maps
How is Apple Maps doing?
May 29, 2013: 6:22 AM ETThe company's mapping switch was widely decried. Have things gotten any better?
It's been nine months since Apple rolled out a criticized update of Maps. "In general, they've made some improvements, but I think they're still behind in terms of features, functionality, accuracy, and the overall state of mapping technology," says Brian Blau, Research Director at Gartner. Credit: Apple
FORTUNE -- Nine months after Apple rolled out a much-criticized update to its Maps app for iPhones and iPads, some people are still not pulling punches.
"As most of you probably heard, last December, we launched Google Maps on the iPhone," said Daniel Graf, Director of Google Maps, at this year's Google (GOOG) I/O conference. "It has been a tremendous success. The feedback has been very positive. People called it sleek, simple, beautiful, and -- let's not forget -- accurate."
Graf, of course, was referring to Apple (AAPL) Maps, and in particular, the company's decision to stop using Google's mapping data. The end result may have been easy on the eyes but frustrating to some users who reported problems like inaccurate directions or missing landmarks, some of which were borne out by Fortune's own review.
MORE: Tim Cook: The art of saying nothing
The brouhaha became so bad, Tim Cook penned an apology, even going so far as to recommend users temporarily try competitors' services. "We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers, and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better," he wrote. So it was no surprise that when Google eventually released a separate Google Maps app for the iPhone, users downloaded it over 10 million times in the first 48 hours, making it one of the most popular iOS apps for a time.
Apple declined to comment for this story. However, at a recent conference, CEO Tim Cook addressed Maps, saying that Apple "screwed up."
"It didn't look good," admits Brian Blau, Research Director for Gartner, who says that some of the criticism lobbed at Apple Maps was justified and that the company needed to make improvements. "But did Maps deserve some of the negative press and negative sentiment that went on, day after day, week after week, and what not? I don't think so."
Apple is reportedly working hard behind the scenes to improve Maps, beefing up its staff with employees like "Maps Ground Truth Managers" for at least seven regions around the world. According to job listings, such managers would be responsible for supervising the team in charge of testing new releases of map data, capturing new location data, and testing competitors' products.
The company has also pushed out a number of Maps updates, offering improved placement for hundreds of city labels, better satellite imagery for countries like England, France, and Germany, and expanded "Flyover" coverage, meaning more 3-D, photorealistic areas are viewable. And turn-by-turn navigation has been added for at least 12 international cities including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin, and Rome.
MORE: Google's gorgeous new maps
While Blau says Apple Maps still lags behind Google Maps as far as features, functionality, and accuracy, he sees Apple's mapping service only getting significantly better. And while Apple's reputation for quality may have been hurt by the Maps controversy, the damage was temporary. "I think people will trust them," Blau says. "I think it's going to take a significant effort on their part to get to that point, and I say that because clearly there are other mapping technologies that are out there."
Blau is largely referring to Google Maps, which had a multi-year head start on Apple. At Google I/O earlier this month, Google revealed a major product update, with features like more detailed maps with indoor photos and 360-degree views of cooperating businesses and Google+ integration so users can check out reviews from their social network connections. One scenario Google served up: Maps can now analyze the kinds of restaurants users like or routes they most often take and offer suggestions.
But while Apple received grief for dropping Google, analysts like Blau say the move was inevitable. "Mapping is hot," he says. "It's the key to connecting all of us with the things that are in the world, so no wonder all these big consumer platforms want access to it." Today, mapping products may currently help users get from point A to point B, but the potential for such location services remains large, and the ways location can be further be integrated into people's lives, particularly as smartphone adoption continues, are also huge. Where a person likes to eat, shop, watch movies, and how they prefer to get there is valuable data. To wit, it's likely why Facebook (FB) and Google may be willing to pay $1 billion to buy the popular traffic navigation startup Waze.
For Apple, capitalizing on such an opportunity was probably too good to miss.
-
Facebook: Please don't buy Waze
One user's reasons for wanting the small mapping company to stay independent.
By Doron Levin
FORTUNE -- As an unabashed fan of Waze, the Israeli navigation app, I'm disappointed about its possible acquisition by Facebook. The talks toward a $1 billion buyout evidently have hit a snag. Good, I hope the trouble doesn't get resolved.
