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A few days back, Australian police issued a warning to citizens, to be wary of using the Apple Maps on their iDevices. This came about after drivers in the Australian Outback were misled by faulty data from the application that led them to the middle of a national park, some 70 Kilometres away from the their intended destination. The map misstep left the weary travelers exposed to the elements and without access to basic necessities, or more critically, access to a mobile networks to call for help for more than 24 hours.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Samsung’s communications team in Australia lost no time, in once again poking fun at the deficiencies of Apple’s home brewed navigation software.
Samsung installed “vehicles lost in the Outback” in highly visible public locations, next to signs that read:
“Oops, should have got a Samsung Galaxy S III.
Get Navigation you can trust.”
Apple’s Maps App has — to say the least — heavily disappointed both potential and loyal customers, since it was released in September this year. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has since issued a public apology, and fired a senior leader in charge of Apple Maps. Apple’s newly appointed SVP of Internet Software and Service, Eddy Cue, is reported to be actively driving improvements to Apple Maps.
Since Apple Map’s snafu Down Under hit the global press, Apple has updated its Maps data in Australia – but even this has received some criticism. Others comment that the faulty data may have been not entirely Apple’s fault.
iOS 6 users in Malaysia will note that the Apple Maps data is still rather disappointing. As users, do you actively contribute data to Apple Maps? Share your personal experiences with Apple Maps in the comments below.
