Apple Defends iOS 6 Maps as Work in Progress - PC Magazine

Amidst the backlash over its new Maps app within iOS 6, Apple today defended the effort as a work in progress.

"We launched this new map service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started with it," Apple's Trudy Muller said in a statement. "We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get."

Muller said Apple is "working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better."

That feedback has primarily criticized the accuracy of Apple's new Maps app. As PCMag's Jamie Lendino noted, the app had "trouble finding points of interests as well as even basic street addresses." It produced results for Brooklyn before Manhattan, even while he was in Manhattan, for example.

Not surprisingly, those puzzling returns - and some of the strange image renderings - have spawned a Tumblr blog, dubbed The Amazing iOS 6 Maps, which pokes fun at the errors. There's also a Twitter account, @fake_iOS6maps, which is having a laugh at Apple's expense.

"OK, to be clear: The maps are *inaccurate*, so you have to *use* them, so they will improve. Make sense? The more you get lost, the better," the account tweeted last night.

Apple encountered similar complaints last year when its Siri voice assistant launched on the iPhone 4S. Initially, Siri had some rather interesting responses to certain queries, but Apple said she would improve over time as more and more people used the app. For more on that, see Siri is Dumb. There, We Said It.

Siri, however, was an innovative new smartphone technology that was helpful but not really integral to the smartphone experience at the time. Maps, on the other hand, appear to be a feature about which users are very passionate, and they are irked that the more polished Google Maps is no longer an option.

Until iOS 6, Google Maps (and YouTube) were pre-loaded on all iOS devices, but the iOS upgrade replaced Google Maps with Apple Maps. You can access Google Maps on the browser of your iOS device, but the experience is not as rich as the old iOS Maps app.

When asked whether it will develop a Google Maps app for iOS, a Google spokesman said only that "we believe Google Maps are the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps in the world. Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system."

For more, see Twitterverse Irked by Apple iOS 6 Maps, More. Also check out PCMag's review of iOS 6 and the slideshow below.

Additional reporting by Angela Moscaritolo

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.