Apple maps very disappointing

AAPL is down, corporate heads have rolled, it's in Forbes, Bloomburg, etc., Apple has apoligized, the question is how this is going to affect sales going forward. The young kids that I see (Apple's potential customers) have only one or two devices, a smart phone, and maybe a tablet. With christmas coming, the question is if this map problem is important enough to that young group that it pushes them to another phone or tablet, which will eliminate them as Apple customers in the future. I suspect that this won't be the case for the majority, and I know that Apple will fix the map problem in the next year or two. In the meantime, I'm holding off on the iPhone5 until this gets fixed.

I'm holding off a couple iphone 5 upgrades as well. Apple wants us to be patient with them to fix the Maps.

They are are going to have to be patient with us on new purchases of Apple products.

Right you are ! And I agree with you, most young people don't event use maps so much so this is not the point for them. I suspect the iPhone has a huge market share for the less than 25 young people. They are very sensitive to marketing, to social influence and not so much to the price.

But what if they stop thinking Apple is the best smart object they can have ?

What if their friends on Facebook tell them some other device is equivalent or better and cheaper ?

Last night was at a dinner with about 15 people and someone mentioned the firings that took place at apple over the maps issue. People were having a laugh over it. Naturally, there was not a person at the table surprised over the firing.

Everyone at the table was baffled as to why apple had released apple maps. This was a group of highly educated professionals who don't have time nor the interest to follow a thread like this. All they know is their iPhones used to work but now the iphone malfunctions when they want to navigate.

It occurred to me that here in Melbourne Australia, the brand name of Apple will never again be associated with perfection. Here in the real world of this city, every person who uses Apple Maps knows that for an unacceptably long time, the integrated mapping app can not be relied on and with that, the apple brand can not be relied on.

The only people I've known to defend the rubbish that is Apple maps are in forums like this and hack journalists.

The only rubbish is your relentless rantings. I have already proved, using Google Maps no less, that you are making these posts up.

The point that iOS maps isn't a finished product is a fact, however it's not a rocket science to add Google Maps bookmark shortcut to the screen for those moments when you need to find something that hasn't appeared on Apple maps yet. As a long time Android user I don't really give a **** about this wee issue, keeping in mind how quickly Google Maps evolved from a so-so G1 version to their current standard. Plus Google is already working on iOS app so the endless malcontents will have to find another ranting subject quite soon. Oh yes, lack of jerky widgets ;)

Etersoft, again, whatever you ramble on about makes no sense in the real world. Type in address, Google Maps takes me to the exact location i need to go. Type in the exact same address in apple maps, im taken 350 meters off target. In the labratory of your mind, that makes sense, at the Apple Company, they fired the guy in charge over it.

Apple maps is a toy. Google maps is the gold standard. The Apple iphone suffers badly as the integrated Apple Maps is rubbish. As a paying customer, I had perfect functionality removed and replaced with a product that can not be used here in melbourne Australia because it can not navigae with any degree of accuracy on a regular basis.

There is no way to know how long it will take Apple Maps to be as reliable as Google Maps. Maybe tomorrow, maybe 2 years, maybe never. Who cares really. The Apple brand has been effected and will continue to be effected. The Apple iPhone, by far the best phone on the market is running a second rate mapping application as its core integrated mapping app.

duckdive wrote:

Type in address, Google Maps takes me to the exact location i need to go. Type in the exact same address in apple maps, im taken 350 meters off target.

It just so happens that "8-10 Edgar Street" is a parking lot. It also just so happens that Google resolves all addresses on that street to "19 Edgar Street", which is another parking lot. Google has been sending you to the wrong parking lot this whole time. You should have been parking across the street. You, and everyone else on the internet can verify this information in Google Maps and Street view.

There is no way to know how long it will take Apple Maps to be as reliable as Google Maps.

Hopefully never. Apple Maps is able to correctly locate all addresses on Edgar Street that are not parking lots. Apple maps would have to lose 90% of its accuracy in this area in order to be as reliable as Google Maps. I'm sure that there are many places where Google has better coverage than Apple Maps, but not in Stonnington Victoria Australia.

In Singapore, Apple maps says I can drive into the airport runway security perimeter, has absolutely no transit information, no traffic information, is missing train stations (which are used by millions every day), is missing most major buildings or building names, and can't search for pretty much anything.

I found a handful of incorrect street names in a couple of minutes. Major expressways are mislabelled.

All these worked perfectly on google maps.

It's more or less the same story around Asia. In short, unuseable.

Maybe it works nicely for those of you who live in Cupertino or San Francisco.

Jesus, are you for real!? Do you think you are going to convince us that this completely inferior map system is as good as google? That we are all making this up for some inexplicable reason? Did the fact that the head of the apple maps department got fired not clue you in that it is a fact? Or is that part of our huge conspiracy that is trying to slander this beautiful, polished and fully functional map system that has replaced google?

Monsterbearman wrote:

Jesus, are you for real!?

Many people claim He was, yes.

Etersoft has never been to the street and is telling me that Google Maps didnt take me to the right location. He has all the algorithms worked out. He wants desperately to be called the most loyal Apple warrior chief. Etersoft, if it were up to me, i would give you a gold star on your Apple report card and 10 bonus points to show your mum.

Good one!

"If I were somewhere where Apple Maps had limited or no information, obviously that wouldn't be the case, but where I've gone - areas from rather rural to big cities - the maps have been accurate in directing me to where I wanted to go (and the turn by turn directions have been quite handy as well.)"

Contrary to this. I live in a little town called London. I now use Apple maps when I want to amuse myself having been late for a number of events while searching for venues half a mile from where they actually were. It is so bad I can't even get angry with it. It's not useless in my view as it does have some entertainment value but as a navigation tool, it it fails fundamentally. App rating 0/10

You seem to be missing the point that a mapping tool is for those of us going to a place we have never been before. You continue to claim that Google took you to the correct place on this street. Yet I have proved, not claimed, proved, that Google Maps fails completely on this street. My proof is the fact that all addresses resolve to the same place. Anyone can enter the addresses on that street into both Google and Apple maps and see for themselves.

It is important to point out that I am not, nor have I ever claimed that Apple Maps is better than, or even as good as, Google Maps. I have only claimed that Apple Maps is not "useless rubbish" or an "absolute disaster". Apple Maps is a very capable mapping tool that does have some advantages over Google's produce, especially on a handheld device.

The issue here is that some people try to point one one specific data point (and I do mean one) in order to claim that Apple Maps is useless. That isn't just wrong. It is someone engaged in an attempt to deceive. Unfortunately, Google Maps does have some excellent tools for the armchair GIS enthusiast. These tools, such as street numbers and Street View, allow me to completely disprove one of these deceitful claims, even though I have never been on that street. Isn't that what everyone is asking for - for Apple and Google to work together? In this case, they did.

I am not trying to use this one street to prove that Apple Maps is better than Google Maps. I am also not going to claim, without any evidence, that Apple maps is useless in major world cities. I have found that I can compare Google Maps and Apple Maps side by side using Xcode and the iOS simulator. If anyone else is interested in the truth about Apple Maps' coverage on their particular street, you can try it out easily and risk free and see for yourself. And I encourage that.