“Apple Maps,” the new replacement app for Google Maps failed dismally after the company cut ties with Google.

Apple’s new operating system is now available for purchase and despite the many features it offers to faithful, casual and long-term Apple users, the smartphone contains one huge flaw. The upgrade to iOS6 eliminated Google’s Mapping application, the default map app for the iPhone and iPad.
Not only did Apple attempt to cut ties with the largest, most reliable and widely used mapping tool known to humankind, it also failed miserably with its replacement application.
‘Hooray, I have the newest version of Apple’s operating system on my iPhone: iOS6, but now I am lost. I am lost because Apple took away my long time default ‘go to’ mapping application: Google Maps and they replaced it with their own version of maps, which leads me literally in the wrong direction,’ said this reporter along with thousands of other consumers.
Apple’s forced alternative to Google Maps is not even close to the quality of Google’s Maps in many ways.
Users have experienced multiple issues since the new Maps made its debut on iOS6. The app has been said to miscalculate locations of entire cities, businesses, streets and towns and display a melting wavy effect on many of the streets in satellite view. Many have compared Apple’s maps to Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory painting.
Blogs, news sources, forums and social networks have been buzzing over the past weeks about this inferior “upgraded” mapping application.
Christina Bonnington, a writer for Wired, calls this new app a “Mapocolypse.”
Huffington Post calls the new map app a “debacle.”
And @jsjohnst tweeted it best: “Doing LSD was one of the most important things I’ve done in my life.” –Steve Jobs
Before we agreed with all these people (there were many more), The Beacon staff decided to investigate how Apple’s new map app compared to Google.
When we opened Maps for the first time, we decided to lookup the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. When we found the pin we dropped it on the Brooklyn Bridge location, I was shocked to see the Brooklyn Bridge collapsed and cars driving off the edge into a hole in the ground.
TomTom, the leading manufacturer of automotive navigation systems in Europe, is a major contributor for all the information Apple used to create this digitized wonky version of navigation. However, they maintain the fact they had no part in the actual creation of the app.
“There is a difference between a map and an app. We don’t develop the app. We license the map data, which is like a foundation. The customer can build on top of that, but we license the same mapping data to all our customers,” said TomTom media manager Cem Cohen.
If an alien were to look at this application before visiting our planet, they would think our world was in chaos (without the smoke and fire of course), I bet this was not in the data Apple received from TomTom.
“We don’t know what is causing the issues (on the Apple maps) but from our perspective the quality of our data is great and we stand behind it,” said Caroline Fisher, vice-president of TomTom’s consumer business unit.
TomTom insists they will continue to work with Apple and give them support to work out there mapping issues.
“We are more than willing to work with Apple to help fix any problems, as we would with any of our customers,” said Fisher.
TomTom is known mainly in the US for its line of small navigation systems that can be placed on dashboards inside cars.
Apple stands committed to fixing the problems associated with their mapping service.
“We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it,” an Apple spokeswoman said, according to Mashable.
Getting started with what? How can I possibly worry about “getting started with” a form of navigation on my phone that does not work? It seems to The Beacon that Apple was a little unprepared.
There has also been a blog set up solely dedicated to listing all the problems people have with the new Apple software. The blog is called The Amazing iOS6 Maps blog and can be found at: theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/.
People can submit their own issues for review, The Amazing iOS6 blog collects them and distributes them across the Internet.
All of this negative publicity is still publicity for Apple. Apple will continue to still have these faithful, casual and long term users. This map app dud can be hopefully be remembered as just a hiccup in Apple’s past in the future.
We are sure there are many software updates to come to Apple’s iOS6.  These updates will no doubt build on the feedback Apple has been getting bombarded with across the world. Although, Apple still may never be on par or surpass what Google has been building withitsmapping app since 2005. Google Maps is here to stay. Apple Maps still needs to prove itself.