Apple may be turning to its retail employees to improve its new Maps app for iOS 6. Retail store employees are being asked to, on a volunteer basis, examine the mapping data for their area and submit corrections and improvements to Apple. Stores participating in the initiative will give 40 hours of staff time per week, which will be distributed across several employees.
Rene talks with MG Siegler of parislemon and TechCrunch about iOS 6 maps, Apple and Google, how they handle media and public perception, and their relationship past, present, and future. This is an iMore show special edition!
I've read more than I ever wanted to about maps this week, but this story about how the original, Google-powered Maps.app was built for the original iPhone caught my attention.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has posted an open letter to customers on Apple.com concerning iOS 6 Maps. iOS 6 Maps, which replaced the original, Google-powered iOS Maps app with one that drew data from TomTom and others, but which was more wholly owned, controlled, and realized by Apple, has been the subject of controversy since launch due to the quality of data in many areas.
In the open letter, Cook apologizes for the current state of iOS 6 maps, and even goes so far as to recommend competing products from the App Store and the web. He also assures iOS 6 users that Apple will be working "non-stop" to make iOS 6 Maps live up to Apple's standards. (If you want to help Apple improve it, you can submit corrections using the built-in tools.)
So iOS 6 has been out for over a week now, and that means everyone has had a chance to test out the new iOS 6 Maps apps for over a week. So what do you think of it? Is it the best Maps app ever? Is it okay with a few rough edges? Is it bad but you hope it gets better? Or is it a totally mapping disaster?
Back before Apple even announced the new Maps app at WWDC 2012, Rene wrote a post on what to expect in terms of both potential features and problems. And I dare say it's turned out to be pretty accurate. Do you think people were expecting too much? Or do you think Apple failed to deliver too much? Should Apple have done a better job warning users that there might be growing pains?
Apple can make beautiful map tiles and fancy flyover views all they want, but if the core map data isn't accurate, it's a big problem. If it's accurate in some places and terrible in others, that's still a big problem. Especially since Google doesn't seem likely to have a Google Maps app ready for the App Store any time soon, and the Google Maps mobile website is a stop-gap at best.
I know you've got an opinion on this one, so vote up top and tell me how you really feel in the comments!
Apple has a year left on their most recent Google Maps agreement, apparently, and didn't expect Apple to remove them from iOS 6 and launch a new app anywhere near this soon. Meaning, Google was caught flat-footed and won't be ready to ship a standalone Google Maps app for the App Store for several more months. This according to a quartet of stories published today.
If you don't have time to read our definitive iOS 6 review but you still want to see all the highlights -- Maps, Siri extensions, Passbook, Guided Access, Shared Photo Streams, and more -- then here's everything you need to know about iOS 6 in just 6 minutes.
iOS 6 includes 10 major and, according to Apple, 200 new user features overall. It may not be as audacious as iPhone OS 2 was with the App Store, or iOS 5 was with iCloud, and Maps may cause some pain for some users for some time, but it does set the foundation for Apple's platform going forward.
To find out much, much more, head on over to our iOS 6 review.
Apple’s iOS 6 is now out, and if you've read iMore's detailed iOS 6 review you've already seen people complaining about the new Maps app. Whether it be incorrect data or simply a slew of features that are missing compared to the old, Google-powered Maps app.
Apple's recently released Maps app that replaces Google maps in iOS 6 has gotten quite a bit of criticism in the 24 hours since it was released. Apple recently responded to these claims stating that "it will get better".
