I think the real story that someone should dig into (maybe TheVerge, they like sensationalizing things) is that Microsoft has had a first-party mapping service since Windows Live (2005), but it isn’t remotely competitive with Apple Maps which is practically brand new (2012).
I would be very annoyed if Apple removed Maps from Mac. I was very annoyed Windows didn’t remove Bing Maps from Windows.
There’s a story here. A company of Microsoft’s size and resources, and which at times had a very competitive product, should not be underperforming so badly. (And they shouldn’t be competing internally with things like Azure Maps)
I do. On my phone it's so much more performant than the extremely bloated google maps and on my mac I just don't bother opening a website to view maps.
It's also much more usable than the UX mess that is Google Maps. I don't use either enough to specifically triage what's going on with Google Maps - all I know is the last half dozen times I have opened Google Maps I get annoyed quickly and fumble my way back to Apple Maps (on iOS and MacOS too, come to think of it) where it seems easier.
I haven't paid much attention to what the issues are, as I expect a mapping app to be intuitive enough that I'm not thinking about anything but finding whatever I'm looking for.
I would be very annoyed if Apple removed Maps from Mac. I was very annoyed Windows didn’t remove Bing Maps from Windows.
There’s a story here. A company of Microsoft’s size and resources, and which at times had a very competitive product, should not be underperforming so badly. (And they shouldn’t be competing internally with things like Azure Maps)