So your ok with them taking away a better product for a crappy one simply because they know about it and are trying to fix it? Both of those points have been obvious to Apple for at least 6 months, when the beta came out.
Everyone knows the maps suck, the question is one of how one should conduct the damage control.
I personally don't see a problem with Tim Cook's PR message. It was short, on point, and didn't deflect much.
But that won't stop from the peanut gallery from taking cheap shots. Because when it comes to product launches, we're all suddenly PR experts.
I'm getting tired of this argument. Where was everyone when this was so completely obvious 6 months ago? The beta was released, people were using it, and I can't find any criticisms outside of "It's not perfect, but it's working great and looks fantastic". Where are the bug reports? Sure, it was an NDA product, but that didn't stop bloggers from publishing stories about it:
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/08/09/3d-map-wars-apple-vs...
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/why-apples-map-look...
http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/11/goodbye-to-google-maps-with...
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/ios-6-maps-app-challe...
http://gizmodo.com/5918176/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-a-side-...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57450354-37/apples-new-3d-...
http://www.cultofmac.com/183742/apples-3d-maps-in-ios-6-are-...
http://mashable.com/2012/06/11/apple-vs-google-maps/
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/06/...
http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/2012-06-12-apple-maps-alre...
Apple != public. Plus it was a beta, ppl are not going to go crazy complaining about a beta product because they expected it to be fixed. That is something only Apple would know.
That's not how it works. People complain about beta software all the time.
Case in point, Siri, after it's introduction.
Yes it's been obvious to Apple (and developers like myself since PR1), but the apology is not for making the decision, the apology is for not being honest with its customers about its current quality.
No, he is not OK. He is just able to understand the business reasons behind it and knows that this is not a user-complain forum.
"They made the Maps worse" is neither interesting, nor new. For one, everyone can see that. It's more important to see why they did it, if they could avoid it, and how they should fix it, than to complain about it.