Has Apple's iOS 'Jumped the Shark' with the Map Flap?

A speedbump not a crash

Jason Perlow: Apple blew it with iOS 6 Maps, but as I said before, this is a speedbump, not a crash and burn. The history of this industry is peppered with many examples of companies which have recovered and remained successful despite of some pretty bonehead mistakes. Some of which were even written off as irrelevant and were genuinely expected to fall off the edge of a precipice, let alone Shark Jumping.

I can think of another iconic technology company with very similar brand recognition that was considered a "dinosaur" or "behind the times" or even "arrogant" nearly 20 years ago, but is now the undisputed leader in enterprise technology services, hardware and software: IBM.

Did the company have to make some drastic changes in the mid-1990s to course correct? Sure.

By the same token, Apple isn't a small company that can easily be deterred from its mission of excellence by messing up a popular software feature in its mobile operating system. We're talking about a powerful institutional entity with well over 100 billion dollars in cash.

That alone cannot be disputed, and they can certainly hire talent and buy the assets it needs to provide the technologies its customers need. For human beings, money doesn't buy you happiness, but for a consumer electronics giant, it makes all the difference in the world. iOS will be given the attention it needs because Apple's resources are vast and it is a company with a history of industry disruption.

The end of iOS?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Put this all together and does it add up to the end of iOS? No. Not even close. It may, however, be the beginning of the end.

Apple has developed a remarkable reputation for software that just works and is well-designed, downright beautiful hardware. They've earned it, but that doesn't mean that if they continue to produce sloppy software that they can't lose their brand's value.

I also wonder just how long Apple will keep its fans love if it continues to play games with their hardware. Take, for example, the iPhone 5's new, and totally incompatible with older iDevice Lighting interface. It's patented by Apple, costs $29 for adapter, and doesn't really add any functionality. It just makes all your iDevice accessories—rechargers, clock radios, FM players, etc.--obsolete. ()

Thanks to its years of greatness, Apple is still beloved by its fans... today. Tomorrow, if Apple continues to deliver inferior software and high-priced hardware that doesn't add any value, it will be another story.

Steve Jobs has permanently left the building, and it's beginning to look like Tim Cook is not up to the job of maintaining Apple's brand.