Apple behavior

Apple's behavior seems a bit off over the past few months. A few tangible aspects of this:

1. "Double down on secrecy", said Tim Cook in May. The iPhone 5 rumors were no-where near "doubling down". Usually the rumors are all over the place with some aspects of truth. But this go around most of the rumors appeared to be blatant leaks.

2. Sacrificing user experience via maps with a very ill prepared replacement.

Make no mistake, I am an Apple fanboy, and the above are two small pieces of a much larger well oiled machine. But the above behaviors concern me a bit. Here is why:

1. I have huge respect for Tim Cook, and he is one of my favorite CEOs, but when a CEO says they are going to do something and that 'thing' does not happen, I take notice.

2. Wonderful and colorful adjectives were used to describe Apple's maps when they first introduced iOS 6. Yet the product is truly a step back. Then Apple asks for 'patience', as the service will eventually improve. In this case the adjectives were bullshit. (I'm not a fan of bullshit.)

Apple shifting to their own maps makes business sense. Location base services will be a key aspect of the post PC world, and it seems like Apple wants to be a key player in the space providing the location data. A very interesting assumption can be made when combining Passport to a refined location data set. From this lens, their decision makes sense.

Apple sacrificed user experience to better position themselves in the next stage of mobile, and they tried to do it by feeding their users bullshit. (I don't know anyone who likes being lied to, except maybe Sheryl Crow :)

These are small problems for Apple. Very small. But behavioral changes non-the-less.