
Google says no plans for iOS 6 mapping app "yet" - HaloZero
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/09/google-says-no-plans-for-ios-6-mapping-app-yet/
======
Simucal
It would seem that the conclusion of this article can't be drawn from the
quotes Schmidt gave.

"Reuters has softened the tone of its original report which is now disputed by
Bloomberg. Bloomberg says that Schmidt declined to say whether Google
submitted its Maps app for Apple approval. Instead it quotes him saying, "We
haven’t done anything yet with Google Maps," adding that Apple would "have to
approve it. It’s their choice." The updated Reuters piece now quotes the
Google chairman saying that Google and Apple are in constant communication at
"all kinds of levels," while appearing to say that the decision to remove
Google Maps from iOS was Apple's alone." [0]

[0]: [http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3386598/google-maps-app-
st...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3386598/google-maps-app-store-eric-
schmidt)

------
lazerwalker
Of course, it's a classic PR move (and one that Apple has used quite
frequently in the past) to brashly deny that you're building a product up
until the day you release it.

Whether or not it's true, what's genius about Eric Schmidt's statement is that
it puts the ball entirely in Apple's court for the maps fiasco. He makes it
sound like Google was perfectly content to just let things keep working as
they had been, and that it was Apple who unceremoniously ended things for no
valid reason, where the truth was almost certainly more nuanced than that.

~~~
markerdmann
Why are people calling it the "maps fiasco"? I just installed iOS 6, and the
new Maps app is one of the best pieces of software I've ever used.

~~~
coliveira
Agreed. The fact that some data is not on par with current Google offering
doesn't make the product a bad one. Data issues can be quickly solved,
specially when there are so many users to report problems.

~~~
tomkarlo
"Data issues can be quickly solved, specially when there are so many users to
report problems."

That depends on the size of the dataset, and the quality of the reports. It's
not obvious that this is true in this case.

~~~
coliveira
For a maps application, the best report is just the location of the affected
user. Any lookup on existing maps for that location will show what the problem
is.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
> _Any lookup on existing maps..._

Ironically... I see that leading to a spike in hits to maps.google.com coming
from Apple's internal IP range. :)

------
jschuur
Possible misleading headline:

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed on Tuesday that his company
_has not submitted a mapping app of its own to Apple's App Store_ , though he
didn't entirely rule out the idea.

Just because they haven't submitted one, doesn't mean they're not working on a
new one.

------
jedberg
This is a brilliant strategy on Google's part. Wait until enough people are
unhappy, make them really miss Google, and then release it. Suddenly, it
becomes the number 1 app in the app store and really puts egg on Apple's face.

~~~
ajross
I'm not sure you can call that "strategy" if a prerequisite is that your
competitors customers are unhappy. :)

Apple's hubris (and a not inconsiderable amount of hype by the media, no doubt
related to some PR misteps by Apple) gift wrapped this for Google. All they
need to do is write an app.

~~~
danieldk
But why would they do that? If they do release an app, Apple maps will be
mostly on par someday, and Google will lose those Google Maps users. If they
never release a Google Maps app, that'll make iOS a subpar platform when it
comes to maps for some time, and will be an additional incentive for some
people to switch to Android.

It could be Google's sweet revenge to the pain that Apple inflicts on the
Android ecosystem. Google probably has some patents in that area is well...

~~~
ajross
Maybe, but recognize that that's the kind of hardball that got Apple in
trouble here. Maps are just maps. A few people might switch to Android because
of it, but not all that many.

The real value here is marketing: "Google has the best maps" is the message
the public is getting. And the bit that Apple gift-wrapped is "iPhones have
bad maps, use the Google ones".

You can't buy that kind of spin. In the space of a week the public perception
on this issue went from "iOS is the best at everything" to "Android has better
maps". It's not in Google's interests to rock that boat by picking a fight and
making themselves look like the bad guy to existing iOS users.

~~~
mbesto
> _Maps are just maps._

Highly disagree. Maps are _not_ just maps. It's one of the core solutions of
the platform and I would argue one of the main reasons people buy smartphones
over "dumb" phones.

