Apple's Maps application has had nothing but problems since it was released to the public back in September. Users have complained that the company's in-house replacement for Google Maps has inaccurate location data and other bugs.
But if you thought Maps was bad before, wait until you hear this. Police in Victoria, Australia issued a warning this weekend regarding the mapping software after several travelers became lost and stranded due to receiving poor directions...
Eddy Cue, Apple's SVP of Internet Software and Services, is reported to have fired Richard Williamson, an executive who oversaw the team that created Apple's own and troubled iOS 6 mapping service. The development marks the second high-ranked management departure of an Apple executive over so-called Mapgate, following the ouster of iOS boss and Steve Jobs confidant Scott Forstall last month after a CEO apology over the glaring flaws in Apple's mapping software.
“We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make maps better”, Cook wrote in lat month's letter of apology. In an effort to win back trust of its users, Apple is now understood to be seeking outside help to fix Maps. Jump past the fold for the latest info...
Apple has taken a lot of heat over its new Maps application in iOS 6. Users have complained that it's inaccurate, buggy, and doesn't have anywhere near the international support that Google Maps has.
Well it looks like Apple has made some progress on the latter front. Last night, reports started coming in that the Cupertino company has activated turn-by-turn voice navigation for its Maps app in Australia...
In an effort to distance itself further from its rival, and to enjoy the benefits of building its own in-house software, Apple replaced Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own mapping solution. And it's been taking criticism over the switch ever since.
But iOS 6 Maps isn't just negatively impacting Apple. It's also substantially eating into Google's mobile maps marketshare around the globe. According to a new report, Google Maps marketshare declined by nearly 50% in China last quarter...
Google submitted its native Maps iOS app to Apple in September with the hope of having it approved by Christmas. Two weeks later, its chairman Eric Schmidt acknowledged that a Google Maps iOS app is up to Apple and a newspaper report this morning now suggests that insiders don't have high hopes that it will be approved by the iPhone maker after all. Google previously released a native YouTube app for iOS devices following the removal of stock YouTube software from iOS 6. Last month, the search Goliath also enabled Street View as a web app in the mobile Safari browser...
Senior Vice President Eddy Cue is known as the fixer at Apple, a reputation he built back in 2008, when Steve Jobs appointed him head of iTunes and online services after giving Apple's cloud team a serious dressing down over the MobileMe(ss) debacle. This 23-year Apple veteran immediately retired the flaky service, built iCloud from the ground up and took control of Apple's iTunes and App Store infrastructure.
Last September, CEO Cook appointed Cue Apple's new SVP of of Internet Software and Services, the role that encompasses the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, as well as the iAd advertising platform and iCloud services.
Monday, Cue assumed Maps and Siri responsibilities after Cook fired iOS chief Scott Forstall for shipping buggy software prematurely, clashing with his peers and refusing to apologize personally for Mapgate (it was Cook who eventually signed the public apology instead). We, of course, already knew all of the above. Today, CNET runs an interesting profile which reveals a couple previously unknown tidbits about this able exec...
Earlier this evening, Apple announced some major changes to its executive team. John Browett, the head of Apple Retail, will be leaving the company. And more importantly, so will Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall.
Browett's departure comes as no surprise, as he's had several missteps in his short time at Apple. But Forstall's exit caught some folks off guard, begging the question: was it his decision? And according to a new report, the answer is no...
Google chairman Eric Schmidt sat down with The Wall Street Journal tech columnists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher last night to talk Maps, Apple and Android. “Apple should have kept our maps”, he remarked. “Apple decided a long time ago to do their own maps", he revealed, suggesting Google very well knew way in advance that the iPhone maker would nuke Google Maps from orbit on iOS devices.
He also talks about the epic iOS versus Android fight and comments what it would take to persuade him to become an Apple CEO. A couple more highlights and a nice video right after the break...
With all of the criticism and complaints Apple has received over its new Maps application in iOS 6, you have to wonder, how did it not know that it had all of these issues? Isn't that what the three month beta testing period was for?
Well apparently, Apple was aware of the problems. A number of developers have come forward this week saying they submitted several bug reports to the company regarding Maps issues in the months leading up to its launch...
It appears that Apple is making good on Tim Cook's promise. Just a week after the CEO posted an open letter regarding the shortcomings of the new Maps application, users are starting to see improvements.
Particularly, users are starting to notice an improvement in the 3D aspect of Apple's Maps app. Landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty, and buildings, that were once missing from the flyover mode are now present...
While most media attention about Apple Maps has centered on bridges on dry land, landmarks that don't exists and other oddities, the digital cartographers at Cupertino, Calif. have been stuffing the app with some amazing features, like offline browsing. Unlike maps in iOS 5, Apple's vector-based Maps are cached and GPS navigation work even without an Internet connection.
For instance, Apple's vector maps loaded while in San Francisco, Calif. can still be browsed on a flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Lima, Peru, according to AppleInsider. The writer was able to navigate across the state and via street-level maps as far west as Salt Lake City, Utah -- and in 3D, to boot. By comparison, Google Maps, which use bitmap tiles, would let you navigate offline for about a 10 mile radius before complaining.
Apple is allegedly crowd-sourcing its retail army to help improve iOS Maps, if a pair of reports out this morning are to be trusted. A pilot program, allegedly voluntary for employees, would have a team of ten employees at one store dedicate 40 hours of staff time per week toward manually examining melted bridges, street addresses that are off and other Maps inaccuracies related to their respective areas...