The blowback to Apple Maps was so bad, Apple CEO Tim Cook had to issue an apology. Apple has been slowly fixing the problems, but Google may have beaten Apple to the punch. Google released an updated maps app for iOS in December, which people praised while simultaneously continuing to dump on Apple.
RUPERT MURDOCH
The Australian media magnate may not have had as scandalous of a year as he had in 2011, but 2012 could have been a lot better for Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch's media empire started the year by announcing that a number of its newspapers would lose over $100 million in both the U.S. and UK over the course of the year. A few months later, following negative publicity from a celebrity phone-hacking scandal and pressure from shareholders, News Corp. split its news and entertainment divisions into two separate companies.
The hacking scandal wasn't the only bit of legal trouble Murdoch dealt with in 2012. In November, is was reported that U.S. authorities were looking into photos of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that ran in two of Murdoch's papers. It is alleged that News Corp. bribed a U.S. military figure in order to obtain the photos, which is against federal law. The company said in response: News Corp said: 'We didn't believe then, and certainly don't believe now, that it was wrong to acquire and publish newsworthy photographs of a notorious war criminal.'
Murdoch's company also took a big hit when it was forced to shutter The Daily, News Corp's iPad-only digital newspaper, in December. Reports said the venture lost as much as $30 million over the course of its first year.
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Greg Otto is a news editor at U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at gotto@usnews.com.
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