Apple has updated their App Store with a new button, with the phrase “Find Maps for you iPhone.” This new button send users to a list of map apps such as; MotionX GPS, Waze, MapQuest, GPS by TeleNav, Scout, Garmin, Bing and more. This addition to the App Store is obviously a follow up to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s recent open letter to iOS customers, in which he sincerely apologizes for the disappointing Apple Maps app since launching iOS 6 over a week and half ago.
This must be a hard thing for Apple, as a group and those dedicated employees, who’ve been working on the Maps app for some time. While Apple has had to make apologies before, this is perhaps the first time that the company has released a product that has failed so miserably. It begs the question, would Steve Jobs allowed Apple to release Maps for iOS 6 in its current shape, or would he have with drawn the feature until it was “perfect.”
Either way, if you’re not satisfied with Apple’s current offering, you can visit the App store on your phone and click on the button (which looks like the one above) and check out a few alternatives until Apple launches Maps 2.0. For me, I’ll have an alternative map app stuck in a folder on one of my screen (for things Apple’s maps can’t find), but I’ll continue to use Apple’s maps, as it has worked pretty well for me so far and if for nothing else, to submit feedback, so that I can help them improve their service.