Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes For Maps App, Recommends Alternatives

TheBoat writes "Tim Cook has apologized for the company's Maps app in iOS 6. 'We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.' Cook said the company is continuing to work on the app, but recommended several alternatives in the meantime: apps from Bing, MapQuest, and Waze, or the map websites of Google and Nokia." This is unusual for Apple, but not unprecedented. Steve Jobs acknowledged reception issues with the iPhone 4 in 2010, but he wasn't quite so contrite about it.

Comments

Bye Apple

[heptapod]

Steve Jobs would have never apologized. He woudl've given it just the right spin that everyone would feel contrite over making jokes at Apple's expense. The next release would be perfect, as Steve would have demanded, and the kerfuffle would be consigned to largely forgotten history.

Tim Cook goofed.

Re:Bye Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

as someone who bought apple shares before 2007 - i can only hope that fucking up then throwing money at problems to fix them carelessly is not the long term post steve jobs plan.

Re:Bye Apple

[pr0nbot]

They're probably sitting on enough cash to move towns and rivers to match their maps.

Re:Bye Apple

[Ash-Fox]

What happened to "It Just Works"?

It's now become "It Just Sues!".

Steve Jobs wouldn't apologize

[Anonymous Coward]

He'd just say you were trying to navigate wrong.

Re:Steve Jobs wouldn't apologize

[mrquagmire]

"Our maps aren't inaccurate. Your towns are inaccurate."

Re:Steve Jobs wouldn't apologize

[Anonymous Coward]

"We have revised the location of your town. Pray that we do not revise it any further."

I miss Steve Jobs

[hawks5999]

He would have just told us all that we are using the maps wrong, and we'd all apologize to him.

Re:I miss Steve Jobs

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

He would have just told us all that we are using the maps wrong, and we'd all apologize to him.

If you were heading toward anywhere cool enough to be worth going, Apple Maps would have gotten you there. If you want to navigate to places that are the geographical equivalent of the crappy ERP software that keeps you using XP at work, well, you'll just have to use something else...

Re:I miss Steve Jobs

[yotto]

"You live in a really obscure town, I've probably never heard of it."
                                              --Apple

Re:I miss Steve Jobs

[Urza9814]

You may actually be on to something.

Think about how excited all the hipsters will be when they discover the new Maps application has either never heard of, or cannot find, their favorite stores/bars/locations!

"I'm heading out to this new oxygen bar. You've probably never heard of it. Even my iPhone hasn't."

Somewhere, Google is Smiling

[kstatefan40]

Steve Jobs must be turning in his grave. It sounds like Mr. Cook failed to learn from Mr. Job's demand for perfection before release. I guess this could be like iPhone v1 not having the copy and paste feature at product launch. Eventually, I wonder if people will get sick of dealing with this kind of attitude from Apple? I did - a long time ago.

Re:Somewhere, Google is Smiling

[dopaz]

The Maps app does indeed do basic turn-by-turn routing. What it doesn't do is text-to-voice, to announce the upcoming turns. Until Google released "Google Maps Navigation", Maps on Android didn't announce turns either.

I knew it

[thegarbz]

Ha I knew Apple would blame then end user for everything and spin it as just another fea... wait what?

This is actually quite a dramatic about face from the usual way Apple deals with problems. Where's the blame, then the spin, and instead of an apology I was expecting Tim Cook holding up a competitor's product going "see it has problems too!"

I'm impressed.

in Yoda's words

[Anonymous Coward]

not ready the apprentice is
more than just fancy presentations he must learn
much too soon master has left

Remove GMaps, Suggest GMaps Website?

[TheNinjaroach]

Suggesting the Google Maps website is really thick. If Apple really wanted to fix the situation ASAP, why don't they re-release the Google Maps app?

Re:Remove GMaps, Suggest GMaps Website?

[jo_ham]

Maybe because it doesn't run on iOS6 and is many years old and has less function than using Google maps in the browser?

Just a (well known, well reported) thought.

Re:Maps sure, but what about the OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut the fuck up and go buy a brand new Android device that doesn't have the latest operating system from day 1 and likely is two generations old and will never see an update for the life of the device.

Re:It really is the House of Steve

[Overzeetop]

Yes, but when it was Steve's crap it was a stunning shade of UPS brown, shined like the top of the Chrysler building, and the smell was described as "earthy and inviting, like a forest floor on a spring morning" by all the bloggers.

As I have been saying

[geekoid]

1 years after his death, Apple will start to loose it's way. Tim Cook didn't learn anything from Jobs.
Now all the fan boys can't stand behind contrived excuse and apologies; which is critical to Apple vocal customer base. Much of which is cult like thinking when dealing with Apple.
Seriously, I'm thinking about writing a paper on it. Please note, I said their vocal customer base. i.e. the apologists.

So then let people go back to 5.X

[RossR]

I think what we (the consumers and people concerned with lock-in) should be pushing for is the ability to go back to older versions of iOS on devices that we own. If every story about this failure mentioned that people who try the new version are locked in without the ability to go back to a working version, maybe Apple would cave.

Looks like the beginning of the end for Apple

[epp_b]

And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.