[Macworld]

Post your comments for The Macalope Weekly: Spin city here

[jdb8167]

"Apple could have and should have done better. The company should own that. But while Google may enjoy playing the hero, it isn’t one. It helped make this problem, too."

How reasonable and BOOORING!

There can be only one.... Maps app on iOS. Apple has to take this to the next level to win ... With swords!

For the record, I downloaded the Google Maps app but I may decide not to use it. I doubt I'm unique in that. Get that pundits? Free downloads don't automatically translate to exclusive usage.

[xStep]

"Google’s own map application hit the App Store this week, just in time for Leonard Kraposki of Terre Haute, Indiana, to stop driving around in a circle, as he’s been doing for the last two and a half months (hybrid)."

LOL! Literally, the new Google Maps mapped a circle around a block to get across an intersection to the address of interest.
https://twitter.com/...389078041006080

[ingus]

Aren't we all on the same team? The Macalope bashing Evans for bashing Apple? The Mayan Apocalypse is next week. Should I be worried? Or is this just a locker room brawl?

[leicaman]

"The company should own that."

In fact they did. And they fired the bozo (Job's favorite word) who refused to sign the letter of apology. That's the connotation, if not the denotation, of owning that.

[liqardliquer]

I'm quite happy with the Apple Maps app. For me here in Central California it has worked perfectly for me and the wife. Every Time! After finding out about the junk info given to the maps program in Australia I can understand about the junk out in the Aussie maps. Oui Mate. Or is it Oui Vey?
I do only use the app for getting somewhere and don't use it for entertainment... So the wierd looks I've seen in the complaint department haven't actualized to me on my iPhone nor iPad.
For me my Apple technology is for going to the hoop and scoring, the naysayers aren't for scoring, they are for blocking the goal. They have their eyes not on the hoop but on the ball.

[Jimbotomy5cxd]

Actually, I agree with Schmidt and think his iOS/Android as Mac/Windows analogy is apt. I mean, let's look at what happened. Windows commoditized across a broad range of hardware it didn't control. Those hardware vendors raced to the bottom, creating netbooks and other cheap machines that the gadget reviewers praised for their specs but weren't actually that usable by real people. Microsoft as a company stagnated. In the mean time, the Mac carved out the only profitable segment in the PC business and Apple is the only PC maker making serious money off of computers, despite it being in the minority market share wise.

Android/iOS may well be treading down the same path, but I wonder who Google would rather be right now: Microsoft, or Apple?

[jdhayes117]

The problem isn't Apple Maps. The application is great, I use it all the time. It is the underlying database for which Apple has contracted that is the problem. Apple trusted TomTom who apparently told them that someone had actually used the data and confirmed it was accurate (wink, wink). Perhaps Apple should have questioned why they were getting such a good deal on data from a guy in a raincoat in an ally in Amsterdam. I suspect that TomTom is pretty embarrassed (justifiably so) and Tim Cook has probably negotiated a very large discount for all of the embarrassment and bad press that Apple has suffered because of their (TomTom's) failure.

On a totally unrelated note, isn't the Macalope the list bit embarrassed that Ghostery finds 11 trackers to block (ChartBeat, DoubleClick, Facebook Connect, Gigya Socialize, google +1, giggle adnonsense, giggle analytics, Linked In Widgets, Omniture, Twitter Button, and VigLink) associated with his page? What about the privacy of the 'Lopes loyal readers. And I thought giggle was bad...

By the way, which one do I have to unblock to be able to log in to my Macworld account? (Serious question...)

[Hologram]

Gee, who wouldn't feel like an "annus horribilis" after two BFF's with whom one shared one's most intimate secrets turned and stabbed one in the back. Especially when it turns out that one ex-BFF, with the tacit cooperation of the other ex-BFF, has been abusing children all along.

[Hologram]

Quote

The problem isn't Apple Maps. The application is great, I use it all the time. It is the underlying database for which Apple has contracted that is the problem. Apple trusted TomTom who apparently told them that someone had actually used the data and confirmed it was accurate (wink, wink). Perhaps Apple should have questioned why they were getting such a good deal on data from a guy in a raincoat in an ally in Amsterdam. I suspect that TomTom is pretty embarrassed (justifiably so) and Tim Cook has probably negotiated a very large discount for all of the embarrassment and bad press that Apple has suffered because of their (TomTom's) failure. ....

Assuming TomTom has been using the same data for its own device dependent and iOS application in the past, where was the uproar prior to the data's integration into iOS 6?

Could it be that NOBODY cared where Mildura was located, and therefore didn't need directions to it before Apple made it a household name?

