Wrong turn: Apple's buggy iOS 6 maps lead to widespread complaints

[Vehl]

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY? GONE. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE? OBLITERATED.

Apple has a maps problem.

The major new feature of the company's new iOS 6 mobile operating system is a new mapping module developed by Apple itself — a replacement for the Google-supplied maps that have been standard on the iPhone since it debuted in 2007. It is a change borne not of user demand, but of corporate politics: Google's Android platform is the biggest competitive threat to the iPhone, so Apple is cutting ties with Google. iPhone owners might have loved Google Maps, but Apple has no love for Google.

"IT'S GOING TO BE MESSY FOR THEM."

Unfortunately, Apple's new maps are simply not as good as Google's. The release of iOS 6 yesterday was immediately followed by users complaining about the new maps, which lack a significant amount of detail and omit public transit directions. Access to high-quality maps is a critical feature for modern smartphones, and Apple's decision to swap out Google Maps is a rare example of the company openly placing its own interests above those of its customers. "There was no problem to solve," says Rene Ritchie, editor of iMore. "They're going to get hammered by mom and pop who want to find a store. It's going to be messy for them."

"THE LOSS OF MASS TRANSIT DIRECTIONS IS A MAJOR BLOW"

more here
http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/20/3363914/wrong-turn-apple-ios-6-maps-phone-5-buggy-complaints

IOS 6 MAPS FAILS

[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]


Check more images out at
http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/
http://twitter.com/i/#!/search/?q=%23ios6apocalypse

--------------------------------------------

What happened to the so called “It Just Werks™” ?

No StreetView
No Transit
Almost non-existent outside the US
Totally inaccurate/full of errors (Berlin Germany would point to a minor village instead of the German capitol!)

Apple's IOS 6 maps are about 4 years behind Google/Android Maps. So much for all the Hype.lol


[IMG][/IMG]


PS:
Now on Yahoo front page news as well

Anger over new iPhone, iPod maps app
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/users-react-to-apple%E2%80%99s-latest-software-update-for-iphone-and-ipad--and-it%E2%80%99s-not-all-roses.html

[randome]

1. I don't have a problem with Apple maintaining a 'walled-off' environment.

But they clearly screwed up here.

(I don't have an iPhone, BTW. A declaration of some sort always seems advisable when discussing Apple or Microsoft.)

[nichomachus]

2. The good news is

that when Apple has a problem, it fixes it and improves it. Google has great ideas, but always fall short, and then they just lose interest.

I use a lot of Google apps and they're about 80 percent good -- and Google never does anything about it.

[qanda]

3. No excuse for this

I don't understand why they didn't stick with Google Maps until their product was ready for primetime. There is no excuse to that to your customer. It shouldn't need to be fixed... it should just work!

[Vehl]

5. Exactly

If Apple was so hell bent on bringing forth a better solution, they could have waited till IOS 7 or 8 till they got the maps working.

The Only reason they released it with IOS6, as awful as it is, is to spite Google and nothing else.

[nichomachus]

9. Actually, there is

Here's a rational discussion of the issue

http://counternotions.com/2012/09/21/applemaps/

Q: Then why did Apple kick Google Maps off the iOS platform? Wouldn’t Apple have been better off offering Google Maps even while it was building its own map app? Shouldn’t Apple have waited?

A: Waited for what? For Google to strengthen its chokehold on a key iOS service? Apple has recognized the significance of mobile mapping and acquired several mapping companies, IP assets and talent in the last few years. Mapping is indeed one of the hardest of mobile services, involving physical terrestrial and aerial surveying, data acquisition, correction, tile making and layer upon layer of contextual info married to underlying data, all optimized to serve often under trying network conditions. Unfortunately, like dialect recognition or speech synthesis (think Siri), mapping is one of those technologies that can’t be fully incubated in a lab for a few years and unleashed on several hundred million users in more than a 100 countries in a “mature” state. Thousands of reports from individuals around the world, for example, have helped Google correct countless mapping failures over the last half decade. Without this public exposure and help in the field, a mobile mapping solution like Apple’s stands no chance.

It's worth reading the whole thing.

[Vehl]

6. Have you used Google Apps in Android or only IOS?

The Google Apps in Android are some of the most amazing Apps I have ever used. The Google App for IOS, even though awesome as they were(like the Maps app) suffered from perpetual neglect due to the fact it was Apple who was supposed to write it using Google API's.

For example, the Google Maps App for IOS was good, but the Android Google Map's App is light years ahead. Apple prevented Google from writing their own App, and only now; after Apple has replaced the Google Maps app with its own crappy version, Google is allowed to provide a standalone Map Apps for IOS.

As for the improving claim, I dunno about that. Unlike IOS users who get at most yearly Updates for the Core APPs(Core APP's in IOS are not compartmentalized away from the core OS) Android Apps are updated asap (sometimes even twice a day..if there are some bugs to be fixed). This results in super fast iterations/inclusions of features as opposed to IOS.

The reason Apple got rid of Google maps has nothing to do with them having a great product, and everything to do with spiting Google. There is absolutely no way that Apple can catch up with Google in this area in the next few years. Remember, Google is a search/information retrieval company at heart...Apple is nowhere near in term of algorithms or infrastructure to even compete with Google in this field.

Remember Siri and how amazing it supposedly was? some months later Google updates its voice search(and also Adds "Google Now&quot , demolishing Siri. Why? simple...Apple cannot compete with Google in such areas. Hell...Siri searches Google for its answers. Apple has this chip on its shoulder regarding Google and unless they let go of it, the only people who are going to suffer are its customers. Remember Steve Job's crusade against flash? Only the IOS customers suffered. For nearly three years they were not able to access the majority of websites and media content. The Android users on the other hand no such probs. And you know whats funnier? When HTML5 became more and more available the Android users were able to access that too. The IOS maps users will now face the same thing again...for another 3 or 4 years.

This is like waiting for Godot. Apple is cutting off its nose to spite its face. The Only losers are IOS customers.

[qanda]

7. I, personally, have only used Google Maps in Android

However, I am familiar with the shortcomings of the Google Maps app in iOS. My sister and her family use iphones exclusively and while we were on vacation together this summer, they depended on my Android phone to get us wherever we needed to go. I feel bad that the companies cannot peacefully co-exist because I believe in consumers having choice and that choice should be the best available option. Hopefully Google will release a quality app so that iOS users will see what they've been missing in the watered-down version they had been using, which was still better than what they ended up with in Apple Maps.

[Retrograde]

4. Oh no! There goes Tokyo!

The last image at theverge looks like the results of a very large earthquake.

Since the maps app is the one I use most frequently, I doubt I'll be upgrading any time soon.

[Odin2005]

8. The Apple fanboys will say it's a feature, not a bug.