News - Apple iPhone 5 launch day, but maps app grabs the headlines

[HEXUS]

Queues outside Apple Stores are unaffected.

Read more.

[Terbinator]

The *sheep* outside Apple stores are unaffected.

[watercooled]

People have been camping outside stores for days.

Just...seriously?

[Jonj1611]

I have an iphone 4s and the mapping in iOS6 truly is rubbish, bet Google are laughing their asses off.

[csgohan4]

I have an iphone 4s and the mapping in iOS6 truly is rubbish, bet Google are laughing their asses off.

What a joke, if it aint broke why fix it. Google are going to charge us all a fortune to use what was free to use previously, Shocking from Apple. They take boxed in to new levels. Apple has lost my respect and I am considering cancelling my order now

[Ferral]

Looking at those screen shots on the bottom between Google & Apple. Wouldn't it be REALLY fun if Google were to sue Apple for copyright / patent / whatever on the design of Apples Mapping. Apple have copied the interface bar the 2 buttons on the bottom of Google Maps.

[ksdp37]

Don't have to worry about Google Maps on my android

[Hicks12]

I really dont know how people could camp outside a shop for days, id need to use the bathroom during that time! If we are going via a UK queuing system then they must lose their place in line alot haha.

Youd have to pay me a £million at least to get me to camp outside a silly retail store for a phone . And yes its clear that Apple is in the decline due to making silly errors like this, if it aint broke etc etc.Google should say no and block iphone users that way there will be another +1 for android ha.

[b0redom]

I was working for a company doing the map thing in the late 90s. The problem is that unless you have REALLY clean data feeds it becomes useless very quickly. It seems like Apple need to either use the same feeds Google do or partner with someone else who has good, complete, clean data feeds.

The cloud thing is pretty unforgivable too really!

[crossy]

People have been camping outside stores for days. Just...seriously?

My attitude too - I'd queue for food/water - but for a piece of tech/game/etc? Not a chance!

There is a blog featuring the ‘funniest’ Apple Maps errors worldwide called The Amazing iOS 6 Maps, it is well worth a coffee break browse.

Oh great advice there! Good thing we're not in the States or else there'd be a class action suit for coffee-blown-down-noses, coffee spray on keyboards/monitors/etc.
(joking)

I like the Austrian one posted on the 21st - they managed to lose the town and name all the surrounding streets with the town's name.

Reading some of the comments on the BBC site and a lot of what's there sounds like "version 1" troubles. In which case I'd assume that Apple's going to issue an update very quickly - for PR purposes if nothing else. That said, I can find boneheaded mistakes in Google Maps, CoPilot, etc - so this isn't a uniquely Apple problem.

Although the "pride comes before a fall" aspect is very amusing.

[ionicle]

The turn by turn directions are brilliant, ...nobody has mentioned these?!
Te maps are good in my part of britain, better than google's for me....
And besides this is apple maps 1.0 compared with google maps 6.0
Apple is 6 years behind, but they will catch up, and when they do, ....google wont be laughing anymore, they'll be the ones running, trying to catch up, and loosing money

[scaryjim]

Looking at those screen shots on the bottom between Google & Apple. Wouldn't it be REALLY fun if Google were to sue Apple for copyright / patent / whatever on the design of Apples Mapping. Apple have copied the interface bar the 2 buttons on the bottom of Google Maps.

Are you sure that's not just the old iOS 5 mapping program? It was (AFAIK) still an Apple app, but it used Google mapping data as the backing, rather than the huge kludge of data sources that the new one is having to draw on since the split with Google.

[spraint]

What a joke, if it aint broke why fix it. Google are going to charge us all a fortune to use what was free to use previously, Shocking from Apple. They take boxed in to new levels. Apple has lost my respect and I am considering cancelling my order now

It was broken. Google wasn't going to supply Apple with any more than it already had. Features were lagging far behind the Android version and the the patent wars weren't exactly conducive to closer cooperation between the two. Either you stuck with a fossilised app or you struck out on your own, which is what Apple was more or less forced to do.

[crossy]

And besides this is apple maps 1.0 compared with google maps 6.0
Apple is 6 years behind, but they will catch up, and when they do, ....google wont be laughing anymore, they'll be the ones running, trying to catch up, and loosing money

Erm, and what makes you think that Google's just going to sit there any LET Apple "catch up"? I don't see them "loosing money" over this.

I'll also politely remind you that the "early version" excuse was used by Android fans (seeking to justify the - ahem - "unfinished" nature of pre-GB versions), and decried as "invalid" by their Apple counterparts.

It's funny () because Apple themselves were claiming all kinds of greatness for their first Maps app, ("It'll be best in class" etc), and now it's obvious that it's just as flawed as others in a similar situation. As I said in my post above, these are "version 1" troubles and it WILL get better.

Fact remains ... the first version of ANY software has a squillion bugs/broken-features that'll get fixed over time.

[csgohan4]

The turn by turn directions are brilliant, ...nobody has mentioned these?!
Te maps are good in my part of britain, better than google's for me....
And besides this is apple maps 1.0 compared with google maps 6.0
Apple is 6 years behind, but they will catch up, and when they do, ....google wont be laughing anymore, they'll be the ones running, trying to catch up, and loosing money

But I don't want to wait another 5 years for them to get it right when you paid £600 for a completed phone

[Biscuit]

The turn by turn directions are brilliant, ...nobody has mentioned these?!
Te maps are good in my part of britain, better than google's for me....
And besides this is apple maps 1.0 compared with google maps 6.0
Apple is 6 years behind, but they will catch up, and when they do, ....google wont be laughing anymore, they'll be the ones running, trying to catch up, and loosing money

But androids have been brilliant for years and they have got consistently better. I have reported faults on the google maps and they have been fixed a day or two later. Google are the leaders in this area at the moment and from looking at the evidence available, they have a huge head start so plenty of give to keep themselves ahead.
Im actually dissapointed the iOS maps are not very good because some competition means Google have to work harder to maintain supremacy.