Why Google Maps for iPhone is good for Apple
Despite its aesthetic achievements, Apple’s Maps app in iOS 6 left a lot of users unhappy. Turns out that the years Google spent building out its mapping data were hugely important; Apple’s data—which powered its new Maps app—didn’t have the real world, real user testing that Google Maps benefited from. That’s why Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized to customers over his company’s Maps app. And that’s why customers are now so excited about Google’s new, free mapping app for iPhone. And you know who else is excited about Google’s new app? Apple.
Why abandon Google?
Apple hasn’t commented on the record about exactly why it chose to sever its relationship with Google for the Maps app in iOS 6. The most public explanation the company offered came in Cook’s public apology letter, when he wrote “We wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.”
The implication there—and the rumor mill’s conclusion—is that Google wouldn’t allow Apple to offer features like turn-by-turn navigation with voice assist or vector-based map imagery, at least not without substantially hiking licensing fees. Some have also suggested that Google wanted to insert ads into the Maps app, and that Apple wouldn’t allow such promotion within a stock app.
Let’s say that’s why Apple felt forced to roll its own Maps app solution.
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