Apple: Thanks for the 'customer feedback' on the Maps flap
Its home-brewed alternative to Google Maps may have erased streets, wrinkled bridges, misled pedestrians, and exposed the company to an unusual degree of Internet ridicule, but Apple is keeping up appearances.
Hey, everyone! Apple wants to thank you for laughing at its Maps app flap.
Yes, that's the new iOS 6 feature that Apple rolled itself (with the assistance of GPS wizards at TomTom) in order to divorce Google Maps. It's the very same feature that has trended on Twitter (and CNET) for most of the day, thanks to maps that elide details, panoramic views that wrinkle airport runways and collapse bridges into canyons, cityscapes that yaw and stretch "Inception"-style, and navigation directions that point the wrong way. The same app whose 3D maps Gizmodo dubbed an "apocalyptic horror show."
Toto, we're not in "it just works" territory any more.
Apple, of course, is maintaining a stiff upper lip that would do Winston Churchill proud, even in the face of the Internet's vast amusement. Here's what Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told us, eventually:
Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover and Siri integration, and free turn by turn navigation. We launched this new map service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started with it. We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get. We're also working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.
So keep that feedback coming, folks. If you haven't already, make sure you have a look at the Amazing iOS 6 Maps Tumblr, which has become ground zero for all things Apple Maps Flap related.
We've contacted Apple for comment ourselves, and will update when we hear back.
Updated 8:08 a.m. PT on September 21 with Apple comment