00:03:09Teaser Questions
00:04:04Setting the Scene
00:05:05The Original Maps App
00:11:17The Apple-Google Relationship
00:23:30Apple Maps Launch
00:40:42Tim Cook's Apology
00:43:30Scott Forstall's Departure
00:54:04Wrap-Up
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Apple Maps launched alongside the original iPhone in 2007. Initially, it relied on map data from Google. But in 2012, when the two companies became smartphone rivals, Apple was forced to find an alternative data source.
Opting to build its own map platform in-house, Apple attempted to replicate a product Google had developed over many years in a matter of months. Unsurprisingly, the results were not perfect. Users around the world reported bad directions, missing landmarks, and bizarre visual glitches.
The fallout from the Apple Maps launch led to a rare apology from Tim Cook, and the departure of one of Apple’s most indispensable software engineers. But with the benefit of hindsight, the wisdom of Apple’s move into mapping has become clear. It enabled Apple to compete head-on with Android, and kickstarted Cupertino’s move into services.
MERCH STORE
Check out our merch store on Teepublic for retro-geek design t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and more:
https://www.teepublic.com/stores/apple-core-podcast
LINKS
The Verge report stating Apple’s deal with Google still had a year to run when Apple scrapped it:
https://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3407614/apple-over-a-year-left-on-google-maps-contract-google-maps-ios-app
Tim Cook’s apology letter (via the Internet Archive):
https://web.archive.org/web/20121001005112/http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/
New York Times article on the brawl between Apple and Google in 2010:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/technology/14brawl.html
Wall Street Journal report on Apple’s acquisition of C3 Technologies from Saab:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304543904577398502695522974
Cult of Mac on firing of Richard Williamson:
https://www.cultofmac.com/apple-history/apple-maps-launch-disaster
Scott Forstall tells the story of his interview with Steve Jobs at NeXT:
https://macdailynews.com/2020/05/22/scott-forstall-reveals-how-his-interview-with-steve-jobs-went/
Adam Lashinsky’s Inside Apple:
https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Apple-Americas-Admired-Secretive-Company/dp/1455512168/
English
United States
IN THIS EPISODE
SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
Are you the producer of this podcast?
Add a podcast transcript
Need Audio-to-Text?
Transcribe with Listen411 in Just 60 Seconds
OTHER EPISODES IN THIS PODCAST
The iPhone in your pocket, the Mac on your desk, and even the watch on your wrist are all based on NeXTSTEP, an operating system developed by a long forgotten computer maker called NeXT.
Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985, just months after his humiliating departure from Apple. Jobs was determined to …
Apple launched its first handheld computing device way back in 1993. With no internet access, flaky handwriting recognition, and an eye-watering price tag, the Newton MessagePad never stood much chance of success. But the writing was really on the wall with the arrival of the PalmPilot, a cheaper, …
When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, it surprised no one. Tech blog Gizmodo had already spilled the tea two months earlier by publishing photographs of a lost prototype. Jobs was furious, but he found a way to turn the situation to his advantage.
The design of the iPhone 4 set the …
Safari is one of Apple’s most enduring and popular apps, with versions running on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Vision Pro. But it wasn’t always the behemoth we know today.
When it launched in 2003, Safari faced fierce competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, a bruiser of a browser with over 9…
These days, Cupertino describes Apple Watch as “the ultimate device for a healthy life.” But it didn’t start out that way. When Tim Cook originally launched the product in 2014, he positioned it as an “intimate way to connect and communicate.”
Over its ten year history, Apple Watch has pivoted more…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
EDIT
Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date.
