Apple manager Richard Williamson is rumored to have been fired by Apple after he oversaw what would eventually become Apple’s pathetic excuse for mapping software.
Released on the Apple iPhone 5 and via the iOS 6 software upgrade, Apple maps quickly became the punchline for travel jokes after it led users to the wrong areas, left off major roads, and offered distorted image views of common areas.
The Apple mapping problem became so severe that CEO Tim Cook apologized for the software and Apple ultimately offered users with several free mapping program solutions.
According to Bloomberg :
“Senior Vice President Eddy Cue (pictured above), said the people, who asked not to be named because the information wasn’t yet public. Cue, who took over last month as part of a management shakeup, is seeking advice from outside mapping-technology experts and prodding digital maps provider TomTom NV (TOM2) to fix landmark and navigation data it shares with Apple.”
In the meantime, Google has been working tirelessly to provide a more suitable mapping solution through its own software. Apple had one year left on its Google Maps contract. Had the company baked Google Maps into the iPhone 5, it could have bought time while fixing its own software issues.
Apple reps are not commenting on Cue’s decision to fire Williamson, instead noting that Apple Maps will continue to improve and move ever closer to a showdown with Google Maps.
According to reports, Cue will install a new leadership team at Apple Maps, seeking out former Google Maps employees as the company has been doing since the program was critically panned.
Apple has already improved satellite imagery over the UK but still has a long way to go in properly labeling streets, landmarks, and other bits and pieces of data.
Cue is consider a “fixer” at Apple. His last project, however, was to focus on MobileMe, a system for which he fixed login and other issues, but he ultimately watched as the program closed its doors in 2012.
Cue’s biggest accomplishment at Apple was heading up iTunes for which he secured record label, TV, and movie studio deals. Cue continues to negotiate video deals on behalf of Apple