iOS6 Terrible Maps - Is it the start of Apple taking its users for granted?

[Deleted]

This always happens when Apple releases something new, some fanboys throw a fit over some flaw they find and the anti-fanboys go out of their way to find even more flaws (perceived or real) and make a huge deal out of it.

I've seen plenty of major flaws with Google Maps over the years but I didn't throw a temper tantrum over it (for those of you happening to live in major US cities where Google Maps is almost always perfect, try northern Scandinavia and look around for a while. A few years ago you could definitely find some oddities like streets that didn't match the satellite images and Google Earth around here has always just been "Google Maps on a globe" and neither has had any fancy 3D buildings, no bicycle path directions, no traffic reports, just a dumb map application).

As for the tech Apple's using for their 3D projections on the maps? It's been around for quite some time, Apple bought it, it's not hand-crafted which is why you occasionally get weird things like buildings that are the wrong size or shape.

---------- Post added 2012-09-21 at 09:41 AM ----------

the short answer is: yes.

its not that they are taking their users for granted, persay, its that Steve Jobs passed away, and now they dont have a spokesman to "wow people" into buying their crap, lol

i mean, comeon, the guy got people to drop 3-4 grand on a netbook with an apple logo on it (but it can fit in a manila envelope!), lol theres the old saying "he could sell ice to an eskimo!", i honestly dont think there is anyone more suited to do just that, than Mr Jobs, RIP!

Which Apple computer would this be? Are you implying the MBA costs $3000+?

[Deleted]

well , ima stay with my iphone 4s...and maybe get the 5 i dunno T_T seems nothing new on the 5 wich blows my mind so....and its just a phone so who cares xD

and yes it's poorly made , but in my opinion is that with all the maps.

[rigoremortis]

This always happens when Apple releases something new, some fanboys throw a fit over some flaw they find and the anti-fanboys go out of their way to find even more flaws (perceived or real) and make a huge deal out of it.

I've seen plenty of major flaws with Google Maps over the years but I didn't throw a temper tantrum over it (for those of you happening to live in major US cities where Google Maps is almost always perfect, try northern Scandinavia and look around for a while. A few years ago you could definitely find some oddities like streets that didn't match the satellite images and Google Earth around here has always just been "Google Maps on a globe" and neither has had any fancy 3D buildings, no bicycle path directions, no traffic reports, just a dumb map application).

As for the tech Apple's using for their 3D projections on the maps? It's been around for quite some time, Apple bought it, it's not hand-crafted which is why you occasionally get weird things like buildings that are the wrong size or shape.

---------- Post added 2012-09-21 at 09:41 AM ----------



Which Apple computer would this be? Are you implying the MBA costs $3000+?

ok, so my memory on its original pricing is off. still, allow me to fix it, "i mean comeon, the guy got people to drop 3-4x the price of a netbook, for a netbook, with an apple logo"

happy? lol (im not hating on macs, so chill out there buddy, i was merely commenting on how they dont have an amazing salesmen to convince people that some of their bad products, the MBA being one of them, were awesome and required to have type items.)

im not saying apple is a bad company, im merely saying that they had someone, whom had the idea to blow up an ipod touch to a larger size, and knew exactly how to market it to people to be seen as a requirement of life, and now millions upon millions of people have ipads.

they were allowed to get away with a lot, because of Jobs ability to market and sell stuff to people. id say he was more than likely the greatest salesmen/pitch guy of all time. he had the ability to mesmerize millions of people into seeing whatever he was talking about, as being the most amazing and hottest sh*t ever. nobody in the PC world ever did this, and that's one of the reasons why Apple became the giant they are today

[Deleted]

ok, so my memory on its original pricing is off. still, allow me to fix it, "i mean comeon, the guy got people to drop 3-4x the price of a netbook, for a netbook, with an apple logo"

happy? lol (im not hating on macs, so chill out there buddy, i was merely commenting on how they dont have an amazing salesmen to convince people that some of their bad products, the MBA being one of them, were awesome and required to have type items.)

im not saying apple is a bad company, im merely saying that they had someone, whom had the idea to blow up an ipod touch to a larger size, and knew exactly how to market it to people to be seen as a requirement of life, and now millions upon millions of people have ipads.

they were allowed to get away with a lot, because of Jobs ability to market and sell stuff to people. id say he was more than likely the greatest salesmen/pitch guy of all time. he had the ability to mesmerize millions of people into seeing whatever he was talking about, as being the most amazing and hottest sh*t ever. nobody in the PC world ever did this, and that's one of the reasons why Apple became the giant they are today

Ok, except the MBA never had netbook-level specs. The average netbook has always been Atom CPU + miserable amount of RAM + regular spinning-rust HDD (by default, if you add hardware later you get to add those costs).

