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I remember reading a while ago about how Apple's reliance on Google for mapping was a massive problem for the company. Something about how in the future all ad

I remember reading a while ago about how Apple's reliance on Google for mapping was a massive problem for the company. Something about how in the future all ad revenue will derive from location-based recommendations. If that's true, then there was no other acceptable solution for Apple than to at some point simply bite the bullet and roll out an in-house mapping service. Continuing dependence on Google here simply posed too much risk to ad revenue and indeed the basic integrity of their ecosystem. All things considered, given how complex maps must be to implement, it seems like Apple did a pretty good job for day one. Furthermore, this furore reminds me of the storm over Siri. Tech pundits work themselves into a frenzy proclaiming that Apple is losing its edge. Average consumers however pay no heed and the company rolls on to the next product launch largely unharmed. The critics miss the bigger picture: a company with so much momentum that it can easily afford to crowdsource the refinement of challenging big-data projects such as Siri and Maps. While the critics stand around prophesising doom, Apple iterates, improves, and by the time the next big hit comes out the last "disaster" is ancient history. Ignore their strength at your peril I say.

efuquen 14y ago
"Something about how in the future all ad revenue will derive from location-based recommendations" And why exactly should Apple care about this? Isn't the vast majority of their profit coming from higher then normal margins on hardware? Their bread and butter is suppose to be making compelling tech products that have high build quality and are easy to use for any type of user. Why would Apple care where ad dollars are going as long as they kept doing what they are suppose to be doing to justify their high margin devices? Apple isn't in the ad business. Of course, with their map move they've just compromised the quality of one of the core services of a mobile device, that should be a bigger deal then any of this nonsense about location based recommendations being the future of ad revenue.
- corporalagumbo 14y ago
  From what I understand search and ad revenue is one of Apple's revenue streams - I have no idea how large nor how to project growth. Just rehashing a vague memory. Anyway I think there are plenty of good reasons for Apple to pursue its own maps solution; eventually all technology will be fully location-gnostic, so it seems like a pretty critical technology to me. If I were Apple I wouldn't be happy leaving that in the hands of a malicious competitor either. And when you have one of the world's largest customer bases to beta-test with... why not? Seems like pulling a tooth to me - best just to get it over with quickly, and you're glad once you do. You call it compromising the quality of a core service, Apple might argue that effectively unless that service was in-house it was not adequate, so effectively never existed, and what they've done is get started on building the service they should have had a while ago.
stcredzero 14y ago
> All things considered, given how complex maps must be to implement, it seems like Apple did a pretty good job for day one. I don't know the particulars of the agreement they had with Google and other providers, but couldn't Apple have just rolled out their own driving directions application with restaurant and location search services but kept Google on for the time being? This would have allowed them to launch, then roll out a fully fledged Maps application of their own.
- corporalagumbo 14y ago
  Maybe. Who really knows why Apple does anything?

efuquen 14y ago

"Something about how in the future all ad revenue will derive from location-based recommendations" And why exactly should Apple care about this? Isn't the vast majority of their profit coming from higher then normal margins on hardware? Their bread and butter is suppose to be making compelling tech products that have high build quality and are easy to use for any type of user. Why would Apple care where ad dollars are going as long as they kept doing what they are suppose to be doing to justify their high margin devices? Apple isn't in the ad business. Of course, with their map move they've just compromised the quality of one of the core services of a mobile device, that should be a bigger deal then any of this nonsense about location based recommendations being the future of ad revenue.

corporalagumbo 14y ago
From what I understand search and ad revenue is one of Apple's revenue streams - I have no idea how large nor how to project growth. Just rehashing a vague memory. Anyway I think there are plenty of good reasons for Apple to pursue its own maps solution; eventually all technology will be fully location-gnostic, so it seems like a pretty critical technology to me. If I were Apple I wouldn't be happy leaving that in the hands of a malicious competitor either. And when you have one of the world's largest customer bases to beta-test with... why not? Seems like pulling a tooth to me - best just to get it over with quickly, and you're glad once you do. You call it compromising the quality of a core service, Apple might argue that effectively unless that service was in-house it was not adequate, so effectively never existed, and what they've done is get started on building the service they should have had a while ago.

stcredzero 14y ago

> All things considered, given how complex maps must be to implement, it seems like Apple did a pretty good job for day one. I don't know the particulars of the agreement they had with Google and other providers, but couldn't Apple have just rolled out their own driving directions application with restaurant and location search services but kept Google on for the time being? This would have allowed them to launch, then roll out a fully fledged Maps application of their own.

corporalagumbo 14y ago
Maybe. Who really knows why Apple does anything?