Tim Cook Apologizes for Apple Maps, Recommends Alternatives for Now

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In a post on Apple’s site called “A letter from Tim Cook on Maps,” Cook begins by saying, “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.”

Cook then apologizes, saying, “We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.” He continues with two paragraphs explaining how Maps has been built from the ground up and says, “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.”

Then in a very un-Apple-like move, Cook recommends alternatives to use:

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.

Remember that sentence, because it’ll likely be the basis of countless articles comparing Tim Cook to Steve Jobs – most concluding that Jobs would have never said anything like that (or even have let Maps get released before it was ready), and perhaps some championing Cook’s transparency and apparent humility.

Whatever the case, this is Apple admitting that the Maps app is a problem. The full text of the note is as follows:

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

A letter from Tim Cook on Maps [Apple.com]

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