Tim Cook's Classy Apology for Apple's 'Maps'

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By: Doug Bedell

To us, Apple's Maps in iOS6 has an unfinished look, which isn't surprising when you're mapping the world turn by turn. Apple could have walked more in its customers' shoes before releasing what would prove to be, for now, an embarrassing iPhone 5 feature. But it didn't, so it's appropriate for Apple CEO Tim Cook to be issuing an apology for the Maps misstep.

Cook's apology to iPhone5 customers (issued on Friday) is discussed by Gregg Keizer in a Macworld post. It's always good PR to face up to a mistake that may irk your customers. (Maps is picked up, as well, by users of earlier iPhones who upgrade to iOS 6.) But it's better, of course, not to make a miscue in the first place. We wonder who at Apple was monitoring the progress of Maps and didn't recognize that it wasn't yet ready to launch. Didn't Tim Cook give it a few turns himself? There's another danger - of executives becoming too entranced by their own creations. An arms length relationship to new features is always advisable for top management. For now, though, it's classy for Cook to be suggesting alternatives to Apple's work-in-progress Maps - and to step customers through adding and Apple icon for the replacement they choose to their iPhone's home page.

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About the Author

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.

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