Tim Cooks apology the good bad amp ugly

Apple screwed up, and admitted it. Here are some of the highlights--and lowlights--of Tim Cook's 'We fell short' letter.

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http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/tim-cook-apple-maps-apology.html

Tim Cook's Apology: the Good, Bad & Ugly

Eric Markowitz | Inc.com staff

Sep 28, 2012

Apple screwed up, and admitted it Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of Tim Cook's 'We fell short' letter

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Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple's developers conference in San Francisco earlier this year

Companies are composed of people, and people make mistakes It's a simple syllogism, but it's often easy to forget: companies even Apple, the world's largest can totally screw up, too

Of course, that's what happened when Apple launched the newest iteration of its Maps app, and faced

an avalanche of disastrous reviews and negative attention

But Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, chose not to sweep the negative press under the rug Instead, he

confronted it, and issued an apology That's certainly a good move, one all company leaders can learn from

Around this time last year, when Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, attempted to introduce "Qwikster,"

a Netflix spin-off that would, essentially, just cost more money for customers, he addressed complaints, abandoned the effort, and he, too, issued an apology "I messed up," he wrote

Cook's "We fell short" letter is a good instruction manual for how company CEOs can respond to a public failure like a botched product launch, but we think it could be better Should you find yourself in Cook's shoes, this guide and simply saying "I'm sorry" might be all you need

Here's Cook's letter and Inc.'s breakdown of its gaps:

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience

possible to our customers With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on

this commitment We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our

customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better

Opener: It's good, but not great Note the pronoun "we" instead of "I," and "our customers" insted of

"you." He's distancing himself from the product failure, and not taking full responsibility for it This

weakens Cook's argument Saying "I am extremely sorry," and "I am doing everything we can for you,"

would be more direct and personal

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS As time progressed, we

wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as

turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps In order to

do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up

Explanation: OK, the paragraph confronts the reality of what went wrong and we sort of get a sense

for how and why Apple messed up, but why doesn't Cook just state the obvious: 'We wanted to do too much.' Users would appreciate that kind of straightforward honesty Like the preceeding sentences, it lacks personal conviction and importantly twists the mistake into a promotion of product features

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with

more and more joining us every day In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps

have already searched for nearly half a billion locations The more our customers

use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we

have received from you

Gratitude: Essentially, Cook is saying 'Don't give up on us!' And 'We're responding to your feedback!'

But he's also taking the opportunity to spin the failure into a rollout success story And that insincerity is

obvious to anyone who's tried Apple Maps and had a bad experience (or just read his letter)

While we're improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from

the App Store like Bing, MapQuest, and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by

going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world We

know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives

up to the same incredibly high standard.

Closer: This is the best part of Cook's letter He knows customers will be downloading other map apps

and figuring out hacks to avoid using the native Maps app so he's helping them out Stating the

obvious even if it means directing users to Apple Maps arch rival Google is a positive (He's also slyly

making readers aware of an array of options, so they don't all jump ship to Google Maps at once.)

What do you think? Did Cook's apology address customer frustrations?

businesses Previously, he worked at Vanity Fair He lives in New York

City @EricMarkowitz