they want, and they do. Case in point: Nepal. Key features in iOS flat out don't work in Nepal, just because the user is based in Nepal. Facetime and Messages activation is one example.
Apple is not Google who uses the data gleaned from the users of it's services to make money. Apple needs the hardware to make money. So when India imposes huge import duties on Apple hardware making India an even less attractive market than everyone would wish.
If Indians are upset that Apple doesn't invest the time & money necessary to update apple services like the country's complex road network in Maps, they should change what it is that makes their country unattractive for Apple because until they do so, there is no reason for Apple to spend money on a market that will never pay it back.
Apple maps works very well in France & has added bus & metro transport over the last year so it's far from stagnant as some claim. I prefer using Apple Maps (Google already has enough info on me, thanks) but when going somewhere with poor service (ex: vacationing in Myanmar), Google Maps' offline maps was great.
As long as India makes their market unattractive to Apple I see little reason for Apple to bend over backwards to adapt their devices/services to India.
If Indians are upset that Apple doesn't invest the time & money necessary to update apple services like the country's complex road network in Maps, they should change what it is that makes their country unattractive for Apple because until they do so, there is no reason for Apple to spend money on a market that will never pay it back.
Apple maps works very well in France & has added bus & metro transport over the last year so it's far from stagnant as some claim. I prefer using Apple Maps (Google already has enough info on me, thanks) but when going somewhere with poor service (ex: vacationing in Myanmar), Google Maps' offline maps was great.
As long as India makes their market unattractive to Apple I see little reason for Apple to bend over backwards to adapt their devices/services to India.
Apple should be ashamed of Apple Maps. It's been so many years since the release and it's just falling further and further behind the competition. For all the people who keep saying "give them a break, it's new, they'll fix it, it's going to get better, blah blah," Well it's not. It's worse than ever and it's been over 5 years now. How can a company with so much cash let one of the most important mobile software apps continue to be the laughing stock of the industry? I finally broke down and traded in my iPhone to get a Pixel 2 because at least Android allows you to set default apps. If iOS would just let me to pick Google Maps as the default mapping software I might reconsider.
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Too bad you can't set google maps as default on iOS. It really sucks clicking on links of addresses to have the worst mapping software on earth open up (Apple Maps). I wish you could delete Apple Maps, and Siri, and set Google maps and Google Assistant as defaults but Apple won't let you do that.
I like Apple Maps, but it clearly needs more updates. I feel sometimes that the one car the Apple Maps folks use to drive around, was repurposed for use in Carpool Karaoke.
I don't understand why Apple are unable to use more resources to make their existing products better. If you have a net profit of nearly 50 billion USD, it is possible.
While I understand India may not be a priority market for Siri or Maps, but if they don't work for the English speaking population there, although they speak a dialect, it is a problem which is not just local for India. And Maps is global, and people travel, even from Apples main markets. And you want Maps to work where you are not familiar, not the other way around.
And it is not difficult for a western tech company to do business in India. Most big ones are widely represented, either in their own, or through local, that is except Apple.
But then again, what value could Apple bring to the average mid and upper class Indian? They are like bringing a Lamborghini to the rally track. Nice to look at, but not very useful.
I don't understand why Apple are unable to use more resources to make their existing products better. If you have a net profit of nearly 50 billion USD, it is possible.
While I understand India may not be a priority market for Siri or Maps, but if they don't work for the English speaking population there, although they speak a dialect, it is a problem which is not just local for India. And Maps is global, and people travel, even from Apples main markets. And you want Maps to work where you are not familiar, not the other way around.
And it is not difficult for a western tech company to do business in India. Most big ones are widely represented, either in their own, or through local, that is except Apple.
But then again, what value could Apple bring to the average mid and upper class Indian? They are like bringing a Lamborghini to the rally track. Nice to look at, but not very useful.
Apple Maps is also pretty bad in the Philippines where I live, but I think its a waste of resources and money for Apple to aim for competing with google in every corner of the world. Apples business model is so different from googles, that its not viable for apple to race with google.
Instead apple should focus on providing an alternative, which can be competitive on quality in the major markets. Spend time and money on creating the best platform for apps and services (like google maps) so that these services can offer what apple cant in the rest of the world. First things first: allow other mapping services on CarPlay, and expand siriKit with a "search/reference" capabilities so that google can create a strip-down google assistant that will tie inn with Siri.
Instead apple should focus on providing an alternative, which can be competitive on quality in the major markets. Spend time and money on creating the best platform for apps and services (like google maps) so that these services can offer what apple cant in the rest of the world. First things first: allow other mapping services on CarPlay, and expand siriKit with a "search/reference" capabilities so that google can create a strip-down google assistant that will tie inn with Siri.