

Apple Has a New Cook - jarederondu
http://blog.jarederondu.com/apple-has-a-new-cook

======
gfodor
For a CEO, it doesn't matter just weither or not you apologize for a mistake,
but _what_ mistakes you apologize for, and what mistakes you simply correct
but do not openly apologize for.

Jobs had a tendency to do the latter. He would rarely admit Apple's mistakes
verbally, but would correct the problem as swiftly as possible. This strategy
(obviously) worked pretty well for Apple's bottom line, and it's hard to argue
that it upset many customers.

Now, I don't have access to the information Apple does, but for this
particular situation it seemed much less important that Apple make a apology
vs. just improving the product rapidly. You apologize when people feel
wronged, slighted, cheated, or otherwise emotionally distraught by your
actions.

In this case, there are issues with Maps. But when Maps leads you to the wrong
destination, do you feel emotionally hurt by Apple? In my experience, no, you
realize the computer messed up and you look at the map and correct it. There's
a certain level of tolerance people can have for this type of error they
cannot have, for example, when their phones cannot get reception or drop calls
due to the antenna.

Beyond this, this is a problem that can be rapidly fixed if Apple dedicated a
massive amount of resources to it. As people use Maps, there is a ton of data
being collected and lots of low hanging fruit being revealed. The first
several months after launch will surely shake most of the major issues out.

Also, I'm absolutely stunned Cook would refer people to other apps (of their
competitors!) instead. This is really a punch to the gut for shareholders
(disclosure: which I am not) as it looks like they are admitting defeat and
willing to concede mindshare for mapping applications.

A much better approach to solving this would be to acknowledge the problem,
less apologetically, but more importantly, _become transparent_ with the rate
at which issues are being fixed. Publish some metrics that show how hard Apple
is working on things being fixed. Push an update to the app that highlights
these improvements. Make people realize Apple is putting all of its energy
into addressing the problem, and that progress is being made each day.

Or, do what Jobs did, and just deflect criticism while the engineers fix the
problems for a few weeks. Eventually everyone will forget about it, Maps will
be the best mapping experience on iOS, and it will become a distant memory.

Knowing when to take these paths is important and IMHO it is not a good sign
that Cook went down this road for this particular issue.

~~~
kristiandupont
I agree with what you say, except for wrong directions being a minor issue. A
very typical use case for me is meeting somebody at a place I haven't been
before. I've frequently trusted Google maps to take me there and it has never
sent me to the wrong place. Sometimes it doesn't know the place I am looking
for which is acceptable but the thought of ending up in a completely different
location, with people waiting for me, seems like a much bigger problem than
bad reception. I would not just shrug and correct the wrong information, I
would be furious.

And the derived problem from this is given the knowledge that there are _some_
problems, I would never trust Apple maps unless I know where I am going
anyway.

~~~
gfodor
I agree its a real problem. I don't think it's a minor issue, but it has some
attributes that reduce its severity with regards to choosing an appropriate
public response by Apple:

\- It's likely rare. Either people catch the mistake early (as you mentioned)
or the algorithm actually works.

\- It's correctable. Sometimes you can eyeball the map, sometimes you can see
how it messed up and work around it. Sometimes you know better and "override"
it by driving the way that you know. Ultimately you can ask someone or pull up
google.

\- It's unclear where you direct your anger to. When your phone drops calls,
you blame AT&T. If it's the hardware, you blame Apple. If there is an error in
the map, who do you blame? Us techie's realize the details, but do most people
know who authored the maps? If people understood it was Google before they
might still think it's Google's fault now. If the algorithm gives you the
wrong directions, do you blame apple or the "stupid computer"? It seems like
there is less of an emotional anger towards Apple, the company, when this
error occurs (excluding those of us who understand the intricacies of what
parties are involved for what types of error.)

A big dynamic here is that people were used to a certain level of quality from
Google. Did they know it was Google? Do they know who is to blame for the step
backwards?

I'm certainly curious what specifics prompted this response. Cook has never
been in charge before and speaking from experience it's always _incredibly_
tempting to want to make a public statement and backtrack when the mob is
yelling at your door, but despite common advice it's not always the right
decision for the company.

~~~
verelo
I feel like im missing something, is there a real reason why they cant just
reinstate the google maps app? That's the only thing holding me back from
buying the phone (the fact that its not there is scary, but the fact that
consumers are left hanging with a few words of "sorry" is more concerning)

I get why Apple doesnt want to be Googles friend, but...this has gone too far.