Have you ever listened to someone complain about Blackberry's? For me, that
conversation usually starts with "I can't use google maps on my Blackberry".

~~~
hnriot
I have a blackberry, had a curve for many years, waiting to see what this year
yields in the way of a replacement, but one of things that you can't criticize
the blackberry for is maps. Google maps works just fine, showing directions,
traffic and all the other good stuff. Even streetview works.

You can criticize the blackberry for its browser, but maps, keyboard, camera
are still as good or superior to the competitors. The camera has fewer
megapixels, but takes great photos, the keyboard is rock solid and better than
any on-screen keyboard, but browsing sucks big time for sure.

~~~
mbesto
Interesting. I've never heard this from someone with a Blackberry before.
Whenever I ask someone with a Blackberry to give me directions (like when I'm
driving for example) they usually just ask me to use my iPhone because it's
easier. My understanding is that it largely has to do with the poor scrolling
on a Blackberry as compared to the iPhone/Android app.

Either way, point taken.

------
bovik
I'm disappointed. Ars is usually pretty good about these things but in this
case it sounds like a techcrunch'y over-sensationalized headline as a result
of over parsing some casual statements from Eric Schmidt. Not having submitted
the app to Apple yet, doesn't mean google is not building one at all. It'll be
crazy for google to let go of half their local queries from mobile. It's just
not going to happen.

------
bluedevil2k
It could be a good strategy for Google to turn iOS people to Android. Why
offer such a good competitive advantage to their competitors for free? If
Android has top quality maps and iOS has poor quality maps, it may not sway a
lot of people to go with Android, but it will surely sway _some_ people to go
with Android.

~~~
nilsbunger
But google's strategy isn't about beating iOS. It's about creating as much
engagement a possible on all its web platforms - search,mail, g+, ...

Android's purpose is to create leverage over all the phone manufacturers to
provide a funnel into google services. And it's worked brilliantly, since over
50% of smartphones are now funnels into google services. (It's a nice OS too,
I'm just describing the strategic reason behind it)

In that vein, you would think google is better served by capturing all the iOS
eyeballs too. Google seems to think that way for other apps (mail, google+,
etc) , and I think it's in their interest to do an ios maps too.

Maybe there's value for google in creating a little schadenfreude by delaying,
but they have to be careful- if they do it too long, iOS users will have found
other solutions (3rd party or apple maps will have improved enough).

~~~
MartinCron
Most iPhones still are funnels into (some) Google services. It's not as
pervasive as Android, but Google search is still the default in mobile safari.

------
statictype
Now would be the best time for Google to release a Maps app. While people are
still frustrated with Apple's. Apple will eventually (hopefully) improve their
maps with time and then people won't care anymore. If Google wants to keep
people using Google Maps, now would be a good time to release it.

~~~
webwright
The question is whether the maps war is more important to them than the
android/ios war.

Even if they do as you say, the default maps app will eventually win. It's
what'll be on the home screen for new iphone users, it's what will boot up
when someone clicks an address in any other app (mail, contacts, etc). And
Apple will improve it enough that the gap between the two isn't painful enough
to bother with Google's maps app.

No, Apple will win the maps war on the iPhone, just as sure as MSFT would've
won the browser war on the desktop if the DoJ didn't step in.

------
adamkiss
I can't believe the amount of positive reactions to this. Am I the only one
who is reading something along the lines "Yeah, they don't want us, and we
don't care. We won't do anything in hopes of people switching iOs for Android"
in this?

If that's true… they must be naive, at least.

------
dkordik
We know Google is at least doing a similar stereophotogrammetry technique to
dynamically render the world in 3D... they talked about it coming soon to iOS
during their presentation in June, "The Next Dimension of Google Maps"
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMBJ2Hu0NLw>). Though upon rewatching, they
might have just been talking about Google Earth.

No sign that they were porting over Navigation to iOS.

------
kemayo
"We think it would have been better if [Apple] had kept ours. But what do I
know? What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's
their call."

Yes, passive-aggressive douchebaggery was what this situation was missing.

(I'm not saying he's _wrong_ ; we don't know why the Maps contract
negotiations broke down. I'm just saying he sounds like a jerk in this quote.)

