Thanks! I'd love it if HN had some mechanism to suggest changing the link to the original source rather than these sorts of worthless click-through / quoted articles.
I never ever thought I'd live to see the day that Apple would admit let alone apologise for making an obvious mistake (antenna gate anyone?) - it's good to see Tim Cook is human and isn't afraid to admit Apple screwed up (something Apple while under the helm of Jobs didn't really do). Good on him, it must have been hard for Cook to suggest using the Bing app or Google Maps mobile site.
I dunno, it must have been even harder for Apple to fess up to the problem and provide free cases for everyone with an iPhone 4 at the time. The idea that your shiny, sleek new phone needed a bulky case just to work was much worse in my estimation. Cook handled it with more grace in this letter than Jobs ever did, to your point.
Most interesting thing about this: Tim Cook explicitly pointing to other map services inside the App Store and outside of it tells me that if and when Google decides to submit a map app, it won’t be rejected.
Most interesting thing about this: ... when { a competitor } decides to submit { something better }, it won’t be rejected.
This is why closed platforms are bad. If you aren't happy with the vendors supplied solution, you should be free to replace it with something which works better for you.
Here Apple customers are sitting, hoping and waiting, for a competitor to come up with a solution which isn't fundamentally broken, and hoping that Apple wont block the competitor in offering them this better solution.
They have to hope Apple wont block a better solution. I find that "interesting" to say the least. And I wont buy into it.
if and when Google decides to submit a map app, it won’t be rejected.
Wouldn't it be phenominally stupid for Apple to not allow a Google Maps app for iOS? I mean that's publicity for Google right there. "Apple doesn't want you to have as good maps as you used to have" etc
I never really thought that Apple would reject a Google Maps app, but there are people who were (and likely are still) completely convinced that Apple would reject an app from Google.
That’s clearly not Apple’s goal here. Their goal was never to force out Google, their goal was to be able to take their destiny into their own hands and to make progress on Maps at least possible.
That was what I was thinking. Hopefully he won't change his mind by the time Google launches it. Now let's wish for Apple to majorly screw up their next version of Safari, too ;)
Tim Cook is the man. He owed up to Apple's clear failure.
The statement reads like a balanced and fair apology - should put a damper on the AppleMap-gate.
Relying on someone else's platform for a core feature continues to be a bad idea. Being the richest company on the planet doesn't change that, at least when the someone else is too big (or unwilling) to be bought.
TomTom's just providing data, they can be (relatively) easily replaced without the user knowing. I'd be surprised if Apple couldn't flip a switch and make OSM the primary data for the USA if they wanted to.
Using Google, Apple was more or less totally at their mercy. Google sent an API and Apple implemented it; and Apple doesn't get much of a say in what they can do with the maps. If Google's data is wrong, Apple couldn't do anything about it.
Im sorry for the shitty podcast App that randomly starts playing when you dont want it to
Im sorry for the really shitty battery life on your 6 month old 4s
Im sorry for the frustrating internet crashing which causes you to have to turn your phone off and on, which you never had to do until the day you upgraded to iOS6
Pathetic. Actual way to say "sorry" is to approve Google Maps native app, this could have a real impact in the happiness of their customers. My 4s is the latest Apple phone for me, unless they change attitude (see for example allow old phones with enough capabilities to use the latest features, see Siri and iPhone 4 for a straightforward example).
Edit: apparently it was just a rumor, however it is not the first time that Google submits an app that is delayed or denied from Apple, so I don't understand all this downvote-rage.
