On Sept. 28 in a rare moment of public vulnerability, Apple CEO Tim Cook made a formal apology for the company's failure with its new Maps app on the iPhone 5, saying he was "extremely sorry" for the frustration Maps has caused customers, and vowing to resolve its issues soon.

"With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment," Cook said in a statement, which was first reported by TechCrunch.

In making the apology, Apple CEO Cook also made the confounding move of presenting alternatives to Apple's Maps app while the company fixes its issues. Cook suggests Waze maps apps, using Google's or Nokia's map Web sites, and even Bing, and MapQuest.

While Cook's suggestion that users should just turn to other Maps apps in the interim might seem counterintuitive, it's actually a brilliant tactic from a public relations standpoint. It may leave Apple looking weaker than the company would like, but it should buy back some of the good will Apple lost with the public over Apple Maps complete and utter failure.

"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."

Cook continued, "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."

Since appealing to the public, the usually tightlipped Apple has clearly been on its heels, scrambling to make up for the flap over Apple Maps to its consumers however it can. Of course, you have to wonder if the tech giant really has much choice else, as the public's very vocal disappointment with the iPhone 5's new Maps app had come to a fever pitch this week.

Following CEO Cook's note Friday, Apple made another small gesture to users creating a special section of its mobile app marketplace for mapping applications called, "Find maps for your iPhone." The section included apps Cook discussed, as well as others, such as those made by Garmin Ltd. and Waze Inc.

Noam Bardin, head of Waze, which provided some data for Apple's map app, is poised to benefit from Cook's apology and Apple's crisis management strategy of pushing users to download other mapping programs.

"Launching a maps app in a half-baked way, that was a questionable decision, but making up for that so fast and making a category, it's great," Mr. Bardin said. He added that downloads were up 40 percent Friday after the apology, versus a typical daily download.

Before the release of its new iPhone 5Apple chose to end a partnership with Google in favor of using its own in-house created Maps. Just days after the iPhone 5's release on Sept. 21, the only news louder than Apple's "record-breaking" sales was consternation over the phone's new Maps app.

A new report alleges that disagreements over Google's voice guided navigation pushed Apple away from Google Maps, and compelled it to implement its own mapping application in the iOS 6, according to Allthingsd.

Google has had mapping software since 2005, and a Google Maps app was pre-installed on the first iPhone starting in 2007. Apple only began building its maps software in 2009 under Mr. Jobs, with an eye toward making its version the default mapping app on the iPhone and, later, the iPad. Apple acquired several companies to construct its mapping technology, as well as using information from third parties, such as navigation system maker Tom Tom NV, before it was ready to boot Google Maps.

Maps are a big piece of the Apple-Google rivalry. Opus Research has estimated that mobile ads associated with maps or locations account for about 25% of the roughly $2.5 billion spent on ads in mobile devices in 2012.

While Apple works to fix the problems with Maps, Google Maps is reportedly building a Maps app for the iPhone and iPad that will be out by the end of 2012, according to The New York Times. Apple has yet to comment.

As recently as Tuesday Sept. 25 Google CEO Eric Schmidt made remarks in Tokyo about how it would have been better for Apple to stick with Google Maps. He added that there wouldn't be a specific Google Maps app on the iPhone soon.