Anecdotes aside, from a design standpoint, they tend to be significantly more successful than their competitors. There is a maximum to the level of quality that

Anecdotes aside, from a design standpoint, they tend to be significantly more successful than their competitors. There is a maximum to the level of quality that can be achieved in a given amount of time. For your particular example, look at the outcome: Apple Maps is now arguably on par with the Google data set and has several unique refinements. It's a much more successful product than when it was released.