A rare apology from Apple
Friday, September 28, 2012 at 3:37PM 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
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Reader Comments (5)
There's a first.
Read between the lines:
You can't get Google Maps, back, until they release their own app. We didn't think you'd mind.
I blame Scott Forstall for skeumorphism in iOS, the most barren mapping product I've ever seen, the lack of serious progress on iOS, my leaky bathroom tap and the state of the middle-east. He may have been behind the awful movie that insulted the prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). May have. And he has good teeth, which makes me want to punch him more.
Interesting. He said 'iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations.' He doesn't say how many they have found. It might only be 3.
Google has already added the URL scheme to suggest adding an icon on your screen for Google Maps. Was there the other day when we were testing an app that accesses the mapping function. (Now opens safari and google maps, rather than the missing app).
a former colleague rewrote the apology to reflect the truth as many see it:
http://mark.goodge.co.uk/2012/09/apple-a-more-truthful-apology/