As we’ve seen day in & day out in the headlines, the Apple Maps that was released via iOS 6 was a big flop. In many cases, the maps were just wrong. Lauren and I went to Hilton Head last weekend for a wedding and were consistently frustrate with Apple Maps as we tried to navigate.
The poor quality of Apple Maps led to a media and community up roar. Countless blog posts were written about it. There was even a Tumblr blog about all of the app’s mistakes.
When you’re the user and you’re having a problem with a product, the worst feeling in the world is when it feels like the company who made the product is so out of touch that they don’t know that there’s a problem. That’s when the relationship between the user/customer & the company starts to disintegrate.
Well, I was really happy to see that Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a letter on their site saying that they realized that Apple Maps for iOS 6 was sub-par and that they were working as quickly to fix it. They even went as far as alerting people to their competitors, as possible alternatives while Apple Maps improves. He was saying to the Apple community, “I hear you. We screwed up.”
Apple’s not known for being a company that’s overly communicative or transparent. So, seeing this kind of olive brand extended is definitely a notable moment. I hope that we’ll see more.
It’s also a great object lesson in crisis communications for us all.
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 