Facebook (FB) isn't misguided in wanting to own an app of rising popularity that might surpass Google MORE
May 15, 2013 7:25 AM ET -
Report of fixes in Apple Maps triggers a flood of complaints
For Apple, no good deed goes unpunished
FORTUNE -- As Tim Cook promised last fall, Apple (AAPL) has been working hard behind the scenes to improve its much-maligned iOS Maps app -- the one that famously replaced Google (GOOG) Maps.
On Tuesday, The Loop's Jim Dalrymple rattled off some of the improvements that Apple has made, including a list of cities (from Boston to Glasgow) for which Apple has added or broadened its MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 13, 2013 7:07 AM ET -
Charlie Wolf: Google Maps a mixed blessing for Apple
Both companies benefit from a better map app, but Google more than Apple
FORTUNE -- The first analyst we've seen to comment on Google's new Maps app for the iPhone is Needham's Charlie Wolf. He makes several points:
A dependable, well-designed iPhone map app benefits both companies, but Google (GOOG) probably more. Google is in the advertising business, and the app should soon begin to generate location-based ad revenue from millions of iPhone MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 14, 2012 8:18 AM ET -
10 cool things about Google's new Maps app for iPhone
For starters, it usually takes you where you meant to go
FORTUNE -- On Wednesday, 84 days after Apple (AAPL) shot itself in the foot by replacing its original mobile Maps app with a Google-free version that wasn't ready for prime time, Google (GOOG) announced that a new, all-Google Maps app was available as a free download. The rush to get it was so intense that by late Wednesday it had MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 13, 2012 8:50 AM ET -
What are you going to believe, Apple Maps or your lying eyes?
Australian police warn drivers that relying on the iPhone's app can be "life threatening"
FORTUNE -- Driving to the rural city of Mildura (pop. 30,000) from downtown Melbourne is a long trek in the best of circumstances -- six or seven hours depending on traffic.
But the trip can be a nightmare for travelers using the Map app that comes installed in Apple's (AAPL) newest iPhones.
The app shows Mildura about 70 km MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 10, 2012 1:39 PM ET -
A second head rolls in the wake of Apple's map debacle
Eddie Cue is reported to have fired the manager of the team that created it
FORTUNE -- The decision to replace Google (GOOG) Maps with an in-house creation that by Tim Cook's own admission wasn't ready for prime time continues to send shock waves through the ranks of Apple's (AAPL) leadership team.
On Tuesday, four weeks after Cook accepted the resignation of Scott Forstall -- one of Steve Jobs' favorite executives -- and MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Nov 27, 2012 2:00 PM ET -
ChangeWave: Maps issue had 0% impact on iPhone 5 sales
Likely buyers were not dissuaded by either Apple's Maps app or the new dock connector
FORTUNE -- A new survey of 4,270 mostly North Americans conducted in September and released Friday found no evidence that the concerns about Apple's (AAPL) new iPhone that have preoccupied the tech press since its release have affected likely buyers.
To the contrary.
According to ChangeWave's polling, nearly one in three (32%) of the early adopter types in their survey MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 12, 2012 9:08 AM ET -
Why Apple's hardware chief came in from the cold
A near insurrection in the staff and a reported $2 million a month are powerful incentives
FORTUNE -- Anybody who follows Apple (AAPL) with more than passing interest couldn't help but wonder what was behind the surprise retirement in June and sudden reinstatement two months later of Bob Mansfield, the company's long-time senior vice president of hardware engineering. (See Early retirement isn't all that it's cracked up to be.)
A well-reported feature MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Oct 3, 2012 1:40 PM ET -
What part did Google play in Apple's Maps app soap opera?
The search giant has been coy about what it did -- and what it's doing now
FORTUNE -- The assumption behind much of the nonstop coverage of Apple's (AAPL) cartographic crisis is that the damage was entirely self-inflicted. Apple rolled its new iOS Maps app out before it was ready and its mobile users -- wandering the globe without a trustworthy electronic atlas -- have paid the price.
But it takes two MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 26, 2012 10:22 AM ET
