dlhanse wrote:
Why did they release the IOS 6 maps app with so many issues, too? I miss Steve!!!
Everyone misses Steve, but the Maps app is not up to par for a totally separate reason. Before anyone reads what it written below please know that it has nothing to do with the 'mini HDMI' issue, and is in response purely to address dlhanses concerns over the Mapping app. If you're not curious about why the Maps app is as it is, then please simply just slip this post. Thank you.
OK, I too was disapointed by the Maps app but to be fair it wasn't all of Apples fault. Several in-depth articles have been written about this and it appears that Google and Apple are bitter rivals. Walter Isaacson said in his authorized Steve Jobs biography, that Steve Jobs felt betrayed by his former friend (Google chairman) Eric Schmidt, who by the way, sat on the Apple board. Steve jobs felt that Android was a direct rip-off of the iPhone, and it got so bad that it actually resulted in Schmidt’s having to resign from the Apple board. In hindsight he probably should have been removed off the board sooner.
So Apple rightly felt betrayed by google ripping them off, and more recently Apple ran into a dispute with Google over voice-guided directions. Google simply wouldn’t allow for this so Apple decided to make its own maps app. Creating a Mapping app is probably the single most complex of all mobile apps to make, because you need mountains of data for it to work seamlessly. It was also revealed that google was trying to make their maps app work better on Android phones, than on Apples iOS phones. Apple simply had to cut the ties. Paying google for an inferior maps version simply didn’t make sense. It was helping google, and hurting Apple.
Yes the Apple Maps app is not as good as the google app, but don’t forget two key points, first, that google maps wasn’t that good when it first came out, in fact it too was very crude, and second, that these days Apple doesn’t start something unless they plan to be number one with it. I have NO DOUBT in the years to come that the Apple Maps app will not only be as good as the google maps app, but better! But this takes time. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Google has around 7000 people to work just on their maps, Apple does not. What Apple DOES have is lots of money and the ability to attract lots of polished talent, so things will turn around soon.
A few months ago Tim Cook faced this matter head on (http://news.yahoo.com/apple-ceo-apologizes-maps-flaws-recommends-rivals-03464402 2--sector.html) and apologized for the current Maps app. I respect that, and it tells me that he will make sure that the Apple Maps app will soon be everything that you expect from a mapping app - and more. Until then I just use Navigon and there are plenty of other good apps beside google, including the new nokia Maps option. Hope that puts everything in little better perspective for you 🙂