“Following last week’s open letter from Tim Cook in which he promised that Apple ‘will keep working non-stop’ until the iOS 6 Maps app meets customers’ standards for quality, Apple has indeed been making improvements to the service,” Eric Slivka reports for MacRumors.
“While there is certainly a ways to go, it is clear that the company is indeed moving quickly to address issues and improve coverage for the flagship 3D mapping and imagery features in the app,” Slivka reports. “While improvements have been ongoing, MacRumors forum members yesterday began noticing what appears to be a larger set of additions to the 3D content in the Maps app, including both the satellite/aerial imagery and the standard maps.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, look, the Statue of Liberty really is on Liberty Island, after all!
You’d have thought Apple would have checked that one before launch, wouldn’t you? It’s not like it’s a minor landmark in a cornfield somewhere.
We’re still amazed that Apple’s QC – if there actually was any QC on this project – dropped the ball in such Microsoftian fashion.
UPDATE: 5:25pm EDT: To clarify:
The quality of the Maps app (the UI, the features, etc.) and the quality of the data and how it is integrated are two completely different things.
Our Take on Maps app: We love the how the Maps app looks and works and we are disappointed that Apple’s quality control or lack thereof opened the company up to a media shitstorm that is basically FUD reverberating in the echo chamber. Certain competitors and spurned former partners were looking for flaws that they could use to slam Apple. Apple should have known this, but, regardless, Apple served up ammo to competitors and FUD-slingers on a silver platter.
To reiterate: Apple did a wonderful job on the app and a poor job integrating and error-correcting the data that the app uses as evidenced by famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty not being properly displayed at launch. Anything that compels a company CEO to apologize and recommend using competitors’ services, including the very service he just dropped, is a significant mistake.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]