
The Maps Letter Tim Should've Written - chadhuber
http://chadhuber.tumblr.com/post/32465594958/the-maps-letter-tim-shouldve-written
======
bengl3rt
The letter he should have written is exactly the letter he did write. Apple is
not a bulleted-list kind of company, nor are they a reveal-implementation-
details kind of company. No one knows, nor do they need to know, where inside
the organization (and under whom) the Maps team lives.

The important message, "we know about it and we're going to fix it", is all
that needed to come across.

~~~
jug6ernaut
So your ok with them taking away a better product for a crappy one simply
because they know about it and are trying to fix it? Both of those points have
been obvious to Apple for at least 6 months, when the beta came out.

~~~
uxp
> Both of those points have been obvious to Apple for at least 6 months

I'm getting tired of this argument. Where was everyone when this was so
completely obvious 6 months ago? The beta was released, people were using it,
and I can't find any criticisms outside of "It's not perfect, but it's working
great and looks fantastic". Where are the bug reports? Sure, it was an NDA
product, but that didn't stop bloggers from publishing stories about it:

[http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/08/09/3d-map-wars-apple-
vs...](http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/08/09/3d-map-wars-apple-vs-google/)

[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/why-apples-map-
look...](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/why-apples-map-looks-so-
bad/)

[http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/goodbye-to-google-maps-
with...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/goodbye-to-google-maps-with-street-
view-hello-to-apples-new-maps-with-3d-flyovers/)

[http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/ios-6-maps-app-
challe...](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/ios-6-maps-app-challenges/)

[http://gizmodo.com/5918176/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-a-
side-...](http://gizmodo.com/5918176/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-a-side-by-side-
comparison)

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57450354-37/apples-
new-3d-...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57450354-37/apples-new-3d-maps-
app-brings-smart-gps-to-ios/)

[http://www.cultofmac.com/183742/apples-3d-maps-in-
ios-6-are-...](http://www.cultofmac.com/183742/apples-3d-maps-in-ios-6-are-
insanely-detailed-when-compared-with-googles-video/)

<http://mashable.com/2012/06/11/apple-vs-google-maps/>

[http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/06/...](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/06/google_maps_can_apple_dominate_mapping_by_kicking_google_off_the_iphone_.html)

[http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/2012-06-12-apple-maps-
alre...](http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/2012-06-12-apple-maps-already-has-
more-business-listings-than-google/)

~~~
jug6ernaut
"Obvious to Apple"

Apple != public. Plus it was a beta, ppl are not going to go crazy complaining
about a beta product because they expected it to be fixed. That is something
only Apple would know.

~~~
batista
> _Plus it was a beta, ppl are not going to go crazy complaining about a beta
> product because they expected it to be fixed._

That's not how it works. People complain about beta software all the time.

Case in point, Siri, after it's introduction.

------
pasbesoin
'We tried to coerce you into helping us turn our half-baked product into a
real competitor. We failed.'

~~~
danilocampos
I took significant pleasure in downvoting your troll and even more at having a
karmic position sufficient to openly gloat about it.

~~~
pasbesoin
Admittedly, it may have been a bit trollish. But I also think it may well have
been a serious perspective on Apple's part. "Because we can" seems to be a
significant factor in their actions that has been increasingly publicly noted.
To some extent (and I've been around Apple products since the '80's), it
always has been an apparent aspect of Apple's approach and perspective.

I don't know what happened internally (and Apple is well-known for lack of
communication on such things), but they definitely shipped their Maps product
with some significant shortcomings. And they apparently (I'm not too familiar
with this) didn't list and engage in some recent pertinent hiring until they
shipped. I wonder whether the delay in recruitment was in part to avoid
spilling the beans on what was coming.

And I wonder whether they planned for their user base being forced to "beta"
the thing as a source to rapidly identify and triage failure points.

As I recall now, aren't they also basing it partly off of open, public mapping
data? And if that is the case, what better way to force data refinement than
to force usage of same upon the public (or a significant chunk representing
their iOS 6 user base)?

Of course, they may not have suspected -- or communicated sufficiently,
internally -- how bad things might/would be.

But, _someone_ had to know about these problems, to a significant degree. How
else were they going to approach the attendant problems? On the face of it, it
smells like a beta -- certainly from a data perspective.

Image-wise, this is about 1 year after Jobs' passing. And for this very image-
conscious company, I wonder how things got to this point. Certainly the
pundits have been looking for signs of, erm, 'negative changes' including
citing Jobs', erm, 'manic perfection'.

As for myself, you may be right. I've been getting pretty "quippy" and at
least somewhat sarcastic, lately. It is probably time for me to give
commenting a break, for a while. And for that feedback, I thank you
(seriously).

Regards

------
jhuckestein
The letters do read quite similar. Steve's original letter was addressed to
his employees though, which sends a different signal IMO.

~~~
chadhuber
Yes. And I should've added a note at the beginning that instead of a public
letter, it should've been internal (like Steve's).

------
caycep
I think the Maps team already reports to Scott Forstall...

~~~
chadhuber
I believe they do as well. It actually dawned on me while crafting this letter
that Forstall has two misses in the last year - Siri and Maps. Then this
article came out: [http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/29/does-apple-have-a-
sco...](http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/09/29/does-apple-have-a-scott-
forstall-problem/)

