Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Tim Cook Publishes Open Letter on Maps for iOS 6

I think Tim took the right approach. Everyone screws up now and then. This is reality. Whether managing a small project or a gigantic one with many moving pieces, you will screw up at some point. Leadership means:

1) Own your screw up.
2) Fix it, as quickly as possible... and fix it right.
3) Move on.

Leaders are not those who waste time wallowing in their mistakes or trying to deny them for as long as possible. Apple's biggest strength right now is that, since it's absolutely pointless for anyone to come in there and try to be like Steve (no CEO of Apple will ever be driven by the same vested interest that he had in the company he co-founded). So, Tim has to leverage his strengths, and one of them seems to be taking ownership of his losses as well as his victories, and immediately applying what he learned.

That's good for Apple's longevity. Will it mean that Apple will be the fanboy/speculator favorite that it has been? Probably not. Will it mean that they'll continue doing reasonably well and setting a better standard for themselves than most companies that tend to try to disown or spin their mistakes? Yes.

Tim is doing his thing and he's pretty good at it... Better than I was expecting. And shareholders, however much I personally believe Apple is currently overpriced, seem to think so too.
 
KeanosMagicHat said:
Sometimes I wonder about Apple's current management, not just the senior figures, but their middle-management advisors too.

This is a terrible letter. In all seriousness, I could've written a much better document.

There are three glaringly obvious key points missing.

He says,

"The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you".

Well that's all well and good, but there is not nearly enough detail here. I have yet to see anyone report that an error has been corrected. Even those which have been widely discussed in the media, like the town in Austria where every street name is the same highly offensive word.

The letter should have made a clear commitment on how customer feedback is actioned with defined timescales for the correction process. With an apparently massive task ahead to correct many areas, this would provide some much needed assurance to people that their efforts to assist will be swiftly rewarded.

Secondly, having read articles by many cartography/mapping industry experts on this recently, the majority seem somewhat surprised that it has gone as spectacularly wrong as it has.

Being late to the game, Apple's core data is not sourced from the same #1 players that Google's enjoys, but despite this, the product really shouldn't be this bad.

Some speculate and I agree that Apple have found it more difficult to integrate all of the data layers into a cohesive product than they had first believed. I wouldn't be surprised to see a reasonable update before Christmas which improves the situation to an extent, realising greater potential from the existing data.

Tim could (and should) have eluded to this in his email.

Finally and this may by wishful thinking, I'd have like to have seen Tim's request for customers to assist to improve Apple Maps, alongside an offer to allow us to choose our integrated mapping system for iOS and iOS apps out of any of those Tim mentioned.

Had those three key points been in the letter, I'd have believed things were moving in the right direction and Apple were truly claiming responsibility with a plan for action.

As it is today, nothing much has changed, although I have to concede it is much better than Schiller's (paraphrasing), "Aluminium scratches - just deal with it" approach.
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with all of that - if he'd given more indication of what Apple are doing, and some kind of means for people to see mistakes being corrected, or some more direct contact with Apple where Apple people could be seen to be actively communicating with their community at large. Because as it is any feedback just goes into a nebulous black hole.

And also about what Apple are doing with data suppliers with regards the possibility of any kind of globally applied fix that may significantly improve the data. Because if they are reliant on verified user data, it could take a while.

There's also the issue of aerial photography - in much of the UK it's beyond useless. Users presumably won't be in a position to provide Apple with new aerial photography. So some indication of what Apple may be doing to improve that.
 
Don't agree with specifically naming the competitors’ products by name. It suggests they are all up to a high quality standard and that may not be the case.

Otherwise, it's a good move to state they recognize the feedback and are working on it.

I have not used it to much but the couple of times I have it has worked just fine.
 
Everything we do at Apple is maximize our profits and control what our customers can use on our devices. Even if it is second rate.
 
Qfic said:
Err! Wrong, the people who care about my luxury are exactly the people who appropriately apologized for botching a release to a fundamental aspect of their high end mobile device.

The people who need to get off the pedestal are the people like you who view Apple as anything more than a company supplying us luxuries. If I'm paying for something that "just works" then it better well be something that just works.

Nice attempt at a troll tho, really, very cute. 🙄
Click to expand...

It's a single map application and it works just fine. Get over yourself.

A bunch of spoiled brats - Apple fanboys and Fandroids included.

The world isn't perfect. Apple isn't perfect.

If you don't like Apple Maps... buy an Android. But for the love of humanity quit crying like a little girl about something as insignificant as a single app.

Go do some volunteer work or something.
 
JayJayAbels said:
This whole thing is ridiculous. Apple Maps works just fine.
Click to expand...

