Tim Cook Publishes Open Letter on Maps for iOS 6

[ugahairydawgs]

1. Apple Maps isn't that bad. Could it be better? Sure. Does it have all of the same level of detail as Google Maps? No. But it's not bad for an infant product.

2. "They should have just stayed with Google Maps on the back end". Valid point, especially in the short term. But Google has been dragging their feet for far too long in bringing turn by turn to iOS and at some point you have to change the game somehow or the self-fulfilling prophecy about Android having turn by turn and iOS doesn't will never change.

3. "They shouldn't have released the software if it wasn't 100% ready". Is it really that bad? Sure some stuff is off right now, but when you are going to rely on crowd sourcing for building your grid you have to start somewhere. Now's as good a time as any.

The main thing Apple did wrong here is build up their Map program as some end all, be all out of the box. If they would have just been frank up front about the inherent problems that are going to be there from day one they wouldn't have so much egg in their face in the aftermath.

 

[k995]

"or use Google "
Now thats gotta hurt.

 

[wiivile]

I don't understand what's so hard about getting Google Maps back and how it's any different from YouTube? If it was in iOS 5, why can't it be put on the App Store for iOS 6 like YouTube has been?

 

[Popinbottles]

I have both.

Great! You have the best of both worlds. You should never get lost.

 

[AppDeveloper]

You know that the only reason that you are new to turn by turn navigation is because apple denied you access to it for many years? It's been standard on all android phones for 5 years+

How did you calculate those 5 years+?

The first commercially available phone to run Android was the HTC Dream, released on October 22, 2008.

This is not even 4 years today.

(Btw, first iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, so for the iPhone it is 5 years+ today).

 

[Jibbajabba]

"or use Google "
Now thats gotta hurt.

.. since you can't even

 

[chrisd1974]

I've used maps once and it was wrong. Put me on a street below the one I was supposed to be on. That was in the largest city in Toronto. If you can't get the major cities right that's a bad sign.

According to many of the people on this Forum it's your fault - you are a whiny cry baby who should have known where to go already. I think their view is full of ***** but clearly I have neglected to take account of the great strides Tim Cook made at Compaq

 

[MACKVM]

Tall Order

Cliffs notes: Our maps suck, use a competitor's product.


-"I like to fire people" - Mitt Romney

I think that Apple has some catching up to do and if they do, their product will be better than Google's. Until then, they could use our support. They've changed the world and improved our lives. We don't have to attack their mistakes.

As for the Romney comment in your signature file, it's dishonest. You're trying to make it seem like he said he likes firing people who work at companies he owns. Like he's an evil btard who chuckles as he fires people. The true test of if someone is taking someone out of context is this. If you show reasonable people the whole context, and they realize that's NOT what he was saying, then they look at you like, "Yo, dude- why were you trying to trick me?"

Romney was talking about freedom of choice in medical insurance as opposed to being stuck with the insurance the government says you have to have. He said if the service is bad, you can leave and get another provider. That's good for us all- even the provider you canceled- they'll get better or die. And we all win from that competition. When AT&T was the only phone company, prices were sky high. Once there was competition, they've come way down.

Like him or not, it's not fair debate to lie and say he said something he didn't say just to make people not like him. If he's that bad, tell people what he actually said, in it's entirety, and let them all make up their mind fairly. (actually, I think most people agree with what he ACTUALLY said.)

Here's what Romney said in its entirety with the typical deceptive misquote in bold:

“I want people to be able to own insurance if they wish to, and to buy it for themselves and perhaps keep it for the rest of their life, and to choose among different policies offered from companies across the nation. I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy.

“It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn’t give me the good service I need, I’m going to go get somebody else to provide that service to me.”

Wow, isn't that something quite different from "I like to fire people" That's like if I said, "I love guys who switch lanes just to find out that the other lane is now moving slower." And someone says "Did you hear Karl? He said "I love guys"!"

 

[Fishticks]

I must agree with what others have said, I have zero problems with the maps. I live in the Pittsburgh, PA area and navigation here can be hectic, (I know it is not New York). I have used turn by turn navigation 3 times to locations over a half hour away from me, and have had zero problems.

I think sometimes we as consumers just like to complain.

Stop complaining about people who have a real reason to complain.

 

[adbe]

Perception is everything. On the iPhone, Apple Maps is better than Google Maps 98% of the time. That is what drove Apple to release now. They certainly made an error of judgement, but what they underestimated was that they would get beat over the head with the 2% of the time Apple Maps do actually suck.

Frankly, if this were hardware, sucking 2% of the time would not really be acceptable, and I doubt they would have released it with a known problem of that magnitude. It's not at all uncommon for software to be released with some problems, and that was what drove Apple's judgement. However, what Apple really missed is that this is not a typical software problem, but a "data accuracy" issue, which users are much, much more sensitive to than normal bugs.

