A couple of years ago, Apple announced that they would be launching a public beta for OS X. This was followed the next year with a public beta for iOS. Both these moves are a bit odd for Apple as the company has never really been one to share their inner workings with the public before.So why the change of heart? Turns out it was due to the Apple Maps fiasco from a few years ago that prompted the shift in strategy. According to a report from Fast Company, they quote Apple’s Eddy Cue as saying, “The reason you as a customer are going to be able to test iOS is because of Maps.”
According to Cue, “We made significant changes to all of our development processes because of it. To all of us living in Cupertino, the maps for here were pretty darn good. Right? So [the problem] wasn’t obvious to us. We were never able to take it out to a large number of users to get that feedback. Now we do.”
Apple Maps has indeed come a long way from the mess that it was back at the start, although safe to say that many a user’s confidence in the company has been shaken a little.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Maps, iOS and macOS.