~~~
gfodor
I think their license is due to end soon and it would probably be a logistical
nightmare.

If you live in the bay area or NYC area I've not experienced any major issues
with Maps other than it asking me to take slightly more roundabout routes (but
perhaps marginally faster ones) than necessary once in a while.

------
lazerwalker
The thing is, the map apology letter _wasn't_ "something out of a new
playbook". When Apple dropped the price of the original iPhone $200 two months
after it went on sale, people were _pissed_. Steve wrote a public letter of
apology (<http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter>). It was in many ways
a similar situation: Apple did something that hurt early adopters, and the CEO
offered an explanation as well as a heartfelt apology to the effect that
everyone expects better from Apple. The closing paragraphs are even remarkably
similar:

> We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize
> for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your
> high expectations of Apple.

vs

> Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the
> world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-
> stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

------
steve8918
I hate how everyone has decidedly become a Steve Jobs expert, so I won't even
begin to make a comment or guess on what Jobs would or would not have done.

But it's suffice to say that Tim Cook's apology really isn't something that's
so mindblowing. The debacle over Apple Maps is so huge that Cook had _no
choice_ but to apologize. People around the world are not only outraged by how
inferior Apple Maps is, but they are now ridiculing it, to the point where
many believe it could actually impact sales of the iPhone 5, and drastically
slow down migration to iOS 6. Someone had to do _something_ to quell the
outrage, and for something of this magnitude, that someone had to be the CEO.

It's pretty coincidental that another huge debacle, the NFL replacement ref
situation, both came to a head in the same week. Roger Goodell, also had to
issue an apology to fans as well, for letting the situation get so out of
control that it affected the quality and reputation of the NFL. It's the exact
same playbook (pun intended) as Tim Cook's.

~~~
andrevan
Yes, someone had to do something, except Cook /hasn't/ done anything except
put out a shitty map app. Unless you count apologizing and pointing to Bing
Maps as doing something. Why not tell people to buy a Microsoft phone as well?

------
amirmc
_"Cook didn’t think the iPhone needed to remain at 3.5" 4:3 forever (as made
plain with the iPhone 5)."_

Does the OP really think that Jobs didn't know about the next iteration of
iPhone (or any of Apple's other upcoming products)? He stepped down as CEO
just over a year ago and the iPhone 5 was announced only recently. Designing,
prototyping, iterating, building and shipping stuff takes time.

------
seunghomattyang
_Cook took the opportunity to reflect upon the lessons he learned from Jobs
before his death last October, explaining that the founder never wanted Cook
to dwell on what he would have wanted after he died. Instead, Jobs wanted Cook
to avoid thinking about the past and instead look to the future, focusing on
creating the next great thing.

"When he called me to his home to talk about being the CEO and subsequently
the discussions we had, he told me, 'I witnessed what happened at Disney when
Walt passed away,'" Cook said. "He said that people would go to meetings, and
all sit around and talk about, what would Walt have done? How would he view
this? And he looked at me with those intense eyes that only he had, and he
told me to never do that, to never ask what he would do. Just do what's right.
And so I'm doing that."_ [1]

[1] [http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/apple-ceo-tim-cook-
stev...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/apple-ceo-tim-cook-steve-taught-
me-that-the-joy-is-in-the-journey/)

------
jpxxx
Oh good gravy. While it's wonderful that an apology of sorts was offered,
that's not unusual in Apple's history.

They blew this, they blew this, they blew this. They failed to reset customer
expectations, walked directly into a woodchipper with a serious platform
regression, and gave their competitors a talking point that will actually
stick for the next few years.

The only interesting bit of Apple Kremlinology that can be engaged in here:
did they intentionally portray the maps as an advance in an attempt to keep
iphone 5 pre-orders up? Because there is no way Apple had convinced themselves
this was launch worthy internally. They cannot have become that self-unaware
already.

I imagine this apology was written months ago.

~~~
zevyoura
Actually, since the maps coverage is pretty good in California, I wouldn't be
that surprised if they didn't realize just how far behind Google their POI
data was internationally. Also, even if they did realize this, I don't think
they would gone forward so eagerly if they realized how intense the backlash
was going to be.

~~~
jpxxx
I don't know... it is interesting that they have a vastly superior Maps system
in China now, and a relatively high quality set for the West Coast. (edit:
areas of extreme competitive importance)

But I can't believe that they would go toe-for-toe on the map client feature
set without similar attention being paid to overall database quality.

They've licensed dozens of data sources, they've bought entire companies,
they've been working on this for years...

I think they pulled the trigger for a variety of reasons and then braced for
impact. This change wasn't taken lightly.

