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Apple promises again to fix Apple Maps app

Apple has promised to fix Apple Maps, the app that's so bad at its job it's had police warning against it.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Apple has promised to fix Apple Maps, the app that's so bad at its job it's had police warning against it. Top Apple chap Tim Cook promises, "We will continue making improvements until it lives up to our incredibly high expectations."

"We've made a number of improvements to Maps", said Cook in answer to a question from an analyst while discussing the company's financial performance, "and will roll out even more improvements throughout the rest of the year."

Cook made the comments while discussing Apple's most recent numbers for the last three months of 2012. Apple shoved an astonishing £34.4bn under its mattress, stuffing an eye-watering £8.3bn profit into the piggy bank. Despite those dizzying numbers, the company's share price fell.

The Maps debacle has proved a huge embarassment for Apple. After ditching Google Maps for a half-baked own-brand Maps app riddled with mistakes and missing data, Apple was forced to contend with Australian police rescuing users sent into the outback by incorrect information. When Google Maps returned to iOS, it was downloaded 10 million times in two days.

Heads were soon to roll, with iOS chief Scott Forstal given his marching orders. Cook was forced to issue an unprecedented public apology -- even recommending alternative apps such as Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Improvements so far have included better 3D graphics, adding 3D imagery in Britain as well as in the US, and corrected data 

Do you use Apple maps? Has it improved? What's the best alternative? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.