Apple's Tim Cook Issues Public Apology for Apple Maps, Suggests Using Bing Instead - The UpStream

There was a product launch two weeks ago that swept the world in a haze of infectious nanobot technology. At least, that's the only explanation we can come up with as to why everyone is so head-over-heels in love with the iPhone 5. As mentioned last week, every Apple release has problems that most turn a blind eye to and the latest Apple product is no exception. However, while we mentioned scratches and dents being included with your new gadget purchase, we didn't really cover the software side of the new iPhone operating system, iOS 6. Why is that? Well, I'm not really sure why we missed the ball on that one.

Everyone and their parents (who are loving the iPhone 5, by the way) knew that Apple was moving away from Google Maps as the map provider for the new software and everyone knew that the app was so bad that it if you pulled up the Hoover Dam, Apple considered the structure to be a road, all the way down to the bottom of the dam. That, on top of the app simply not loading, the random restarts and having customers lose all of their data when launching the app, caused even the most in-love supporter of the fruit to turn their head and question what Apple was doing. So much so, that Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, had to issue a public apology this week for the debacle that is Apple Maps.

What did Tim have to say and what are customers supposed to use while this app is completely broken? We have all of that information after the break.

In Cook's public apology to Apple users everywhere, he not only admits mistake, something Jobs would've never done, but he offers up alternatives to the broken Maps app, like using Google Maps or even Bing for your navigational needs. He even recommends creating a shortcut on your home screen to quickly get to Apple's beloved competitors. We have the full "I'm sorry" letter below.

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

Shortly after the apology, however, there was an update to the situation. Apple now offers several third-party map applications in the App Store, which while shocking that Apple would do such a thing, is better than telling people to use the service they tried to distance themselves from, Google Maps. So use non-Apple apps until Apple gets their map together. Aside from missing massive amounts of data that caused the failed app-that-could, analysts have said that Apple might have completely undervalued how daunting of a task mapping could be. Our sister software company can attest to how big of a challenge mapping can actually be and could have advised Apple otherwise. It is also interesting to note that had this have happened to Microsoft or Google, comments on blogs even pro-company would have been littered with trolling, however Apple failed on this and the consensus seems to be that Cook apologizing was a "classy move that will win him a lot of goodwill" and that it "takes a big person to admit failure". Does nobody want to talk about how the Statue of Liberty doesn't exist in Apple Maps? Nobody? I hear Bing maps will be on Windows 8 and will come complete with America-defining historical landmarks that haven't changed location since the 1800s.