Apple Maps and the flaws with the application have led to $30 billion in lost revenue and could even cost CEO Tim Cook his job, insiders say.
Forbes notes that the flaws with Apple Maps and previously with the voice recognition software Siri “reveal some deep flaws with Tim Cook’s work as CEO.” Though Apple’s stock has risen 74 percent since he took over as CEO in August 2011, the company has taken a large hit since Apple Maps was debuted, The Guardian reported.
Forbers tech reporter Tim Cohen said it is not unusual for a a new product to be sold while it still had flaws, but the amount of problems with Apple Maps could show that the company is “rotting from the stem down.”
As Cohen wrote:
“Either Cook was not aware of the problems with Apple Maps — in which case he is showing that he does not care about the quality of the products that Apple makes. Or Cook knew about the flaws and decided to launch the iPhone 5 anyway. And if he did the latter, the messaging Cook used to describe the product set expectations that were far better than the reality. And one of the most basic principles of marketing anything is that it is far better to exceed diminished expectations than to fall short of exuberant ones.”
The blowback over The Apple Maps problems was so intense that Tim Cook even published an apology for the app, saying that the company “feel short” of making a “world class produce.” But as CNN op/ed writer Nilay Patel wrote, while the apology was nice, the problems with Apple Maps revealed deeper problems at Apple.
Patel wrote:
“Previous versions of the iPhone and iOS used Google Maps, which are the industry standard. No one was complaining about Google Maps. Sure, they’re not perfect, but we’re all used to their errors and gaps. But Apple broke its contract to use Google Maps a year earlier than expected because of corporate politics. Google is a competitor, and Apple wanted to break ties and control its own maps. That’s an extra year in which Apple could have improved its own maps — an extra year which was apparently sorely needed.”
Patel did note that Apple Maps have some features Google does not offer on Google Maps like built-in turn-by-turn directions, but the negatives of Apple’s flawed product still vastly outweigh the benefits.