Soon after iPhone users got their hands on the iOS 6 update, it became clear that the new Apple Maps app sucks. Users quickly took to the internet to vent their frustrations and laugh at the incorrectly placed landmarks, distorted satellite imagery, and poor search quality.
The issue even played a part in lowering customer satisfaction toward iOS 6 compared to iOS 5. The outcry eventually humbled Apple, and CEO Tim Cook apologized for the software, urging customers to use alternative map applications which it then promoted in the App Store.
Now it appears that Apple’s hubris in believing it could easily replace Google Maps (a product that has over 7,000 employees working on it) with its own software was even greater than was readily apparent.
This week CNET reported that developers have been complaining about the new Maps app since the pre-release version of iOS 6 was released back in June. The report quotes a “half-dozen” unnamed developers as saying they filed bug reports, sent e-mails, and posted to message boards with “doomsayer” rants, but went ignored by Apple. Some of the developers stated that the broken nature of the Maps app broke features within their own apps that relied on an accurate map imagery.
One of the unnamed developers told CNET that an Apple employee did reply to his or her complaints, saying that the maps issue was “well understood,” so it isn’t as if Apple simply didn’t hear developers’ warnings. Perhaps in the future Apple will listen more closely to those people who are on the font lines of Apple software development.