Tim Cook Calls Apple Maps Launch His 'First Really Big Mistake' as CEO

[MathersMahmood]

Google Maps is still king.

 

[visualseed]

Apple will be losing a lot of people using Maps by putting Ads in the app, I’m not buying the privacy thing anymore honestly once they added ads in the App Store ,Apple Maps and Google Gemini is part of Apple now it seems

Are they going to switch to the map service that has been saturated with ads for years?

 

[Rafagon]

Which mistake is promising improved Siri and failing to deliver? 88th?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Funny, he blamed that on Forstall and fired him for it.

Yeah, he’s saying his mistake was letting Forstall run it. 🙂

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Poor guy, the guy he carries must be tremendous

 

[CloneBB]

Maps, Apple Intelligence, Vision Pro, Siri, etc…. The list of Tim’s failures is very long.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Siri was released February 2010. iPhone 4S shipped the day before Steve Jobs died

Siri as the default agent on iPhone is what I meant.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I hope not, he would probably bring back skeuomorphism, which I never want to see again.

No, more likely he would just continue the awesome tech work he’s been doing in the companies he’s worked in since then. (Hint: He’s not done ANY tech work in ANY companies since then. Understanding that Apple folks really don’t have a problem being hired in another tech company, the fact that he never worked for another one indicates a. He really wasn’t interested in tech OR b. His “value” was communicated across the industry and no one wanted him.)

 

[Corefile]

Scooter refused to apologize for something he wasn't responsible for. Refused to be part of the Tim Collective of decision making and responsibility acceptance. Quite right. Apologize By Committee isn't a thing. Get Scooter back to lead SW if Craig is ready to exit Apple too.

 

[TheMacPotato]

Uh, Tim? Remember Apple Intelligence, that revolutionary new AI that sold so many iPhone 16's as the main feature? Where, exactly, is that? I'd say Apple Maps was nothing compared to not being able to cobble together your own AI that you advertised as though it existed!

His FIRST big mistake, he said.

 

[TheMacPotato]

What made it worse was that when it was launched, Google did not have Googlemaps ready to download from the store. So we were stuck with the crappy Apple version for a while. The one good thing was that it forced Google to up their game. The Apple version that was shipped with iPhones was a poor relation to the Android version (probably on purpose), with no turn-by-turn navigation. When it was finally available in the store, Google had added that feature.

 

[foobarbaz]

Funny, he blamed that on Forstall

Did he?

You can read the public statement here: https://web.archive.org/web/20121001005112/http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

Nothing else was ever publicly discussed. And all rumors point to a) incompatible personalities and b) his refusal to also sign that apology letter.

While he has made many mistakes, at that time Cook took responsibility for the failure and Forstall apparently did not. Who knows if either was actually responsible, but that's what leaders should do, because they let it happen.

 

[widestload]

As someone based in the UK, I kind of feel this about a lot of the "side" features that Apple gives loads of fanfair too... Apple Maps, Apple Card, ID cards etc etc. "we thought it was because we were testing more of local kind of stuff" all work and look brilliant in LA, California or the wider US, but half baked / we still wait for years later anywhere else in the world.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

What made it worse was that when it was launched, Google did not have Googlemaps ready to download from the store. So we were stuck with the crappy Apple version for a while. The one good thing was that it forced Google to up their game. The Apple version that was shipped with iPhones was a poor relation to the Android version (probably on purpose), with no turn-by-turn navigation. When it was finally available in the store, Google had added that feature.

Not only did they not have it ready to download, but they didn't want to list other map apps on the store, Google or otherwise, at all. After the big kerfuffle, they relented.

 

[Alameda]

Scooter refused to apologize for something he wasn't responsible for. Refused to be part of the Tim Collective of decision making and responsibility acceptance. Quite right. Apologize By Committee isn't a thing. Get Scooter back to lead SW if Craig is ready to exit Apple too.

Were you there at the time? Cause most of us don't know who said what at the time.

Jobs fired a guy over the stupid antenna-gate issue... the one where, if you cover the entire phone with your hand and it has no case, signal reception drops. I never understood why anyone cared about that in the first place.

 

[Alameda]

As someone based in the UK, I kind of feel this about a lot of the "side" features that Apple gives loads of fanfair too... Apple Maps, Apple Card, ID cards etc etc. "we thought it was because we were testing more of local kind of stuff" all work and look brilliant in LA, California or the wider US, but half baked / we still wait for years later anywhere else in the world.

We don't get to pick our own Apple CEO and you don't get to pick your own King. That's how it works, I'm sorry to say.

 

[Royksöpp]

Not to worry. He found a scapegoat.

 

[kcwookie]

No, his biggest mistake was to include Pages Numbers and Keynote in his creative subscription. I don’t use the rest of the apps so spending $129 for just those apps is silly.

 

[ThailandToo]

Everyone hated Scott. They were just looking for a reason to fire him.

I didn’t nor did many others. He is a lot like Jobs, he’s hard to work for but he demanded excellence just like Steve, he was very opinionated like Steve, and he wanted it done right. He was setup by Mr Crook for certain. And Scott has more soul than Mr Crook, as he cares more about the users than Crook for sure; to put Ive in as the OS designer is what led to an iPhone that wasn’t nearly as intuitive to use and that led to older or non-tech users who really couldn’t or can’t get the hang of things. I think Forstall wouldn’t have let that happen.

 

[bigandtasty]

Actually it was his first big win.

How was it his first big win?

 

[ThailandToo]

Siri was released when Jobs was CEO.

I think the user was referring to the revamped Siri. At this point, both Siri and Apple Intelligence are ruining the Apple brand because Mr Crook doesn’t know anything about products or making anyone happy who isn’t a shareholder!

 

[ThailandToo]

Apple will be losing a lot of people using Maps by putting Ads in the app, I’m not buying the privacy thing anymore honestly once they added ads in the App Store ,Apple Maps and Google Gemini is part of Apple now it seems

I would say the privacy thing is definitely just marketing.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Uh, Tim? Remember Apple Intelligence, that revolutionary new AI that sold so many iPhone 16's as the main feature? Where, exactly, is that? I'd say Apple Maps was nothing compared to not being able to cobble together your own AI that you advertised as though it existed!

You’re right but he can’t say that out loud yet. He would instantly hear the sound of a thousand lawyers starting their lawsuits.

 

[ThailandToo]

A lot of people don't give Apple Maps a chance to this day because of how it was when it first launched (I personally use it more often than Google Maps)

It definitely has improved but depends a lot on if you’re in the Western world or a less populated country. In most of advanced Asia Apple Maps are pretty good but still not as good as in USA. But when you get to Vietnam, Laos or Thailand, you definitely need Google Maps on your phone.

 

[ofarlig]

Funny that he seems to think Maps is somehow a good map app today, when you can’t trust the data when searching for places or trust the navigation to get you there legally it isn’t a good map app.