Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Mobile

    Apple Finally Acquires the Mapping Knowledge It Urgently Needs

    By
    Wayne Rash
    -
    July 21, 2013
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Very few events illustrate Apple’s outlook on the world more clearly than the failure of its Apple Maps, which enraged iPhone and iPad users around the world with the release of iOS 6.

      Under Steve Jobs, Apple’s view of the world was that the company defined cool and excellence. As Jobs indicated time after time, if a product wasn’t from Apple, then it didn’t have either.

      It was this extreme level of hubris that helped convince managers at Apple that the company could summarily dispose of Google, which had been providing mapping services for Apple, and simply strike out on its own. Apple did this, of course, because the company was outraged that Google had developed Android and, worse, Android was selling well. Jobs, in his rage, declared that he could wage “thermonuclear war” on Google.

      Apparently Apple was using its own mapping software when it went looking for Google, because all it accomplished was to find its own foot before it promptly shot off a couple of toes. As I pointed out about a year ago, Apple Maps was good for a few laughs, but not for actual navigation. Since then, Apple has updated the mapping app with some fixes, such as replacing the Washington Monument to its rightful location, but most of the problems remain unfixed.

      Fortunately for Apple’s customers, Steve Jobs was no longer with us, and the new CEO, Tim Cook, not only realized there was a problem, but he admitted it to Apple’s customers, and took steps to rectify it as quickly as possible by, among other actions, recommending that Apple users go back to Google, or even to Microsoft Bing.

      Had Apple realized its limitations at the beginning of the process, it might have decided to stay with Google, which at least had a clue, or taken more time to deliver its own mapping app that actually worked properly. But in those days Apple’s arrogance was at its height, and Jobs would have never allowed such a show of weakness.

      Fortunately, Apple has finally figured out that mapping is really hard, and it has bought the Canadian mapping firm Locationary for its necessary expertise. In an interview, Locationary CEO Grant Ritchie pointed out specifically what Apple needed to do to fix its mapping product. Clearly, Apple has decided to take Ritchie at his word.

      Maybe in another year or so, Apple will finally fix its own mapping app so that it’s useful enough that people can count on it to get them to the airport. Or to the Washington Monument.

      Apple Finally Acquires the Mapping Knowledge It Urgently Needs

      But Apple didn’t need to do this and it didn’t need to keep a good map application out of the hands of users. For example, Apple could have simply stayed with Google’s mapping which it already knew worked because that’s what Apple had been using for the first versions of iOS.

      Or, if Apple had wanted good mapping capabilities, it could have gone with the experts and signed up to use Navteq’s maps. Navteq is the provider of maps for aircraft and marine navigation, as well as most of the dedicated GPS products used by consumers.

      But there’s a problem. Navteq is owned by another rival, Nokia. There’s no chance that Apple could admit when its mapping app was being planned that a company that it was trying to beat in the marketplace might know more about something than Apple, the coolest of them all.

      So as a result, Apple failed. What followed made for a lot of fun location browsing as the Internet filled with the results of Apple’s mistakes, some funny and some not so funny. Fortunately for Apple, its stockholders and its customers, Apple’s new CEO scores a lot lower on the hubris meter. Rather than posturing, Cook went about fixing.

      Not surprisingly, it wasn’t all that long before Cook and others realized that figuring out mapping on their own was much more difficult than they’d realized. This time they went looking and found a small startup that actually knows maps. The marriage with Locationary was consummated. Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

      There are many who bemoan the untimely passing of Steve Jobs. But in the long run it’s probably the best thing that could happen to Apple, and the mapping debacle along with the efforts to fix it is only one illustration. The difference is that now Apple is being run by grown-ups, and it’s no longer the fiefdom of a single person who rages about nuclear war and tries to use any tool at hand–legal or not–to eliminate rivals.

      Cook may not be the charismatic leader that Jobs was, but even Apple needs to reach the point where it’s being run like a company rather than a cult. What’s perhaps less obvious by those who loved Apple as a cult is that the company will weather the storms of globalization much better under Cook’s guidance.

      While there are some who will point to Apple’s shrinking market share and point to Cook, they should be pointing to the fact that Apple is still a major player, and thanking Cook. Now, at least, there is a much better chance that Apple users will get the mapping software Apple should have delivered many months ago.

      Wayne Rash
      https://www.eweek.com/author/wayne-rash/
      Wayne Rash is a freelance writer and editor with a 35-year history covering technology. He’s a frequent speaker on business, technology issues and enterprise computing. He is the author of five books, including his most recent, "Politics on the Nets." Rash is a former Executive Editor of eWEEK and a former analyst in the eWEEK Test Center. He was also an analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center and editor of InternetWeek. He's a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems and a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×