“The level of delusion among Apple (AAPL) bulls reached unprecedented levels Friday morning,” TheStreet writes for Forbes. “Of course, Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for MappleGate, just days after the company referred to the application as possibly ‘the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever.'”
“If for whatever reason, he felt the need to release something inferior, all Cook needed to do was slap a ‘Beta’ tag on the product, just like Apple did with Siri. Beta simply lowers the customer’s expectations,” TheStreet writes. “Apple probably did not “’Beta’ Maps because, unlike Siri, many users expect a reliable and fully-functioning mapping application. So, you can’t say it’s not there yet, which, as Cook learned the hard way, only supports not releasing it in the first place.”
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote on Friday:
One thing we would like to know is: Who’s responsible for opening Apple up to this overblown shitstorm and why are they still working for Apple Inc., if they still are?
(Yes, we know we’ll likely never get those two answers.)
No matter what Apple does, no matter how much better they make Apple Maps, it will now always “suck” in the minds of a large segment of the population. This open letter from Cook only helps cement the idea that Maps is a “failure.” The fool(s) responsible for preparing Maps for release and then releasing it with obvious issues (overblown as they are) and therefore tainting Maps forever should face severe consequences. As in: Pink slip(s). If you don’t get fired over this debacle, what exactly does get you fired at Tim Cook’s Apple?
Apple seems to have learned nothing from the Newton: First impressions mean everything. Apple’s Maps have been Newtonized. All that’s missing is the Doonesbury strip.
We have our suspicions that Tim Cook cannot recognize good marketing from bad. Or the import of the customer’s Apple Retail experience to Apple Inc.’s bottom line. Now, after this Maps face-plant, we’re wondering if he has another blind spot for software. The multi-talented Steve Jobs was supposed to have been replaced, as best as possible, by a team of people. Some of these team members are obviously not performing up to anything near a Jobsian level.
It’s nice to say you strive to make “world-class products” for customers, Tim, it’s better to actually deliver them.
Here’s a little hint for the future: Everything that requires widespread customer use to develop a rich database before the product becomes fully usable should be clearly labeled “beta” upon release. Apple did it with Siri, but they forgot to do it with Maps. Had Apple been smart enough to simply place a “beta” tag on Maps, all of this rigamarole would never have occurred.
Steve’s attention to detail may very well be irreplaceable.
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Here’s the thing: Attention to detail should be replaceable; by brute force if necessary. Apple has over $100 billion dollars. They are not a rinky dink turnaround operation anymore. Apple needs to get a Quality Control team staffed by a bunch of Type-A’ers and led by a perfectionist. Such people certainly do exist. Too much shit is slipping through the cracks. For a very recent example: Apple, the most valuable company on earth, can’t manage to notice that iOS carrier settings were sapping off cellular on Verizon and AT&T even when the devices are connected to Wi-Fi? Seriously? A proper Quality Control team would have caught that in the first five minutes of testing.
TheStreet writes, “I observe Apple fanboys and fangirls with pity as they defend Tim Cook. He is the kind of guy Jobs would have fired… Just think about how beside himself Jobs would be if he was around to see Cook offer Google and Nokia Maps as alternatives while Apple gets its act together. Tim Cook actually told people that they might be better off with what freaking Nokia produces than something Designed by Apple in California… If Jobs was alive and just slid into a Chairman or Director role, Cook would have been writing his resignation letter, not a sappy apology on Friday.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We want to type here that “it’ll all be just fine.”
That we can’t do so should speak volumes.
Browett. Aborted “Mac Genius” ad campaign. Maps fiasco…
We just don’t know. The jury is still out on Tim Cook.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Nicholas C.” for the heads up.]
