Apple CEO, Tim Cook:
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.
Apple was right to directly address the shortcomings of their new built-in Maps application and apologize for the degradation of usability. As others have noted, the timing was a matter of necessity. However, the following statement seems a little weird to me:
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.
That suggestion seems slightly incoherent given a preceding assertion that the more customers use the app, the better it will become. In telling users to try alternatives to the default option, people will become further hesitant to use Apple’s solution. How will people know when the app is “improved”? If people are busy using other apps, how will they contribute to crowdsourced data improvement?
This is the first major PR issue under Tim Cook’s sole reign of Apple. I like that they are addressing it publicly and hope they follow through with the promise of a better experience.
Please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t mention Steve Jobs. Never forget he allowed MobileMe and Ping to ship. Apple is comprised of humans - humans make mistakes regardless of who is leading them.