Say what you will about the human failings of the late Steve Jobs -- and there were plenty, judging by Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of the man -- the Apple (AAPL 3.21%) he returned to in 1997 rarely suffered the indignity of a public failure.
Tim Cook hasn't been as lucky. Lately, the iPhone's distinct Maps app has become for Apple what Windows Vista was to Microsoft (MSFT 2.17%): a moderately functional product with just enough jarring flaws to cause embarrassment.
According to data compiled by crowdsourcing company Crowdflower and reported in the Los Angeles Times, Apple's Maps suffers a major error (i.e., sending users in the wrong direction) 3.4% of the time, versus 1.1% for Google's (GOOG +1.50%) Maps and 1.4% for Bing Maps. In the U.K., Apple gets it wrong more than 30% of the time versus less than 5% for Google and Bing, Crowdflower found.
Are we witnessing the first concrete evidence that Apple needs Google much more than it wants to admit? Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova has the answer in the following video. Please watch and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.
