Apple Maps: A swing and a miss

For days, I was frightened to upgrade my IPhone 4 to Apple�s new iOS6 operating system.  I already have pathological fears about fresh-out-of-R&D operating systems, but with the sheer number of Apple Maps horror stories flooding Twitter, I was legitimately terrified.  But time marches on, and so I crossed my fingers, finished my living-will, and ran the installer.

4 minutes later I was breezing through an upgrade wizard, and my phone felt new and shiny again like it did on the first day.  I even forgot about the massive spider-web crack on the backside.  In that moment, I decided that the twitter hounds were definitely exaggerating.

Tonight, I finally got around to using Apple Maps for the first time. Here�s a screenshot of the first search I ran (my favorite chinese food takeout, Asia Garden 2 in New Jersey).  Note: that�s not a translation tool, the map is actually showing me another continent. 

Baffled, I decided to add in the town and state.  Surely Apple would get it right if I provide the location of the actual restaurant.  

At this point I�m stunned.  Not only did the app present me with a different language, but it gave me the wrong location twice for a single business. I didn�t care enough to see if I�d go three-for-three, so I jumped over to Google Maps in Safari knowing full well I�d get the right address.

Bing! (No pun intended).  Google maps hits the nail on the head, just like always.  But while I was glad for Google, I was also deeply sad for Apple.  They�ve let down their customers by cheapening the quality of their app just to save a few bucks on Google Maps licensing fees.  Was it worth the backlash?  I didn�t think Apple, a company that prides itself on principles of artistry and sound visual aesthetics, would make a cold business decision without prior technical due diligence.  I didn�t think Apple operated like Microsoft.

I�m sure one day Apple will have a maps tool 50x better than Google�s, and they�ll rake in the billions for it.  Or maybe they wont.  But right now, I�m stuck with an app that gives me results from 12,000 miles away.

VIA