~~~
jimbokun
"...it is interesting that they have a vastly superior Maps system in China
now, and a relatively high quality set for the West Coast."

And this is exactly what Jobs would have led with. He would have pointed out
any and all areas where Apple's Maps performed better than Google, before
segueing into how they are addressing the remaining problems. I bet he would
have some clever statistics on just how often Apple's maps are right. And he
would have tons of examples of mistakes on Google's maps, to create some doubt
about whether Apple was really worse (remember all of the other phones that
Jobs tried to use to demonstrate that iPhone wasn't the only phone suffering
from "death-grip" issues during antenna-gate?).

I sure miss him.

~~~
Evbn
I for one appreciate Tim Cook's straightforward honesty (a total operations
guy who knows you can't bluff physics) to Jobs's bluster (salesman/style
maven)

------
nameiscarl
"Yes, some may raise the argument that the reason why Jobs was rarely in
situations to apologize, was because, for the most part (minus Siri), he
pushed excellent and complete product"

Please, macosx releases have an history of being bug ridden. So much that one
upgrade was free (the first one, if I recall correctly).

The man built his own legend by rewriting history and bullying press. And
selling computers, phones and walkmans, too.

~~~
kmfrk
A recent example is the change in MBP battery life with Lion; check the first
bar chart in [http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/os-x-battery-life-
ana...](http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/os-x-battery-life-analysis-
from-snow-leopard-to-mountain-lion).

------
joejohnson
This is fucking stupid and wrong for a number of reasons. It is incorrect to
think that Steve Jobs wasn't involved in Maps and the iPhone 5. He worked at
Apple almost until he died, and these new releases from Apple were in the
works while Steve was around.

------
zalzane
I don't think that Apple should have pulled the apology card for this.
Apologizing on this scale will surely help customer frustration, but it's not
necessarily something you can do very often. While apologizing may have a
positive effect, to be honest the problems with the maps app really weren't
-that- bad. It's not like the antenna issue where nobody could use their phone
if they held it wrong.

They really should have saved the apology card for mending an issue much more
dire. Now that they've used it up, they can't really publicly apologize for
anything for quite a few years lest their brand become tainted.

~~~
cageface
_to be honest the problems with the maps app really weren't -that- bad_

It's astonishing that people keep saying this even after the CEO has taken the
almost unprecedented step of issuing a formal apology. Maybe the new maps were
ok for _you_ , but they're clearly a disaster for a lot of users and well
below Apple's usual standard. Apple fans are doing them a disservice by
refusing to admit and address their weaknesses.

~~~
zalzane
Looks like I omitted a word in my original post, I meant to say that the
fallout from maps wasn't that bad. People can still replace their maps app
with google or bing or whoever's map application. The problems with the iOS
maps aren't a showstopper for the entire platform like the antenna issues
were. There were a lot more people angry over the antenna issues than over the
maps issues, so I don't really see how the apology was warranted.

~~~
cageface
Presumably nobody knows more about this problem than Tim Cook at this point
and he saw fit to issue an apology I'm sure he very much would have preferred
not to give. You don't imagine that your own anecdotal experience gives you
special insight here, do you?

------
lurkinggrue
Steve jobs did let Ping and Mobile Me go out the doors.

Oh yes, and the Apple Cube.

~~~
baddox
Neither Ping nor Mobile Me replaced previous crucial functionality.

~~~
jpxxx
To quibble: Mobile Me was a thorough replacement for iSync.

~~~
Evbn
At a higher price.

------
andrevan
Why are we apologizing for and defending Tim Cook? The fact is that the
difference between Cook and Jobs wasn't that Cook apologized for putting out
an incomplete product -- it's that he would put that product out to begin
with. Jobs was infamous for signing off on and testing his products himselves.
This version of Maps would clearly never have been released by Jobs -- that's
why he would have never apologized for it.

~~~
Evbn
The hagiography of Jobs.hasn't been approved by the Pope yet. So we don't have
to ignore Jobs' mistakes yet.

------
halayli
I think the OP came up with a conclusion without evidence and walked backwards
to prove his point.

------
snowwrestler
To my memory, Jobs did publicly apologize for the Mobile Me problems. He also
responded to public pressure and changed direction on allowing native apps in
the iPhone, with a public letter linked on the homepage of Apple.com.

