Users of iPhone 5 give Apple Maps application a failing grade

Apple's latest smartphone, the iPhone 5, went on sale in eight markets around the world yesterday - including Hong Kong but not the mainland - attracting crowds of Apple aficionados.

Given the flaws in the Apple Maps application, which comes bundled with the new phone's iOS 6 operating system, it could be argued that they were lucky they already knew where the Apple stores were.

In Hong Kong, Apple fan Erwin Huang, who bought an iPhone 5 yesterday, said Apple's map app was much less detailed than Google Maps, which it has displaced. He said the names of many local buildings were not shown: "I see HSBC, but not Bank of China."

Anyone depending on the map would get lost, he said. As a remedy, he said he now opened Google Maps using his iPhone's Safari web browser.

Francis Fong Po-kiu, president of the Information Technology Federation, said he could not find Pacific Place or Taikoo Shing on Apple Maps on Thursday night. "The map directed me to Beijing on the first try," he said. "Then it showed no search results." However, improvements had been made yesterday, with both places shown properly.

Apple Maps has come in for criticism around the world for geographical errors, missing information, and because it lacks features that made Google Maps so popular, including public-transit directions, traffic data and street-view pictures.

Many users who downloaded Apple's iOS 6 software, released on Wednesday, took to Twitter and online forums to express their frustration at the glitches.