There’s been a bit of an uproar over the iOS 6 update to Apple Maps. It’s not even that they’re completely unusable; it’s the fact that some of it seems perfectly normal, and suddenly it’s horrifyingly inaccurate. Sufficed to say, you wouldn’t want to rely on them to get around. Even worse, Google apparently doesn’t have any plans to bring an app of their own to the market. It’s not good, but how bad is it exactly? Bad enough that Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has officially apologized for it.
The letter even goes so far as to suggest using apps from their competitors, like Bing or MapQuest, and does the unthinkable by suggesting making an icon out of the Google Maps page. Steve Jobs might just be rolling in his grave. Here’s the letter 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
It’s the kind of an apology that’s almost not really an apology, in that we’re stuck with Apple Maps. On the other hand, they did admit that it’s not the best experience on the market. So, there’s that. Until they get their act together, it looks like folks will be making an icon out of the Google Maps web app from here on in.
(Apple via Business Insider)
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