Apple Maps
Now you probably have heard by now just how bad the new Apple maps are. I some cases they literally tell the user that the place to which they want to go is in the ocean. Yeah real helpful there Apple. So what do they do to correct this "epic failure"? Cook's official statement is this "While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app." Basically what this boils down to is that you should do something about it, not Apple but you the costumer who bought the product. Sure Apple has come up with a few great inventions, but is that grounds enough for them to produce something so mediocre? They are releasing products as the full version when they are just in the beta form. This is the same as Siri, although they did at least call that Siri beta to let everyone know that it was not a finished product. However, people still buy all of apples knew things no matter how much it is flawed. Is apple really to blame though? As the consumer we have a responsibility to make sure that we want to buy something before we buy it. Apple even states "APPLE MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS DOCUMENT, ITS QUALITY, ACCURACY, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. AS A RESULT, THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS", AND YOU ARE ASSUMING THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO ITS QUALITY AND ACCURACY." This is exactly what Helen Nissenbaum talks about in her article Computing and Accountability. This is an example of ownership without liability, one of the four barriers to accountability. In this case, it is my personal belief that apple should own up and correct their mistake. They are one of the top tech companies and they need to show why they are. They should be paving the way so that other companies will follow, not slack off and do the bare minimum. Sure they might lose some money, but it's not like they can't afford it. I'm sure that Apple will release a version of maps that does work and do a good job at it, but I think that the process of how they got there deserves a look at too. Sure this app probably didn't cause anyone direct harm, but it could have if someone followed it blindly and it suddenly freaked out on them while they were driving at a high speed. Who knows how it might have hurt someone because Apple was careless.
