The article states that they did the switch because Google asked for too much money - a very good reason to move items to the top of the TODO list. So while th

The article states that they did the switch because Google asked for too much money - a very good reason to move items to the top of the TODO list. So while the "noble" reasons were there, they probably had enough other things to do (those that make money directly). And thus the new Google Maps pricing actually was the catalyst.