Not if you live in - or want to visit - an area with lousy data it doesn't.
Not if you use Street View it doesn't.
Not if you use Public Transport Routing and there's no viable third party suggestion for your area, it doesn't.
Not if it was a cloudy day when the 1950's era Ex-soviet satellite with the black and white camera flew over your city, it doesn't. I'm unclear as to how this will improve with user feedback.

...and (unlike stories about frayed connectors or scratched phones, that may just be a few isolated problems) these problems are in plain sight for all to see. Whole cities of hundreds of thousands of people are under cloudbanks (try Nottingham, UK and look on the net for many more examples)

You clearly have some strange definition of "works fine"

The media has HIGHLY exaggerated how "bad" the app is thus forcing Apple to do some PR to handle it.

No it's not as good as Google maps.
No it doesn't have "street view".
No it's not as accurate as Google maps.
Click to expand...

So apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?

But just because it's not AS good as G maps doesn't make it a bad app.
Click to expand...

It makes it a bad replacement for Google Maps, though.

If Apple had done the sensible thing and run this as a beta alongside Google Maps for the remaining year of their contract then there would be far fewer complaints.

Yes, on reflection upgrading the iPad to iOS 6 was my mistake. I mistakenly thought it was going to be a thoroughly user-tested upgrade to a mature mobile operating system, and therefore not replace any major applicatons with half-baked alpha solutions with major functionality removed. Silly me.

I suspect that people buying new iDevices with iOS6 pre-installed, or following standard operating practice and acceptiong iTunes' offer to update it to the latest firmware as soon as they get home, will also make the same mistake.

Oh, and just for the record:

* Google Maps on the web is a partial solution, but doesn't have Street View... and the whole success of the App Store is largely buit on the fact that native Apps are much nicer to use than Javascript Web Apps.

* Bing isn't bad, but the app is iPhone only - it runs on iPad but it's like washing your feet with socks on.

* Waze looks like a promising turn-by-turn app but its not a general-purpose map and I don't want a turn-by-turn app - at least not on my non-GPS iPad.

* Maybe, instead of sending people to competitors (seriously!?) Tim Cook could have offered an official way to revert to iOS 5 until they get Maps fixed? I know it's possible using 'jailbreaking' techniques but I'd prefer an official solution (the idea of downloading the image from some website I've never heard of is unappealing).
 
Here's a thought.

Everyone unhappy with Maps and because it's not perfect, return the damn phone! That would send a clear message to Apple.

More importantly, we'd stop hearing all the whining and crying. You have choices you know. Not satisfied, exercise your options.
 
Geckotek said:
You say all that without being aware of all the terms......
Click to expand...

Let me be very clear... I don't care what the terms are! The terms wouldn't be any different than if Google created its own Maps app for distribution through the App Store. And that's exactly the app I'll be using the moment Google releases it.

But if Apple were to embrace a Google-based app instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, the Google-based app could be the default app for working with Siri and (for example) touching an address in Contacts or email.

Not only is Apple reinventing the wheel, it "broke" the really good wheel the customers are accustomed to.

Mark
 
Not sure how smart it is to acknowledge a flaw in a new product, but at the same time I'm kind of glad they did, I prefer it when companies communicate with their customers and acknowledge complaints.
 
JayJayAbels said:
If you don't like Apple Maps... buy an Android. But for the love of humanity quit crying like a little girl about something as insignificant as a single app.

Go do some volunteer work or something.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should take some of your own medicine, dude.

You're the one crying like a little girl about people voicing their justified critique.
 
Maps are one use of a phone. (albeit a widely used one). They have plenty of map app providers. I have used GPS Drive which is something like $20 a year if you want the turn by turn and it works great.

I've used the Apple maps a lot in the last week. Had only one issue- where an address was off by about a block. Using Google and Android you have those same issues at times, using magellan, tom-tom, garmin the same. One time the Hertz never lost system sent me about 8 miles in the wrong direction in Germany. (That is a Magellan product)

I use an HTC One X as my second phone. Are Android maps richer in data? yes ...is streetview nice to have? yep! Does Google, Nokia etc have a big head start in that business? sure! Google maps have failed me many times too.

Android in general is nice but its not better by a long shot. There are aspects that are better, and aspects that are clunky. Buy an Android i did and you will find out 🙂
 
d21mike said:
Seems strange that most people feel that Apple is actually creating the Map Database from scratch. Apple is creating a Mapping Application that uses data produced by a other companies. And the main company providing that is TomTom who says their data is NOT the problem. They do not know what is going on with the App but it is NOT the data (according to TomTom CEO). So assuming that is true then this is an Application Problem with how the data is being processed. Too confirm this others that have been using the TomTom App say the data is fine. Even Google uses TomTom for some of their data.

