"It’s not easy to go against the grain..." but you've got to do it to get attention.

I'm inclined to agree that iOS Maps wouldn't have got past Steve Jobs, because he was fanatical about the smallest details. Apple is, for Christ's sake, outsourcing its data collection! To a company that obliviously claims it is not responsible for the "user experience". Steve would have bought them, cut their throats or both.

The questions now are: Will Tim Cook mobilize the resources needed just to compete with Google in worldwide data acquisition? Can he inspire his Maps team to change the world? The latter is not Cook's forte. If he makes a competitive matrix, they're dead.