Published in Mobiles

Apple CEO apologizes for iMaps iFail

by on01 October 2012



Rare official response


Apple CEO Tim Cook has decided to comment on what can only be described as massive dissatisfaction with iMaps.

It turns out that Google and Apple could not find a mutual agreement on turn by turn navigation for iOS and that this was the biggest obstacle for future cooperation, despite the fact that Apple still had one year of Google Maps access under its contract.

Apple went to bed with TomTom and used its imperfect maps causing a lot of rage among its fan base. Now Tim Cook has issued a letter to its customers saying „We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.“ among other things.

 Since more than 100 million people upgraded to iOS 6 and are not happy with the iMaps Tim went a step forward and urged customers to use Big, mapQuest or Waze applications or Google or Nokia maps from their websites. Currently Google maps for iOS6 are not ready and it’s uncertain if it’s even in the works, but since Apple is quite desperate now, we believe that Apple is doing everything it possibly can to convince Google to make Google Maps for iOS6 as soon as possible.

Here’s the whole letter:

“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 CEO”

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