> the maps thing is unfortunate, but I'm sure it will get better
Based on what? The problem in the first place is that this is an insanely hard problem that is in the centre of Google's core competencies (data gathering, search, data munching; all on a ridiculously massive scale). Apple makes hardware and an operating system and some apps for it. Where in that set of core competencies does it indicate they have what it takes to tackle this and yield the quality google has (who have poured a rather large fortune into it (they bought the satellites for google maps so they could reshoot to avoid clouds), the have paid for high tech trucks to run down every road in an increasingly large collection of cities. And then massive human QA teams)
This isn't what apple does and it was massive hubris on their part to think they could tackle this and come anywhere near the level of google maps, or their usual standard of excellence. I remain extremely dubious that there is any "quick" fix to their problem. It's not like the screwed up an algorithm and this is a bug, this is a massive problem that they've barely started to tackle.
If Apple does realize what it's going to take to compete at this and doubles down on it, it's still going to take a year or two for them to catch up. And that's an if. So Apple Maps/iOS5 combo is a write off. Probably iOS6 too. You want good mapping the next few years, stick with google. Maybe after that Apple will have something worth looking at, just as likely maybe not.