Left by the Side of the Road

Hard to miss a turn with Apple's Maps

Apple's new-product releases introduce technologies that become industry standards. Nearly as significant are the technologies that Apple stops supporting along the way. Apple was one of the first to discontinue built-in floppy disk drives, then optical drives, on its computers. Steve Jobs provoked a furor when he explained "why we do not allow [the widely used Adobe] Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads."

The iPhone 5, set to be released on September 21st, has at least two "left behind" features amidst all the cutting-edge hoopla. The iPhone 5 has a new connector that doesn't work with ancillary equipment built for the iPod, iPad, and old iPhone. Some Apple customers have to spend thousands of dollars upgrading or adapting their equipment.

Google Maps has more detail.

But the most criticism seems to have been reserved for the abandonment of Google Maps in favor of Apple's own Maps application.

The criticism poured in world-wide as users of the new maps found misplaced labels for businesses and landmarks, cities with missing roads and erroneous features like a fractured river in Ann Arbor, Mich. A search for the Golden Gate Bridge yielded a marker roughly four miles away in San Francisco.

Apple has a history of gauging just how much inconvenience its customers are willing to tolerate without jeopardizing sales of its latest offering. I suspect this controversy will blow over as well, especially as Apple Maps is improved in later versions of the operating system.

Note: Google Maps is far from perfect either. Yesterday a colleague had a meeting at NVIDIA headquarters in Santa Clara. He typed in the address, 2701 San Tomas Parkway, Santa Clara, and Google Maps sent him to a location north of Highway 101.

If he had just typed "NVIDIA," Google Maps would have steered him straight. He would have exited south from Hwy 101 and gotten to the meeting on time.

© 2012 Stephen Yuen