In principal I'd agree but clearly in some areas the issue is much worse than 2%. Or to put it another way, let's say your 2% is correct for arguments sake. If the distribution was linear, most people would likely never notice an issue. However, it isn't. Some areas (my home town for example) are measurably better than Google maps. Some areas essentially don't exist, or are so badly mapped as to make the map functionally useless. For people in those areas, it isn't a 2% thing, it feels like a 100% thing, and that's a problem.

As for releasing, the only way a map gets better is releasing it into the wild. Apple are taking a huge, but calculated risk here. This will all be a lot of nothing by the time iOS7 rolls around, or a serious dent in their public image from which they'll spend years trying to recover. The scale of the risk is what makes me think they'll do something and fast.

 

[Beezzy]

I've been happy with my Maps app. But the fact Tim Cook apologized and people are still bitching is funny. You can't say or do anything right anymore.

 

[derbladerunner]

They finally admitted that the map app is not up to par. It's funny how some people in the forum defended Apple these past days saying nothing or almost nothing is wrong with the maps. Now Cook himself admits the errors.

I like the tone of the open letter under the new CEO, he even lists competing products as temporary alternatives.

This is just a first step however. Maps will take months to resolve and upgrade (transit info...), I hope Apple can catch up to Google by the end of 2013.

 

[theSeb]

But it is not the best product you COULD HAVE had if Apple would of contracted with Google for their turn by turn and vector maps..

They did. Google did not want to include those features.

 

[chrisd1974]

How did you calculate those 5 years+?

The first commercially available phone to run Android was the HTC Dream, released on October 22, 2008.

This is not even 4 years today.

(Btw, first iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, so for the iPhone it is 5 years+ today).

Sorry it was a guess. It feels like 5 years. Good stats by the way. Did you google them or do you have those in the front part of your brain?

 

[spencecb]

Apple had multiple choices for turn by turn navigation - it chose not to purchase them until now.

Huh? That makes no sense. Apple can't use Google maps for turn-by-turn. So, in order to implement it, they would have to create a standalone app with maps in it. Oh wait, that's exactly what they did.

 

[1member1]

I think you are all over reacting. Apple maps are not that bad. and there are always solutions in the appstore.

give the little apps a chance

 

[nikomakhos]

This is a nice start. Of course it doesn't make the Maps any better, but at least we know they are most likely working hard on fixing this mess.

There are a lot of problems to go through though. First of all, in many places the maps don't align with the satellite pictures very well. This causes all kinds of problems, especially when using GPS.

Another major problem seems to be double data. This causes some places to have 2 exactly same layers that are in slightly different places. I found many examples of this especially in Australia. Here the angular green layers don't make any sense anyway, but they are also doubled with slightly different positions.

 

[chrisd1974]

How did you calculate those 5 years+?

The first commercially available phone to run Android was the HTC Dream, released on October 22, 2008.

This is not even 4 years today.

(Btw, first iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, so for the iPhone it is 5 years+ today).

Hey appdeveloper - send us a link to one of your apps. Doesn't matter if it's not ready just release it as it is and we can all crowdsource some improvements.

 

[DavidLeblond]

2. "They should have just stayed with Google Maps on the back end". Valid point, especially in the short term. But Google has been dragging their feet for far too long in bringing turn by turn to iOS and at some point you have to change the game somehow or the self-fulfilling prophecy about Android having turn by turn and iOS doesn't will never change.

Google's license prevented them from using Google Maps on the back end.

 

[Intarweb]

Apple Maps is the biggest unacknowledged public beta ever done.

 

[OllyW]

Where are you? Seems to do the job down in Dorset and in London. I have to go to Basingstoke sometimes too and it works there.

<----- The Black Country / West Midlands.

There's a lot of errors with the mapping around here. Most towns aren't labeled, the one's with labels are in the wrong place. POIs are years out of date, in the wrong place or a combination of the two and the satellite images are a blurry pixelated mess.

Apart from that it's alright.

 

[skinned66]

I wonder if Foxconn shows up on the new iOS 6 Maps.

The first rule of Foxconn is you do not talk about Foxconn.

 

[iMcLovin]

Tim Cook forgot to include info on what the F is going on with the absence of a new iMac

 

[Clown Boy]

Apple Maps is a complete cluster-***** and a totally embarrassing episode for post Jobs Apple.

I upgraded to the iPhone 6 and have barely used if since opting for my work's Galaxy S3 simply due to the inaccuracies presented in Apple Maps.

The 2% of Barista fan boiz who are experiencing no issues I wish u well but the 98% who are, I feel sorry for you.

Steve would NEVER have allowed this.

 

[Petraeus]

Its obvious this Cook guy is lying out of his ass.

why doesnt he just give us the old google maps back ...