iOS6 Maps – Apple apologises

Much has been made of the deficiencies of Apple’s new “ground breaking” Mapping application that was introduced with iOS6, but Apple themselves have been keeping a fairly low profile. Aside from some general “it will get better”, they haven’t said much at all.

Clearly ears were burning in Cupertino though, and CEO Tim Cook has now issued a formal apology, and suggested you might even like to try something else while they work on the issues, listing a selection of alternatives.

The full press release is below and on Apple’s website, which strikes a very apologetic tone. It’s the suggestion that you should use other applications in the meantime that is the most striking part though – a frank admission that the new Maps launch has gone very wrong indeed.

Link – Apple apology

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