In a new wide ranging interview, Apple’s senior VP of internet software and services, Eddy Cue, revealed how the company fixed a lot of mistakes it made with the launch of Apple Maps in 2012 by utilizing data from the hundreds of millions of iPhones around the globe.
Cue and Apple software chief Craig Federighi sat down to talk about the troubles with Apple Maps, the difference between working for Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, Apple’s competition with Facebook and Amazon and learning from failure.
During the FastCo interview, Eddy Cue admitted that the Apple Maps fiasco in 2012 was an embarrassment, only instead of giving up on mapping, the company’s leadership decided to triple down and think of the data problems in a new way.
“We’re trying to use the iPhone itself, and the data it’s giving us,” Cue explained. “Let me give you a good example: a golf course. How do we know when a new golf course opens up? We’re not exactly driving around looking for golf courses. But we know it’s there, because there are all these golf apps that get used at a golf course. If we see that all these golf apps are being used at a particular location, and we don’t show that as a golf course, we probably have a problem. You can discover that pretty quickly. It’s not as if you need a year, or anything like that.”
Apple Maps now has a team of thousands who continuously refine the product that Cue says will never be totally complete because new roads are always being built, businesses close shop, old bridges get torn down and the world keeps on spinning.
“While Maps isn’t a revenue-producing product itself, it’s a platform, said Craig Federighi. “It’s certainly an important feature in terms of the convenience it provides you, but Maps is a platform on which so many of our developers build. If you think about mobility in general, Maps is a core organizing structure for the physical world in which you interact.”
The duo also discussed problems Maps could solve in the future, like helping you keep track of your favorite restaurants, or maybe even suggesting restaurants based on your preferences. They also talked about what their relationship was like with Steve Jobs and how its different under Tim Cook.
“They’re both extremely demanding. Their approach is completely different,” said Cue. “I never wanted to disappoint Steve. I never want to disappoint Tim. And I have that with, like, my dad. I was here with [former Apple CEO Michael] Spindler and those guys, and I didn’t have it with them. That’s a quality that makes them unique. Now, their approach is very different. Steve was in your face screaming, and Tim is more quiet, more cerebral in his approach. But you have the same feeling. And when you disappoint Tim, even though he isn’t screaming at you, you get the same thing.”
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
5 responses to “Apple exec reveals how your iPhone data is used to improve Maps”
Unfortunately in some cases, you have to tell everybody that is listing a Golf Course or Park has been abandoned and tell drivers it’s been gone for over a decade. In my area, we had a park that has been abandoned for 16 years and yet Google Maps and Apple Maps never knew it was abandoned and turned into houses until I told them it was abandoned, and they deleted the place. However it is still listed on many websites as existing even though it’s now a housing complex.
I’m glad to hear that “almost perfection” is still required when working with Tim. I never believed in shouting at the guys working for me, but I ask them to give me their 100%.. if not, well we have a talk.
The Apple Maps scandal of a couple years ago is why we have the Public Betas now, I saw. Good idea. Should have been done from the start, IMO!
We Swedes will probably never forget when Apple placed The Baltic Sea outside Norway – on the wrong side of Sweden :-)
reported this once a week for a long time….
Doesn’t always work though. Some places that are on Apple Maps have been abandoned a while ago. I pointed out a park a few days ago that has been closed for over 16 years, yet they included it on Google Maps and Apple Maps until I told them it was gone.