NGC said:
So Apple spoke out today in support of ios6.
(Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn by turn navigation, and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.)
The Apple Spin has started and sadly Apple believes they did nothing wrong. The Fanboys have been told to post on all the positives that this downgrade to ios6 brings us.
Does Apple really believe we will forget this downgrade disaster they have forced upon us?
It's not a case of Apple doing anything wrong. Google maps was fine, while Google were not in the business of smartphone operating systems. Android changed the rules, and Apple were forced to use a competitor's product, a product that was becoming two-tiered as has already been noted in this thread. Personally, I wouldn't blame Google for that, either. I certainly wouldn't give Apple the latest and greatest if I was trying to market it myself at the same time. I also don't blame Google for getting involved in smartphones, even if the higher-ups at Apple believed that they had a promise that Google would not. If there's money to be made, who are Apple to decide who is allowed to make it?
Whether anyone likes it or not, Apple had to move, sooner or later. Me? I don't like it. I haven't updated my OS, mainly because I'm used to the Google Maps app, whether it's better or worse than alternatives. It is to be hoped that Apple Maps will become better over time, hopefully not too much time, because one day, I'll have an iPhone 5 and will have no choice of operating systems.
Apple dropped the ball on this one, to be sure. Touting the first iteration of a new product as though it is complete was foolhardy, and speaks of a certain amount of arrogance, but at the end of the day, Maps is only a small part of a very good hardware/software marriage, which is the main advantage Apple has over all of its competitors. Perhaps some sort of statement that this is not going to be perfect, but it's the best we can manage right now would have been more honest, even if the marketing people didn't like it. Perhaps I'm delusional, but I've always seen Apple as the computer company that you can trust.
I have been plagued by problems with iTunes. 10.7 seems to have done SOMETHING about the amount of crashes I was experiencing. Since installing the latest version, I haven't had a single crash, so thanks for that, Apple. Not before time. Ignoring the crashes, which are hopefully a thing of the past, the whole experience; iTunes, iOS and the iPhone/iPad hardware leaves me very satisfied with my choice of Apple as my supplier.