Apple has broken its silence after a week of criticism from users over the Maps application in iOS 6. In a letter published on Apple’s website, CEO Tim Cook apologised to users and said ‘We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.’
Cook explained that Apple had taken the decision to replace Google’s Maps app in iOS 6 with an Apple Maps app because ‘we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.’
According to the company, the 100 million devices currently running iOS 6 have searched for nearly 500 million locations and Cook promised to ‘keep working non-stop’ until Maps reaches the ‘same incredibly high standard’ as the rest of Apple’s products.
In the meantime ‘you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app,’ wrote Cook.
