Apple's Map Debacle is Why You Can Now Test iOS

In a lengthy interview following Apple's past down quarter, Apple CEO Tim Cook and SVPs Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi discuss how Apple handles obstacles and continues to improve.

One failure that Apple addressed is its launch of Maps, a debacle that saw the ousting of Scott Forstall.

"We needed to develop competencies that we initially didn’t appreciate," says Federighi. "Maps presents huge issues relating to data integration and data quality, things we would need to do on an ongoing basis."


"We made significant changes to all of our development processes because of it," says Cue, who now oversees Maps. "To all of us living in Cupertino, the maps for here were pretty darn good. Right? So [the problem] wasn’t obvious to us. We were never able to take it out to a large number of users to get that feedback. Now we do."

Notably, Apple decided to launch public betas of iOS because of Maps, something Jobs never liked to do.

"The reason you as a customer are going to be able to test iOS," Cue says, "is because of Maps."

Apple is still working to improve Maps and is in the process of rolling out transit directions for cities across the globe. There is still a long way to go and if the rumors about a self-driving car are true, Apple may rely on Maps far more than initially imagined.


You can read the full Fast Company story at the link below...

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