3 ms·

One day Apple apologists will have to draw a line in the sand – does Apple care more about users, or more about ego-laden competitive angst? When Apple limits p

by tomkin 14y ago

One day Apple apologists will have to draw a line in the sand – does Apple care more about users, or more about ego-laden competitive angst? When Apple limits people – they do it for business, when they allow freedom they are doing it for the users. Sorry, but ripping out a familiar, tried and true application and replacing it with one far inferior is not for the users. It would be different if they had been more diplomatic and said to Google, "we're doing our own stuff, so, maybe you want to launch at the same time so people won't be all pissed off with our version 1.0?". That would be for the users and Apple could still have their own Maps and improve it beyond Google's capabilities within time. People would switch because it was better. I have all Apple products, but as a fan I sit on the fence when the logic doesn't make sense.

Judson 14y ago
The thing is, we just don't know what the circumstances were. If you want, you can assume that Apple was the one who pulled the plug on Google's Maps app, but the same thing happened with the YouTube app, and wouldn't you know, Google released a new YouTube app through the app store, with ads. A version of the story, that is at least as likely as Apple taking away Maps.app (which could arguable be the most used non-telephone app on the iPhone) and replacing it with something that isn't as good - Google wanted to put ads in the app, something more than "sponsored pins" or whatever they had been doing (aka, display ads).
- tomkin 14y ago
  It's true to say that my version of the story is probably not accurate in any sense. My main point is that Apple has pulled the rug away from it's users. YouTube is a great point, too. I upgraded iOS and all of a sudden it was gone. No "oh, by the way you totally gotta download this app manually now if you want it". If Google is making crazy demands, then they need to be outed. The company that does no evil shouldn't mind disclosing the parameters of their licensing. I can accept Apple's version of Maps with an explanation. As a paying user of their ecosystem, I deserve an answer as to why I have been given something inferior. Telling me to keep quiet, or wait for some milestone isn't good enough.
nicholassmith 14y ago
Unless you have specific insider information that hasn't leaked onto the internet, we don't know anything about why Apple has moved onto their own mapping data instead of Google's data, past "their licensing agreement expired and wasn't renewed". Google might have put some crazy ridiculous demand out there that no one would take. Apple might have thrown a tantrum and pulled Google completely and said "ner ner ner". I'm not apologising for Apple, the Maps need a lot of work, but we have no clue about the internal policy and licensing negotiations that took place so we can't just assume it's out of hubris.
pooriaazimi 14y ago
It's rather hard to judge right now. We have so much little information. What if Google asked Apple a billion dollars for another year of ad-free YouTube and Maps? I'm not saying what they did was the best thing they could've done. I'm just saying there might have been other factors involved.

by tomkin 14y ago

Judson 14y ago

The thing is, we just don't know what the circumstances were. If you want, you can assume that Apple was the one who pulled the plug on Google's Maps app, but the same thing happened with the YouTube app, and wouldn't you know, Google released a new YouTube app through the app store, with ads. A version of the story, that is at least as likely as Apple taking away Maps.app (which could arguable be the most used non-telephone app on the iPhone) and replacing it with something that isn't as good - Google wanted to put ads in the app, something more than "sponsored pins" or whatever they had been doing (aka, display ads).

tomkin 14y ago
It's true to say that my version of the story is probably not accurate in any sense. My main point is that Apple has pulled the rug away from it's users. YouTube is a great point, too. I upgraded iOS and all of a sudden it was gone. No "oh, by the way you totally gotta download this app manually now if you want it". If Google is making crazy demands, then they need to be outed. The company that does no evil shouldn't mind disclosing the parameters of their licensing. I can accept Apple's version of Maps with an explanation. As a paying user of their ecosystem, I deserve an answer as to why I have been given something inferior. Telling me to keep quiet, or wait for some milestone isn't good enough.

nicholassmith 14y ago

Unless you have specific insider information that hasn't leaked onto the internet, we don't know anything about why Apple has moved onto their own mapping data instead of Google's data, past "their licensing agreement expired and wasn't renewed". Google might have put some crazy ridiculous demand out there that no one would take. Apple might have thrown a tantrum and pulled Google completely and said "ner ner ner". I'm not apologising for Apple, the Maps need a lot of work, but we have no clue about the internal policy and licensing negotiations that took place so we can't just assume it's out of hubris.

pooriaazimi 14y ago

It's rather hard to judge right now. We have so much little information. What if Google asked Apple a billion dollars for another year of ad-free YouTube and Maps? I'm not saying what they did was the best thing they could've done. I'm just saying there might have been other factors involved.