And quite frankly, I have a netbook, a 10" one, it's a hell of a lot clunkier form factor-wise than a MBA.

What Apple is good at, as a company, is UX and vertical integration. They tend to not be the company that releases a product which has a couple of killer features that beat all the competition (although they do that as well from time to time, i.e. rMBP screen) but rather they build products that are "good enough" across the board while integrating seamlessly with their other products.

[igame]

Indeed it is, so be a wise person and judge everything for yourself.

This map *issue* is something that will be forgotten shortly.

Maybe by the sheep but informed users will remember. I will remember that the first product since Steve Job's passing was the worst ever. We pay close to a grand for an iphone and we believed the slogan "it just works". Apparently the slogan should have been "it just works under steve jobs".

---------- Post added 2012-09-21 at 09:06 AM ----------

It's not them taking their users for granted.....it's them trying to completely separate themselves from google products.

And guiding their users to search for museums in rivers or taking a route via airport to go get milk from the shop next door or defying earth's georgraphy and changing things that nature needed millions of years to change?
Google>>>>Apple...for life now. Steve Jobs must be rolling in his grave, he would have never let such crap outta door.

---------- Post added 2012-09-21 at 09:08 AM ----------

So the people who think this is Apple's downfall really believe that this is it.. Apple will release it's new maps and never patch it again? Come on people, how ignorant can you be. I bet my house on it that in the next couple of days/weeks there will be a big update ironing all these little flaws out.

Do you make a topic after every WoW patch stating "Shoulderson Orc's are really really tiny after the last patch. Do you think Blizzard is taking it's users for granted?"
Every new thing needs patching and fixes. And a big feature like Maps, do you really think debuggers have been looking at every place, EVERY PLACE of the world to see if there might not be some screen tearing?

tldr: it'll get patched out.

It took google 5 years to get a start and another 5 o go independent and over 10 years to reach where they are...sure apple can do it in a couple of year...dream on buddy.

[Bakis]

Every new peice of online software has issues... Take Diablo 3, EVERY MAJOR WOW PATCH... SWTOR... I could go on. The point is, it's new it's software it's buggy.. so what?.

You are obviously not aware of the data input needed for having proper maps. It need continiously input and a huge database.
Google maps is established to be accurate of even the smallest of places. Apple maps will at best be able to cover large urban areas with bugs.
Look at it this way, google map took about 10 years, first few years was okey but not more, Apple maps will suck for a minimum of 2-3 years or as long as it takes for them to get proper current input into the system which is not easy.

I read an article from which interviewed one of the companies involved with Apple on making the program, they themself ruled it out as stupid to pick TomTom as supplier one, the weakest player on the market.
Hell cities are missing, that is how bad TomTom is and they have been around for years.

People are free to use google but this is just another example of the stalinistic approach Apple give it users.

If you're that bad at finding your way you should have a Satnav anyway

Translation: If you buy a phone that purposely supply you with a shitty tool you should stop whining and go and buy another piece of hardware and subscription anyway.

[Nutri]

It took google 5 years to get a start and another 5 o go independent and over 10 years to reach where they are...sure apple can do it in a couple of year...dream on buddy.

That is not what I claimed. I stated out that every new product has it's issues, and eventually it will work as intended.

[Deleted]

Welcome to Toronto airport, prepare for a bumping ride



Btw to the people planning on buying it and already have an Iphone4 or Iphone4S what is the reason you're upgrading? From what I can tell nothing has "really" changed since the introduction of the Iphone4.

[Spectral]

I feel like this is a trick question; asking if it's the start of Apple taking its users for granted implies that they haven't been shitting on their customers for years.

[Tore]

Making a shitty map app isn't such a big deal, the big deal is forcing you to use it instead of the good map app that has worked for years.

If they had released iOS6 Map apps as a beta app in the App Store and worked on it with feedback for a year or so, maybe they could have had it ready in time for iOS7. As it stands now, as an inferior product that forced the removal of a superior one, it's garbage.

[Badpaladin]

Pretty dumb idea on their part to try and part ways with (arguably) Google's best service when their own version is very much in a work-in-progress status, at least compared to Google Maps. This isn't something that would happen if Jobs were the CEO.

[Torq]

Not being partial to either camp, what Apple does is take existing ideas and refines them. They refine them to a point that makes people want the product, it is user friendly, and it works quite well.

