By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit

iOS6 and iPhone 5

That article on The Street was the starting gun and all weekend I have been reading about what a disaster Maps is, how Apple is creaking at the seams and it is all Tim Cook's fault: all familiar themes and from familiar commentators, many following sheep-like what others have written before them. Steve Jobs has been dead for a year and Tim Cook has led the team from strength to strength despite the hundreds of articles about his supposed failure and the imminent decline of Apple. It isn't happening; and nor will a single problem (the maps) bring on a major collapse of Apple or its customer base.

The comments about something like that never making it past Steve Jobs desk is not at all true as Apple has released a lot of products in the past that were beta: Siri for example; or the original OS X. There have been others that needed improvement, like Mobile Me and Apple often works over several years to improve software while keeping the basic format: Mail, Safari, Aperture, iWork. Jean Louis Gassée on Monday Note, however, is another who has a unique insight into Apple and makes some useful comments starting with, "The ridicule that Apple has suffered following the introduction of the Maps application in iOS 6 is largely self-inflicted" but pooh-poohs the idea that Jobs would not have done the same, listing a number of products that did escape. He ends with a positive note: this is a strategic more and is as much about moving away from reliance on a competitor as anything else. Think Flash.

It is reported by AppleInsider that Cupertino is (belatedly perhaps) hiring developers to work on the Maps App, which suggests that maybe there was a late realisation -- or someone was reassuring the management right up till the last moment. However there may have been an earlier warning by Mike Dobson of Telematics who relates how he had earlier written about the coming of Apple's Maps. He also has a number of valuable observations about how the current weaknesses may be addressed, one of which is being covered by the hiring of personnel. A late item reported in several sources, including AppleInsider, claims that Apple is also hiring former Google staff who worked on their maps.

To put it in another context, Google Maps on the iPhone (and on the website) is not perfect either with one particular annoyance for me being wrong: several years after the roads had changed: both the map and satellite images were clearly wrong. As for those satellite images, both the current version and Google are working with one had tied behind their respective backs with government restrictions here. People are keen to point out the flaws in Apple's Maps app, but are not mentioning errors in Google Maps: tell a lie, a local user did send a Tweet on Sunday afternoon with exactly that message.

A quick comparison shows me that neither have the BTS extension marked and while Google has the BRT terminus, Apple Maps does not (reported). Neither has my condo while Google has the big massage parlour nearby which Apple does not, although the new app has a better collection of local businesses and services that pop up as we zoom out. Both depend on the information collected while the maps were being made.

Although I am getting by on maps I tend not to use them as a part of my day, but I know others do and these are more affected. MDN pointed out in comment to one of the many items commenting on Maps that there is a way to report so that Apple can improve the content. Why would Apple provide such a feature if not expecting users to report problems and confirm locations.

In the Thai version there are a lot of restaurants shown, so one wonders where the information came from; and while satellite images outside Bangkok are not all that good (they never were with Google Maps either), the roads are OK as far as I can see so far. The problem for me is the almost total use of Thai and it is not an easy language for most non-native speakers to read: most tourists will be totally lost.

There are alternatives according to Mel Martin on TUAW who has a number of suggestions.

Thai input on iOS has had much input and I am not sure it is to the benefit of users. There were early comments on the keyboard that has more keys which are consequently smaller. I updated a friend's iPhone and he was instantly negative about this. "Whoever came up with that?" was his first comment. One of my students was also unhappy with this new keyboard.

I can trump that I think. I was hunting round on the iPad at home later and while I had noticed a lot more Thai in the app store when helping my friend update, when I had a closer look at this on my own devices, I found that all the buttons are also Thai with no way to change to English format, despite all the settings on the iPad being set for English as the main language. This does not affect the App Store on the iPhone.

As a note, my Thai friend has poor English skills, but hates the Thai menus on OS X preferring to have English rather than switch to the now-available Thai localisation. He also made comments about the display of apps in the app store, many of which are now Thai.

Mercifully the App Store on the Mac (or iPhone) has not been hobbled in the same way and I tend to use that more, but I am unlikely to warm to the latest iOS output with no English option. I submitted feedback to Apple.

A touch of naughtiness or (at best) an oversight comes with the new spiffy clock app for the iPad which is a copy it seems of the clock trademarked by Swiss Federal Railways, MacRumors reports. It would be a good PR move for Apple to put their hands up to this, swear it was an accident and ask for a licence: quickly.

Another new feature with iOS 6 is Passbook, which I am still trying to figure out. We are told by AppleInsider that one of the companies that is coming on board is Starbucks, although I would expect that is in the US and not here.

Late News

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.