“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.
—
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.]
I have been using the Apple maps all over Tampa and have yet to find a problem. The zoom in/zoom out is VASTLY superior to google maps as well.
I look forward to finding a problem to report so I can see how fast Apple fixes it.
I feel very different and in fact positive about the new IOS map app.
I think it is the first step in a huge disruption off the map or locality based services industry.
Apple is quite likely planning to allow third parties to sell map services upon IOS map app exactly like they sell media files or apps. IOS mapping foundations is quite a strong base for such a strategy.
In a few month Apple is going to open a map store.
All the short sighted critics of the new map app do not realize its huge potential ( an superiority to all the other map foundation systems ) and they really do not see the writing on the wall.
Here is a good read
http://counternotions.com/2012/10/02/next-turn/
Dear Tim Cook,
An “apology” that recommends we use Google Maps?
So, why’d you replace Google Maps then, Mr. Operations Genius?
It looks like genius in operations doesn’t extend to judging marketing quality, or hiring appropriate personnel, or software.
What’s the next screwup?
I don’t feel any need whatsoever to defend Tim Cook. I bought an iPhone and a Mac, not a CEO. That said, I feel no need to defend Apple’s Maps app, either. I’ve only used it around my area, but it’s worked perfectly — better than the old app, in that I gained turn-by-turn directions and Siri integration. Basically, I have no desire at all to counter the criticism — in fact, it’s the opposite. The critics are going to have to come up with a problem that affects me before I’ll start to see where it’s necessary for someone to play defense.
I agree with MDN. Apple should agree dozens of hard to please, obsessive, detail oriented, quality control people who test apple’s hardware and software for potential quality lapses. Apple should place these employees throughout the globe to gain from diverse perspectives.
I mean to say:
I agree with MDN. Apple should hires dozens of hard to please, obsessive, detail oriented, quality control people who test apple’s hardware and software for potential quality lapses. Apple should place these employees throughout the globe to gain from diverse perspectives.
Steve Jobs did fire Tim Cook for incompetence. He sent the notice through iCloud and it never got delivered.
The top people who turned Apple around and launched the revolution are largely gone.
Steve Jobs
Avie Tevanian
Bertrand Serlet
Jon Rubenstein
Tony Fadell
Among others. Only Ive and Mansfield have the way back cred. Forstall- maybe a little- but he seems like a poser.
Without Tim Cook, Apple would not be able to scale and produce products at the levels they do with the same margins they enjoy currently.
Tim Cook was hired by Steve directly back in 1998. He is very much so responsible for a large part of Apple’s turnaround. People continue to try to downplay his contributions, but he is and was an instrumental part of Apple’s success.
BS. So Jobs hired Cook, entrusted him with running Apple while Jobs was sick, then had him named CEO, and now suddenly Cook would be fired?!?
Apple screwed up, probably because it simply didn’t find the data and 3D imaging problems. Perhaps Apple was too myopic when testing Maps, but it screwed up.
Apple also knew that there would be whining and moaning at the loss of Google Maps regardless. Street View was getting dropped, either now or next year because Google won’t license it. Apple needed to get turn-by-turn into Maps for feature parity with Android.
Apple will fix Maps, and it will be better than Google Maps. The speed and ability to continue to show maps when out of data coverage for turn-by-turn is much better than Google, but (not surprisingly) no one seems to mention that.
Bullshit Steve would have fired Tim Cook.
Sad how MDN gets a bug up their ass about something, like say their disappointment with Obama and they get all schizophrenic and start fawning over scum like Limbaugh.
We see the same thing here with Cook. I think within a couple of years these guys will probably be running an Android or Windows fan site / Apple-hate site because they just can’t let go things go and eventually let the hate control them.
CONCLUSION: Apple Fanboys and girls are Apple’s toughest critics. We ARE the ‘Type A Perfectionists’. No crap allowed.
Apple: Crack The Whip. The choice is between Being Apple or Being Status Quo Crap, aka Everyone Else. Choose wisely or expect the consequences of being merely Everyone Else.
We The Fankids would NOT be amused if Apple went ordinary. Ordinary sucks.
No, he would fire Scott Forestall. You don’t know Apple internals, and you didn’t work under Steve.
Did you?
Just asking.
Riddle me this Batman.
Did Steve Jobs ever make a mistake in the early years when he ran Apple?
Thought so. Why the differential treatment?
This article is total FUD and a hatchet job. Steve would NOT have fired Tim Cook, nor even Scott Forstall. The Maps product is not a failure, it is a victim of jealousy and coporate FUD. You might notice that this type of media hype/hysteria is typical in politics… corporations/politicians are expert at this. Discerning minds can see this for what it is. Unfortunately, even Mac Daily News feeds the hysteria by bothering to reprint such fodder.
Enough!
Steve Jobs would not fire Tim Cook… this is a PR strategy.
nobody knows what Jobs would do. he was often unpredictable.
I know what i would do: force Tim to take a salary in line with ethical behavior, no more than 10 or 20 times the lowest-paid person involved in making Apple products. Self-ratcheting compensation above that level is obscene.
Ah, the maps controversy. Never mind that Maps works just as well for me in iOS 6 as it did in iOS 5. According to the media, I’m supposed to be freeked out that there are certain places on the planet – no where near me – where Maps gives erroneous information. I’ve noticed that AAPL has dropped about $30 since iPhone 5 came out. Could it be that this is a manufactured controversy to suppress AAPL stock so the Investor Class can reap an easy buck?