For instance, the way way that multitasking works in iOS is very similar to DOS 6.22. Age old, retired technology, reinvigorated and now used on a number of different items for Apple. It provides greater security in the fact that programs are essentially sandboxed and will not drain battery faster as with ANY Android phone.

Not being partial? Okay... sure.

So what you're saying is, Apple steals technology, changes the way it looks (slightly), and then takes all the credit for it?

Also... what? Running a program sandboxed will take more resources than not; purely from the overhead of the sandbox itself.

As for Apple patenting items, the issue is not with Apple, it is with the USPTO. They are the ones that examine and choose whether or nor to grant the patents. Not going to launch into where all of this started to go wrong but I promise that if someone figures out how to patent the processes needed for breathing, they will be submitting and if it get granted then they will be charging everyone for it.

Until patent laws are changed, it is in companies best interest to patent as many IP's as possible. They have every right to protect them as you have the right to protect your own property. The bottom line is that there are a lot of flawed systems at work in all of this, mainly the patent office and the judicial system.

Yeah, I can agree with this. The patent system has gotten pretty out-of-hand.

However, it's funny to see how much Apple's take on it has changed. There's a picture floating around: one frame has Jobs' quote about "we steal ideas all time time, when they're good ones (paraphrase)" from ~'94ish... And then another one where he's quoted as declaring "thermonuclear war" on Android because it stole from him... With another quote about "stealing is bad" from a different Apple exec.

Funny how it's okay for them to steal from others, but if you take any of their "ideas" (I use that term loosely, because most of them aren't their ideas, after all), they're all over you like flies on shit.

As to answer the poll; Yes, Apple Maps suck right now. A lot of growing pains goes into a huge undertaking like this. I am not making excuses or apologizing for Apple and I do think they should have continued to use Google for their mapping program for at least another year until they could have made more adjustments and corrections to their new program. It will be interesting to see what happens from here and I am personally hoping that Google decides to submit a stand-alone Maps for iOS.

they won't get sued by Google. It doesn't make any financial sense for Google not to have Maps on iOS regardless if it is wrapped in a Google container (program) or an Apple container.

Why the hell even bother to put all of your users through said growing pains when you don't have to? It's all just a personal vendetta that Jobs had against Google; to try to excuse the shitty replacement as "growing pains" ignores the fact that it's entirely self-inflicted (or inflicted solely by Apple upon their users)

So much for not being partial.

[Reeve]

That's a really poor excuse.

"Well it only makes sense that ours is inferior. But we're still going to replace the superior product with something that's LOGICALLY worse, because fuck the consumers".

Because Google isn't going to keep supporting Apple forever, given their increasingly competitive relationship, you mean?

[Acquilae]

Btw to the people planning on buying it and already have an Iphone4 or Iphone4S what is the reason you're upgrading? From what I can tell nothing has "really" changed since the introduction of the Iphone4.

There's plenty of tech sites with actual reviews that show how the performance of the iPhone 5 is compared to the 4 and 4S.

[Torq]

Because Google isn't going to keep supporting Apple forever, given their increasingly competitive relationship, you mean?

Google liked Apple consumers using their product. Google's Map product wasn't competing with Apple until now; they wouldn't have stopped supporting maps on iOS if Apple hadn't kicked them out.

[Trotheus]

Apple has always charged more for less product. It's just that now, with its leader dead, followers are starting to question the cult...

[Sorshen]

So they ditched Google Maps, to offer its customers a sub-par replacement. Typical.

[Maruka]

Hey that sounds a lot like what blizzard did after it got the market share, make shitty products.

[Grym]

I just upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS6 last night, the new map system is fun while it worked, but I also see a lot of accuracy issues with it, let's hope that get fixed soon. As much as I hate the current map system is bad, I can also see that it does take time for something new to reach a certain standard, took Google 10 years to master their maps, let's hope Apple take less than that.

For the time being, as much as Google and Apple don't get along now, I am sure Google would still be happy to have a Google Map app if they are not free apps, win-win?

[Solemnity]

Apple always had that "take something and make it better approach" to things. From the tidbits of information I've read about Steve Jobs being a perfectionist, and I doubt something like this would get through him. Just like the iPhone 4 and the reception issues, that was something you wouldn't notice so easily even though they make claim of "extensive testing".

I doubt if they actually tested it, they'd notice the various issues seen. Any response Apple will or would make in regards to it, would be that it's new and so forth. It's probably because they wanted to get the phone out, and felt like putting off the new maps would make the patch look less appealing or the phone itself. Possibly rushed?