~~~
kumarm
Yes he is a Jerk because he spoke the truth right? Apple can do no wrong even
if it sacrifices its own users experience to take a petty fight.

~~~
kemayo
No, he's a jerk because of the tone he used. I deliberately tried to avoid
taking a position on the issue of whether Apple was right or wrong. :P

~~~
Tichy
Maybe Schmidt has more information than you? Just saying...

------
joshryandavis
Why hasn't someone just used the Google Maps API to mock up a quick app and
submit it? Would Apple simply reject it?

~~~
mongol
I think because you need an account + API key and the account will be charged
if there are more than some threshold request.

~~~
vyrotek
Could you make the app ask you to supply your own API key? It's very
inconvenient but I doubt your individual usage will ever hit their limits.

------
hnriot
For anyone (else) dissatisfied with iOS6 there is a way to go back. It's more
difficult if you're already upgraded to the latest iTunes version, but the
process isn't impossible. You download the ipsw file for your hardware, backup
the device, then put it in DFU mode, option-click restore, select the ipsw,
then restore the backup you just made.

I am going to wait until 6.1 because I've had many other (than maps) problems.
My company's wifi seems incompatible with the iOS6, it connects then
immediately drops the connection. Reverting to iOS5 restores infinite wifi
happiness. The slow, awkward to use app store is also best avoided until apple
figure out how to make it faster and work properly. In the past I have been
upgrading happily every time, but this time I really wish I'd waited. I
haven't found a single useful 6 feature yet.

~~~
Splines
Does this still work today? I tried downgrading and got error 3194, which
seems to indicate that Apple is no longer signing 5.1.1 (I hadn't
jailbroken/saved shsh blobs yet). Am I SOL?

~~~
plorkyeran
I tried to back up the shsh blob with TinyUmbrella a few days ago and it was
already unable to sign anything older than the first 6.0 developer preview, so
it's probably too late.

------
Achshar
Why am i not seeing anyone talking about a google maps native app violating
apple tos? Apple strictly enforces the "no replicatiion of native app
functionality" rule, so even if google does submit an app to the app store,
will apple accept it?

~~~
plorkyeran
They haven't enforced that rule for a while now. Google Voice and Chrome
replicate native functionality and are both in the app store.

------
markokocic
Smart move by Google. They'll gladly let Apple embarrass themselves with their
maps and then provide much better alternative. There's no point to rush when
they can enjoy current Apple map fiasco.

------
beej71
Would Apple approve the Google Maps app for sale? Historically haven't they
frowned on apps that provided similar functionality to built-in apps?

------
yalogin
This is a mistake on Google's part. By not filling the void, they are giving
Apple time to iron out the problems with their maps. If Google really thinks
people are going to switch to Android because of the maps app they are
delusional (there will be a few but not in any number that makes a
difference).

~~~
chucknelson
It's only been a few days. If they still haven't released an app in a few
months, then yeah, I think that's a mistake too.

------
tedsuo
Is it possible that google forced them to make their own maps solution? I
assume apple made the first move, but given the size of the pissing match
between the two of them, I could see google withdrawing map access in order to
harm iOS.

~~~
untog
The article states that was not the case. It's still possible of course, but
we have no idea.

------
blakecutler
If Apple wants Google Maps in the app store, they could make it a condition in
their next round of default search engine negotiations. Apple has all the
leverage.

~~~
nilsbunger
Good point, but apple doesn't have many alternatives in the search box. What
are they going to do, switch to BING???

~~~
blakecutler
Don't see why not. Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China would be easy switches.

If you removed branding from the search engine results, I wonder how many
users would notice or care that Apple switched to Bing. The quality difference
is small: [http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/08/which-search-engine-do-
you-...](http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/08/which-search-engine-do-you-choose-
in-the-blind-test/)

If there weren't realistic alternatives, Google wouldn't pay Apple ~$1B per
year.

------
sabret00the
already posted 50 million times, here's an example:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4569114>

------
richcollins
_Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful._

*as long as you use Android

~~~
Gigablah
maps.google.com ?

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lambdasquirrel
So where is Bing?

~~~
erifneerg
In all seriousness, I've been using that for public transit myself.