[LynnRCarter]

"So, let’s get this straight: Apple wanted vector-based images and turn-by-turn navigation, but Google wouldn’t add them without getting more user data, which Apple wouldn’t go for.

You can’t swing a Lightning cable without hitting someone with an opinion about who won this. Not that the Macalope advocates whipping people with opinions about the tech industry with Lightning cables.

Well, OK, some of them. Just a little. But not these guys."

I love your stuff! Thanks!

I've been very happy with the Apple map app every time I've used it. Now I have a *free* backup incase the Apple app lets me down.

I hate unrequested ads that takes away from the already limited screen space of my mobile devices. I've paid subscription fees and have paid higher prices for products in order to avoid them. (I mourn MacInsider's passing.)

The Apple walled garden seems to minimize ads at the system level and in their apps and I really value this!

[rukka]

Well, that was dull.

[tomit50]

Quote

Aren't we all on the same team? The Macalope bashing Evans for bashing Apple? The Mayan Apocalypse is next week. Should I be worried? Or is this just a locker room brawl?

Actually, we are not on the same team. In fact, we are not on any team. I think that the "team" mindset is the leading cause of the nonsense we are constantly exposed to vis-a-vis Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft, etc. We are not talking about cheering for a national team due to national pride, nor any geographically identifiable team due to where we live or are from, nor a school or organization team because of identifying with a school or group. Instead, we are talking about companies that produce consumer goods. If we like their products then we may obtain them. If we don't, then we probably shouldn't unless we have no other choice. But to have unquestioned allegiance for one company over others is just plain silly. As a consumer of computer products, I have favored Microsoft software from PC DOS / MS-DOS 3.x through Windows XP (with a detour to DR DOS). On the hardware side, I favored IBM PS/2 to Compaq to HP. For the last five years, I have favored Apple and OS X and iOS. If something better for me comes along, I will consider changing again. But the food fights over these companies and their products are just plain silly.

However, it does not mean that the silliness should not be called out. For me, the Macalope serves that purpose in a very entertaining and humorous way. Too many people read whatever is written about this product area and assume that what is written is true or accurate. Or, even worse, like Fox News vs. MSNBC, they find the information sources that reinforce their biases and blindly accept the message whether it is accurate or not. Having a FactCheck / Macalope is a pleasant way to try to get to the facts and identify writers that don't deserve our trust or time.

[dannyo152]

Quote

Actually, I agree with Schmidt and think his iOS/Android as Mac/Windows analogy is apt. I mean, let's look at what happened. Windows commoditized across a broad range of hardware it didn't control...

Windows did have control over manufacturers, indeed that was a central claim in the government's anti-trust. Microsoft folded on the issue before it got to trial, partly in hopes to avoid the 1999 trial.

But Windows dominance over, or defeat of Apple in the mid-90s was always a maintenance or extension of an already superior position. Windows' share built on DOS's share which built on the IBM's PC being the "safe" and virtually only choice for businesses back in the early 1980s. Apple started out behind and never did better in any year than 20% market share and that was the first year. Or, put another way, developers were already committed to writing software for Microsoft's platform, and it was up to Apple to get the customers and prove to developers that they had a credible alternative. As we know, in education and graphics design, Apple did come from behind and get dominance within the sectors, but that's about it.

Besides, what is Schmidt's point? Apple isn't interested in using Android and iOS isn't available to Google's target manufacturing customers. One may look at the situation and say Schmidt is strangely proud at how much money Samsung makes, but at some point, he does have to be concerned with his revenues. If it all works out for Google, including the share of their revenue deriving from apps on iOS, then, isn't everyone winning? Wouldn't we rather have that than Highlander-land, which was the desktop about '00: mediocre work tools because Microsoft transitioned from "Where do you want to go?" to "How may we lock you in?"

I have a side note for my favorite antlered tech-writer, The Macalope. What do you have against Laertes? Took the money from bloviating Dad and got out of Dodgsinore. Came back to find that golden boy in black offed Papa and mind-gamed sister who dove thrice and came up twice. Unlike Prince Indecision, went after his father's killer at first opportunity in the graveyard, but showed restraint in deferring his satisfaction until there was a formal structure. Laertes took the king's double-winning foil, unbated and poisoned, but didn't know of the other over-planned elements. Maybe if one sets up three banes for one person, the risks of collateral damage increase, hmm? Or maybe that doesn't come up in King school or, perhaps, Claudius was too busy with Jealous Brother lessons to prepare properly for that throne. Nonetheless, wasn't Laertes doing the right thing in the context of the play's value system? Talk about collateral damage. I imagine a fictional character walking the halls of English literature asking "Where's my play, Mr. Stoppard? Where's my play?"