Google Maps usage in China plummets with Apple iOS upgrade
Google’s mobile maps product saw its market share in China decline by close to 50 percent in the third quarter due to Apple switching to its own maps product for its iOS 6 upgrade, according to a Beijing-based research firm.
At the end of the third quarter, the company’s market share fell to 9 percent, making it the sixth largest vendor in China’s mobile maps sector, according to Analysys International. This marked a major fall from the second-place spot it held in the previous quarter when its market share was at 17.5 percent.
The decline largely stems from Apple’s September upgrade to its iOS operating system, which removed Google Maps and replaced it with Apple’s own mapping product for China, according to Yi Jingxue, an analyst with Analysys International.
“In September, once users made the change to the new iOS, Google lost a lot of users,” she said.
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