On Friday morning, Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, apologized for releasing the flawed Maps app on iOS 6. I don't mean a flimsy P.R.-speak apology - I mean a heartfelt one that seems fully cooked.
We strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers.
Incredibly, he even recommended, as I did in my column Thursday, that while Apple gets down to the enormous task of fixing the bad data, we use map apps from Apple's competitors:
While we're improving Maps, you can try alternativ es by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their Web sites and creating an icon on your home screen to their Web app.
There are even links to those free apps, and a Web page with instructions for installing Google's Maps Web site onto your phone's Home screen.
Now, Mr. Cook's note doesn't explain how such a flaky app was released in the first place; Apple surely knew that the data had problems. It doesn't really address the elephant in the room, whose name is “We Bit Off More Than We Could Chew.â€
But whatever the story, the chief's note conveys a note of humility that has been missing so far. Without it, the Apple Maps fiasco felt even worse than it was.
