Local Search in the iOS 6 Maps App is Broken ⇥ rmmr.us

Josh Carr of Rocky Mountain Mac Repair writes on their blog:

I went on to search “iPhone Repair” and “iPad Repair” since that’s obviously relevant to our business. The results broke my heart. All of the work I’ve put into our local recognition is completely gone because I focused so keenly on Google Places. By limiting search to Yelp businesses, there were only two places returned for “iPhone Repair.” They illegally use the trademarked term “iPhone” in the name of their company on their Yelp record. One of the companies used a false name just so they had iPhone in the title.

I also get no results for “iPad repair”. Shortening that to just “iPad” makes Maps go to Ivàd, Slovakia. You can’t make this shit up. This is the sort of stuff I complained about in my review.

Josh says that asking Siri about iPad repair will locate Apple Stores, which is more helpful than the no results present in Maps. Unfortunately, it leaves out independent repair shops. Also, when I tried this, it located stores near me with “apple” in their name. Of the seven results Siri presented me, six were not Apple Stores (though operating an iPad repair place in the back of Apple Hair Salon might be a profitable business).