苹果为地图太烂致歉,可换别家用

Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, has said he is "extremely sorry for the frustration" users have found with its new mapping service, adding that if they are dissatisfied they can use rival products.

苹果首席执行官蒂姆•库克表示，用户已经发现其新的地图服务的错误，他 “对此非常抱歉”，补充说如果他们不满意，可以使用竞争对手的产品。

The dramatic move by Cook follows growing complaints about the quality of the data offered by the new Maps app which was introduced with iOS 6, the newest version of the mobile software powering the iPhone and iPad.

这戏剧性的一幕发生在iOS 6系统的新地图应用提供的数据质量遭到不断抱怨之后，iOS 6是支持iPhone和iPad的移动软件新版本。

"We are doing everything we can to make Maps better," Cook wrote in a letter posted on Apple's site – a method frequently used by Cook's predecessor Steve Jobs to issue messages when Apple was facing criticism.

“我们将采取一切可能的举措，使地图服务变得更好，”，库克在苹果网上的致歉信中写道，——库克的前任史蒂夫•乔布斯经常使用的方法，即当苹果公司面临批评时他就发布信息。

Apple has apologised in the past for errors – though sometimes grudgingly.

苹果公司已经为过去的错误道歉 - 尽管有时并不情愿。

Cook says in the letter that "we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, [satellite view] Flyover and vector-based maps [which store data in a single file rather than needing repeated downloads to work]. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up."

库克在信中说：“我们希望向用户提供更好的地图服务，包括按方向导航、语音和俯瞰视图(Flyover)功能，并引入矢量地图数据。为了做到这一点，我们从头开始开发了新版地图服务。”

Although iOS 6 was only released formally on 19 September, Cook says there are now more than 100m devices using it with the new Apple Maps, "with more and more joining us every day." He said that users "have already searched for nearly half a billion locations" and that such feedback will improve the quality.

库克说，虽然iOS6在 9月19日才正式发布，但目前已有超过1亿部iOS设备使用新版苹果地图，每天还有更多用户加入。他说用户已经搜索了近5亿个位置。这种反馈将提高产品质量。

Unusually, Cook recommends that users who are dissatisfied with Apple's offering should try rival services. These include apps by MapQuest, Waze and Microsoft's Bing, or maps from Google and Nokia via web browsers.

不同寻常的是，库克建议对苹果公司产品不满意的用户应该尝试其竞争对手的服务。这些包括MapQuest、Waze和微软必应的地图应用，或来自谷歌和诺基亚网站上的地图服务。

However, Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, indicated earlier this week that the search giant is not presently developing an app for iOS.

然而，谷歌执行董事长埃里克•施密特表示，本周早些时候这家搜索巨头目前并没有开发一种适用于iOS的应用程序。

''What were we going to do, force (Apple) to include the software?" Schmidt said in Tokyo on Monday, adding that Google has no plans at present to complete its iOS Google Maps app and submit it to Apple. That decision lies with Apple, Schmidt said.

“我们应该做的难道是迫使苹果兼容我们的软件吗？”施密特周一在东京表示，他补充说谷歌目前没有计划完成其iOS的谷歌地图应用程序并把它交给苹果。这一决定取决于苹果。

''We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?" he added.

“我们认为如果苹果运用我们的软件这将会更好。但我知道什么？“他补充说。