So I suggest to all of you that are saying that Google has a 7 year head start are not looking at this correctly. TomTom and many other companies that are providing the Map Data did no just start working on this now. They have been building the database for a very long time and many other Apps are using the data. So I predict the problems with "Apples software" will get corrected sooner then expected because they do not have to Map the whole world they simply need to fix their software that uses it.

Also, some of you that are experiencing major problems in your area there are other Apps that only cost about $40. Such as Garmin, TomTom, Navigon etc. A lot of us that have needed true Navigation have already purchased one of these because the prior Map App was useless for this purpose. I personally feel that Apple made the right choice by using map data from non-Google Sources. This short lived problem will be over very soon.
Click to expand...

This is a data integration issue not an app development issue and not even navigation issue. All other maps vendors were working data integration for 7+, not on the app. There are only two major navigation providers(NAVTEQ,TeleAtlas) everyone uses. But if you don't have exact co-ordinates of destination and roads to go there, navigation algorithm is useless.

When you query Statue of Liberty in Apple Maps, pin goes to a shed next to it. That is sad.

Google Earth has a crowd source layer, which is useless. Google doesn't depend on it to provide search results.

If one reports to Apple that a particular restaurant is not shown correctly, there is no way Apple can fix it unless it has correct coordinates of that location. "Crowd" is not a good source.
 
Bensalama21 said:
The only reason that apple got away from google refs was this:

TURN BY TURN NAVIGATION
Click to expand...

No, Google was willing to support turn-by-turn navigation in iOS. Apple just didn't want to agree to Google's terms.

Apple needs to face the fact that Apple makes the best phones but Google has the best maps and map data. Put the "thermonuclear war" aside and THINK OF THE CUSTOMER FIRST!

Mark
 
satchmo said:
Here's a thought.

Everyone unhappy with Maps and because it's not perfect, return the damn phone! That would send a clear message to Apple.

More importantly, we'd stop hearing all the whining and crying. You have choices you know. Not satisfied, exercise your options.
Click to expand...

...and those of us who updated our previous models? What are we to do?

If I could revert to 5.1, I would, but Apple won't allow.
 
satchmo said:
Here's a thought.

Everyone unhappy with Maps and because it's not perfect, return the damn phone! That would send a clear message to Apple.

More importantly, we'd stop hearing all the whining and crying. You have choices you know. Not satisfied, exercise your options.
Click to expand...

If you don't want to read whining and crying, stay the hell out of topics about the subject of Maps (or scratched iPhones or new dock connectors).

Mark
 
No inside beta testing can match 100 million users

I think Apple legitimately thought it had a good and ready product. A bunch of secretive Apple employees testing an App will never find what 100 million users will distributed throughout the world. And again, funny how people forget all the map issues Google had. Seems that those were easily forgiven. With literally 100s of millions of data points and locations, there is no other way to hone a global database than to get it out into the users hands.

As long as they continually update their data base, and I am betting they will, this will be just fine.

Personally, in all my use as a traveling pilot thus far, I have not had any freakish errors yet (such as restaurants located in rivers or business being closed for 20 years). I only miss the sub/city transportation feature. But used it less than I do the new turn-by-turn.
 
Last edited:
AppleScruff1 said:
Everything we do at Apple is maximize our profits and control what our customers can use on our devices. Even if it is second rate.
Click to expand...

Sadly, this is EXACTLY how it feels right now.

I've defended Apple dozens of times for its "our way or the highway" approach. Not this time. The Maps change is a huge debacle and Apple needs to suck it up, agree to Google's terms, and bring back Google-based map data.

Mark
 
notabadname said:
I think Apple legitimately thought it had a good and ready product. A bunch a secretive Apple employees testing an App will never find what 100 million users will distributed throughout the world. And again, funny how people forget all the map issues Google had. Seems that those were easily forgiven. With literally 100s of millions of data points and locations, there is no other way to hone a global database than to get it out into the users hands.

As long as they continually update their data base, and I am betting they will, this will be just fine.

Personally, in all my use as a traveling pilot thus far, I have not had any freakish errors yet (such as restaurants located in rivers or business being closed for 20 years). I only miss the sub/city transportation feature. But used it less than I do the new turn-by-turn.
Click to expand...

Agree with you on all points. Mapping is far from perfect.
 
One word: Crowdsourcing

If Apple had one year on the Google Map deal and Google wasn't implementing turn-by-turn directions, then Apple needed to offer a product that had all the features and flexibility that Apple wanted to share with their customers.

Apple didn't have a strong Map presence but was building one. If they waited a year to make it better, it would have still been weaker than Google at launch.

So, bring it out a year early with iOS6, get the open-minded, solution-focussed users to provide feedback, then have a world-class map solution by the time the Google contract ended.

This is my "glass half-full" view of the situation.

My advice, try to use Apple Maps but have a back-up on your phone. When you run into a hiccup, feed it back to Apple. We all win! 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back