After 15 years, Tim Cook is leaving Apple - and this is an opportunity to show you the entrepreneurial spirit of this man:
Apple's navigation app was a complete failure - and then Apple decided to rebuild it from scratch 🗺 $AAPL 🍏
In 2012 - Apple Maps was so broken that Tim Cook had to issue a public apology to iPhone users - and even recommended they use competitors' apps. 📱
The senior executive responsible for the development refused to sign the apology - within a month he was no longer there. 👋
But what Apple did next explains why today's Apple Maps looks more like a Pixar movie than a regular navigation app. 🎬
Apple stopped relying on data acquisition from TomTom and decided to build its own database. 🔗
The company operated hundreds of cars and planes with LiDAR systems and eight-camera arrays; a Mac Pro was installed and bolted to the floor in each van. 🥶
Employees were sent to the streets with sensor backpacks on their backs,
Before the relaunch - Apple traveled more than 7 million km - to rebuild one product from scratch. 🍏
But the hardware is not the real story, the business incentives are the story.
The competing product - Google Maps is an advertising product - and according to analyst estimates, it generates more than $11 billion annually, mainly from sponsored pins and local advertising, with more than 200 million businesses appearing on the map. 📱
And this creates an inherent conflict of interest:
Every screen in Google Maps needs to balance helping the user reach their destination with exposing them to a business or advertisement that generates revenue for Google.
But Apple Maps works differently. 🗺
It does not try to generate direct revenue from the map - its role is simpler: to keep the user within Apple's ecosystem and prevent them from switching to another phone. 🤩
And this completely changes the priorities,
If the map's customer is the person holding an iPhone - Apple can invest every last pixel in trees, buildings, roads, ramps, and the small details that make the map more experiential, appealing, and clear. 🥇
Google sells the map,
Apple sells the phone.
Therefore, Google's navigation app can look like a cluttered billboard - while Apple's can look like a video game. 🎮