Wow. Just wow. In an unprecedented move from Apple, Tim Cook has written an open letter apologising for the royal balls up that has been Apple Maps. You really want to read this.
Apple Maps has not been well received. The service has been rife with bugs since its launch, causing upset and outrage among fans of a company famed for trying to produce products that ‘just work’.
The issues have been so bad that the whole thing has prompted an official response from Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. Here it is in full:
‘To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.
We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.
There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. 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.
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.
Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO’
Just take a moment to let that sink in. Apple has conceded that it’s made a huge mistake launching Apple Maps in an unfinished state, and then – boldly – suggested that iOS 6 users go and use Bing, MapQuest, Waze Nokia or Google Maps (the mobile site version) while they iron out the bugs.
We really don’t know what to say, other than that we’ve never seen Apple put its hands up to a mistake in quite this fashion before. Cue a barrage of “This wouldn’t have happened if Steve were still alive” responses…
Link: Apple
