I have to say Apple and CEO Tim Cook have wussed out lately in their response to the Google Maps firestorm that erupted with the release of the iPhone 5.

I have used Apple Maps turn by turn, flyover features recently for a 200 km plus road trip and it was simply the best directional experience I have had bar none. FAR BETTER than Google Maps. 

The problem of course is that it is a new product and new products have problems. Frankly all products have issues and it is how you respond to those issues that determine how the marketplace is going to react.

Remember when the iPhone 4 was released and people started realizing that if you bridged the little gap in the external metal band with your hand while making a phone call you would dramatically lower the antenna reception? This is a serious flaw. In my mind far more serious than the maps issue because maps can be fixed with software upgrades but a physical design issue – much more expensive to fix.

Do you remember Steve Job’s response to the marketplace as they started whining (legitimately) about the problem. His response was a great big F__K YOU to the world. He said – “hold it differently and get over it…here take this cheap-ass case for free” and guess what – people held it differently, took their cheap-ass case and got over it.

He didn’t say “We’re sooooooo sorry for our inferior product, while we fix it go get an Android phone or a Windows Smart Phone” because that would have been idiocy and it would have inflated the already big firestorm that was in place in the market.

In the case of the maps issue Jobs probably would have said the same thing – “Yeah it’s missing some key components and has some bugs but when you release a new product designed to move the whole freaking world forward it’s going to have issues. Hang in there and keep using Apple Maps because it has a better vision and foundation than Google’s. Get over it. Here take a free song from iTunes.”

Apple PR and CEO Tim Cook need to go back and read Jobs’ playbook. They need to watch the tapes and remember that Jobs’ brilliance did not stop at vision – it extended significantly into PR and marketing and they have already forgotten what that looked like.

Sure they dropped the ball on the maps app but when they went to pick it up they didn’t have to stay bent over and take it they way they have.