Former Apple Senior VP of iPhone Software Scott Forstall demonstrates the new map application featured on iOS 6.
Apple just let go its senior director of iOS services, Richard Williamson, in a move that lops another name off of the list of company minds behind the flawed Apple Map app. The move comes after senior vice president, Eddie Cue, took over the task of turning the disappointing mobile tool into something that can compete, I’m guessing, with Google’s similar but superior offering in that space.
A month ago the company let go another force behind the app, and word is that former Apple iOS vice president, Scott Forstall, left the company several weeks ago for refusing to own up to the program’s flaws. Given Forstall’s work on iOS, there may have been more behind his ouster than we’re led to believe. Speculation abounds, perhaps we’ll learn more of the gory details when he comes out with a tell-all book on his time with Appleâ€"or at least a tell-all editorial in an online publication. As I said, speculation abounds.
Tim Cook was forced to publicly eat crow when the company’s map offering was so below what iPhone users were used to from Google(NASDAQ:GOOG). It was a huge misstep because to compete, the program had to be at least on par with the previous iPhone mapping system. Not that matching it was an easy task; it just simply needed to be as good to stay afloat.
What this latest termination could mean, if Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fans are lucky, is that the company is looking to take a different tact, as far as its mobile iOS is concerned. Big changes can be scary for a large and successful company but they can also be exciting. From Apple, investors (of which I am one) and tech fans might be inclined to bet on the latter possibility and, if it’s true that Mr. Cue is indeed also leading the push to gather video content for an upcoming TV product the company has in store â€" after having headed up iTunes â€" we may be dealing with a no-nonsense manager that actually could improve the Apple map and throw some new innovation into iOS.
That said, the downside may be that consumers do not want big changes to their iPhone and iPad operating systems and the company will have to take extra care to assure that any innovations be integrated in a way that does not alienate them. As far as Apple Maps is concerned, it may be too late to save it in time to compete with Google’s enhanced map app, soon to be released for iOS. Uh-oh for Apple.
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