Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology for Apple's new Maps app today, stating that the company "fell short" of "the same incredibly high standard" its customers expect it to meet.
This isn't Apple's first apology and probably won't be its last, but it may be its most satisfying.
It's not hard to see why a consumer-electronics company wouldn't want to admit its mistakes too definitively; beyond the risk of class action suits, it can be bad for a company's reputation. Because, the fact is, apologies make for news. (Yes, we realize we're complicit in this.)
But historically, Apple's apologies (we came up with ten) have often left something to be desired. Coupled with the sometimes unreasonable expectations it encourages in its customers, Apple's understandable restraint in acknowledging problems might come off as smug or prevaricating. Still, what's more repellant than an insincere apology?
Here's our account of Apple's reluctant admissions that even Apple makes mistakes over the last five years, complete with background info and a bit of kindergarten-culture commentary.
Sorry You Paid So Much for Your iPhone. (Sept 2007)
This is actually Apple's first on-record public apology we could find. Two months after the original iPhone was released, it got a pretty major price-drop: $200 across the board. The 8GB iPhone went from $599 to $399. Understandably, anybody who'd bought the iPhone when it first launched (or, worse, the day before it got a price drop) felt cheated.
Did Apple give them their $200 back? iDon'tThinkSo. But it did offer them $100 in store credit. And Steve Jobs actually said "We apologize for disappointing some of you." And Apple's price drops since have been more predictable.Of course, Jobs' apology came after three lengthy paragraphs explaining why dropping the iPhone's price was the right decision - that a bigger user-base would be better for everyone with an iPhone, and that "if you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product."
And he was right about both those things. But he didn't acknowledge that what bothered folks was the capricious nature of the price-drop. There's a reason the rhythmic life cycle of iPhone models (and prices) is foreseeable these days.
Source: Apple
Sorry (And Sorry Again) MobileMe Is Broken. (July 2008)
The precursor to iCloud (and successor to .Mac) had a bumpy launch, with server problems, a broken webapp and other bugs. And because advertised MobileMe's cloud syncing as "push", users were disappointed to find that their computers would only sync every 15 minutes.
Apple's response in this case was refreshingly sincere: "we are going to stop using the word ‘push’ until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too. [And] we want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge."
Not bad! Of course, that apology came in an email...
Source: Wired
Sorry About Baby Shaker. (Apr 2009)
The same week the App Store saw its billionth download, Apple pulled an app that had users quiet a crying baby by, well, shaking their phones.
The app was discovered by a Shaken Baby Syndrome advocacy group, but by the time they'd organized a protest and alerted the media, Apple had already pulled the app and issued its biggest apology yet:
"This app is deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store. We sincerely apologize for this mistake."
But Patrick Donohue, founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, wasn't satisfied. Citing Apple's refusal to release its criteria for App Store gatekeeping, he said Apple's statement was "directed at the media to kill the story. This is the most cynical apology I have ever seen."
Source: Information Week
Sorry the iPhone 4 Is Our Hottest Phone Ever. (June 2010)
Check out Apple's bragpology after high pre-order demand for the iPhone 4 crashed its site:
"Yesterday Apple … took pre-orders for more than 600,000 iPhone 4s. It was the largest number of pre-orders Apple has ever taken in a single day and … many of our order and approval systems malfunctioned. Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again."
Source: Apple
Sorry You're Holding Your iPhone 4 Wrong. (July 2010)
Remember Antennagate, when just touching part of an iPhone 4's aluminum side might drop a call? Apple didn't apologize for this one at first, recommending that iPhone 4 owners "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases," and calling the problem "a fact of life for every wireless phone."
When people still insisted the issue was way worse on the iPhone 4 than any phone they'd ever used, Apple released a second statement, explaining that the "dramatic drop in bars" was caused by phones falsely displaying more bars than the signal strength called for. "The formula we [have used] to calculate how many bars … to display is totally wrong," Apple told the press, before explaining that the problem would be "fixed" by a software update that made the first three bars bigger and easier to see.
Apple did remind customers that they had 30 days to return their iPhone if they didn't like it, but the statement maintained that "the iPhone 4's wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped," and its guidelines for technical support staff still instructed, "We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON'T promise a free bumper to customers."
Source: Engadget, Apple, Gizmodo
Sorry Our Last Apology Sucked. (July 2010)
Thought Antennagate was over? So did Apple, but customers and the media had other plans.
While Apple never recalled the iPhone 4 or admitted to a design flaw, it did eventually offer some customers a free bumper case, and the phone's antenna design was eventually quietly revised to fix it.
Siri: "Sorry My Servers Are Down." (Nov 2011)
In early November last year, early adopter of the iPhone 4S experienced Siri outages. Her servers may have been down, but Siri still had the manners to say, "Sorry I am having trouble connecting to the network."
Sorry Siri's Pro-Life. (Dec 2011)
If you lived in New York and asked Siri for directions to the nearest abortion clinic, it would have told you last December that she couldn't find any. If you lived in DC, Siri would have taken you to an anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy center".
When Nancy Keenan of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League brought the issue to Apple's attention, Tim Cook responded personally:
"While [Siri] can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks."
Calling it a "glitch" isn't exactly an apology, but if that's all it was, maybe an apology wasn't warranted.
Source: Business Insider
Sorry the Galaxy Tab Isn't Cool Enough to Be an iPad Knockoff. (Coming Soon)
Back in July, Apple lost an infringement case against Samsung in the UK. In his ruling, Judge Birss said the Galaxy Tabs "are not as cool" as the iPad.
But he also ordered Apple to print a public apology to Samsung for accusing it of design theft. Apple has a stay on this order until the appeal is heard in October, so check back soon to find out just how awesome Apple's next apology is.
Source: Bloomberg
What do you want to see your favorite (or least favorite) electronics company apologize for? Let us know in the comments.
Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.
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