Following a series of disappointing products that customers feel have fallen below the caliber of products they have come to expect from Apple, the new CEO, Tim Cook, decided to take a much different path from his predecessor, Steve Jobs. Jobs was notoriously a tough boss to work for. He expected nothing less than the best products and, therefore, refused to acknowledge any mistakes. On the other hand, Cook has been forced to compete for market share with Google and, in turn, has released products that were still in progress. Faced with customer dissatisfaction and dropping stock prices, Cook stepped forward to apologize for several misguided Apple decisions, including the Siri feature on the iPhone 4S, the iOS 6 maps feature, Ping, and MobileMe (Wingfield). .
Cook released a statement apologizing for the new Maps feature, which many customers believe is one of a smartphone's most essential abilities next to the call function (Martin). The iPhone 5's new Maps feature misled consumers, posting nonsensical routes and misplaced landmarks (Wingfield). "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 and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better," Cook said (Martin). Cook also suggested that Apple users look to rival services such as MapQuest and Google Maps while they fix their Maps feature (Wingfield). .
Although it has not been confirmed yet, speculation suggests that Google would not grant Apple the license for turn-by-turn maps directions, forcing Apple to create its own maps app to keep up with the competition. Market analysts and technology executives agreed that this was a smart move in the long-term, but Apple rushed to create its own maps and released the new technology before it was perfected. Apple could have relied on Google Maps for one more year (Wingfield).
