Apple had rolled out it’s own in-house Maps app on iOS6. The new maps app has come in for a great deal of criticism. The reason being it has simply turned out to be not much of an upgrade from Google Maps app which was the default on previous iOS versions.
Today, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has taken a the first step towards some damage control. In an open letter, he has admitted that the new Maps app fell short of expectations and apologized to users.
“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.”
– excerpt from Tim Cook’s open letter
Towards the end of the letter, he has also promised to make the Maps experience a lot better but in a very un-Apple like manner recommended users competitor apps like Bing, MapQuest, Waze and also Google Maps and Nokia Maps from websites.
Why was Maps from Apple so heavily criticised?
Maps is still a new product and the data it has cannot be compared to competitors like Google Maps who have worked on their maps data for better part of the last decade. The criticism for Maps by Apple was huge for a couple of reasons.
First was that it was replacing a superior app with an inferior one. The other reason was maps is a one of the most important apps for most smart-phone users.
It is in fact very refreshing to see Apple actually admitting they were not upto the mark. It is a sign of a company that still has its feet on the ground.
Do drop in your comments.
Link: Tim Cook’s Open Letter