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Google says no plans for iOS 6 mapping app "yet"
- lazerwalker 14y agoOf 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.
- headShrinker 14y agoEric Schmidt is very good at displacing responsibility and target other parties. It reminds me of when he said, "If You Have Something You Don't Want Anyone To Know, Maybe You Shouldn't Be Doing It". He is displacing responsibility from Google and targeting the public. He has a very passive-aggressive style and it's very affective.
- Tichy 14y agoHow is it Google's responsibility if you buy an iPhone?
- cooldeal 14y agoNot because of that but because of the speculation that Google may have chosen not to renew the license for Google maps on the iPhone. It could be a strategic decision to help Android, could've asked for much more licensing revenue, or refused key features like 3D, turn by turn etc. Maybe even demand G+ integration like the FB and Twitter integration. Or it could be that Apple wanted to do Maps for strategic reasons. Or a combination of all of the above. But Schmidt's quote seem to put the ball in Apple's court.
- Tichy 14y agoMaybe this will be clarified in time, for now people believe what they want to believe. I find it highly unlikely that Google would have revoked the maps license for the iPhone. I think Apple already kicked Google search in earlier iterations of iOS? They simply want to get rid of Google stuff.
- randomdata 14y agoOne thing of note is that none of the new feature points in iOS6 Maps are supported by the public Google Maps APIs. For Google to not allow the general public access to that data may be very well be the same reason that keeps them from not offering the data to Apple, whatever reason that may be. But without that data, Apple's hands were tied to do anything new with the software. Starting new may have been the only way they saw to restore innovation to the application (or, at very least, catch up to the competition). Information accuracy aside, I find the new Maps app to be a vast improvement over the previous version. It is all just conjecture at this point, of course, but I find it hard to believe that Apple would walk away if all of the terms were favourable just because it is Google.
- bad_user 14y agoEven if that's the case, I'm pretty sure Google wouldn't say no to a truck load of cash for a license, at least until Apple's Maps was more acceptable. Besides, why would Google want to discontinue GMaps on iOS, when GMaps on Android is much better? And who do you think they are? Some kids on a playground getting their toys and leaving after one of them pooped in the sand?
- qq66 14y agoIt's all about truckloads of cash. But I can easily see a situation where Google forecasted that trying to get a few percentage points of iPhone users to switch to Android was more profitable in the long term than the licensing revenue they would get from Apple or advertising revenues from a standalone app..
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
- Bakkot 14y agoThe context on the 'maybe you shouldn't be doing it' quote is that Google is not going to disobey court orders to protect your privacy. It was never Google's responsibility. Please let's move on from this particular dead horse.
- headShrinker 14y agoYes we know the context, and in quoting him it, it goes to support a passed history he has of passive-agression. Sorry you don't like it, but that doesn't mean it's not valid. In that case, Google was brushing responsibility for the 4th amendment and reporting them to the government, whether Google actually did have a responsibility is not really in question. The point is he redirected responsibility and targeted someone else. This similar to what he just did with Apple, dumping all responsibility for the maps issue in Apple's lap like Google 'did no wrong'. We don't know what actually happened but we know Google isn't as altruistic as some would want to believe and as Schmidt makes it sound.
- sneak 14y ago> The context on the 'maybe you shouldn't be doing it' quote is that Google is not going to disobey court orders to protect your privacy. Though, Google complies with NSLs too, which are administrative subpoenas written by the feds and never seen by a judge, so let's not get all "court order" here.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- markerdmann 14y agoWhy 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 14y agoAgreed. 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 14y ago"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 14y agoFor 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.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago> 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. :)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- olalonde 14y agoIn case you genuinely missed the flood of negative press regarding iOS 6 maps, here's a good overview: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/ios-6s-apple-maps-yes-its-bad-203014 http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/ios-6s-apple-ma.... Also, some comment threads on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4548829 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4548829 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4548071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4548071
- bluedevil2k 14y agoIt 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.
- michaelbuckbee 14y agoYou are correct, but the calculation needs to also factor in how much ad revenue is lost by not having maps on iOS.
- nilsbunger 14y agoBut 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 14y agoMost 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.
- cpeterso 14y agoNow might be a good opportunity for Nokia to release an iOS map app. They have their own nap tech and they could pitch it an introduction to Win Phones.
- jedberg 14y agoThis 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.
- cryptoz 14y ago> make them really miss Google Presumably this will also lead to a number of iOS to Android converts - it's not just about making Apple look bad, it's demonstrating on a large scale that "Android is better, see?".
- untog 14y agoI wonder how far Google would go for that, though. If they released a Google Maps iPhone app they'd have advertising and immense amounts of data on people's locations, search history, etc. etc. That might be worth more to them than x% more Android users.
- ajross 14y agoI'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.
- bovik 14y agoI'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.
- sabret00the 14y agoalready posted 50 million times, here's an example: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4569114 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4569114
- Simucal 14y agoIt 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-store-eric-schmidt http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3386598/google-maps-app-st...
- jschuur 14y agoPossible 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.
- joshryandavis 14y agoWhy hasn't someone just used the Google Maps API to mock up a quick app and submit it? Would Apple simply reject it?
- nicholassmith 14y agoIt's relatively straight forward but the performance would probably suck as Javascript in UIWebView isn't great.
- mongol 14y agoI think because you need an account + API key and the account will be charged if there are more than some threshold request.
- vyrotek 14y agoCould 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.
- statictype 14y agoNow 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 14y agoThe 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 14y agoI 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.
- blakecutler 14y agoIf 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 14y agoGood point, but apple doesn't have many alternatives in the search box. What are they going to do, switch to BING???
- blakecutler 14y agoDon'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-choose-in-the-blind-test/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/08/which-search-engine-do-you-... If there weren't realistic alternatives, Google wouldn't pay Apple ~$1B per year.
- ramses0 14y agoYes?
- yalogin 14y agoThis 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 14y agoIt'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.
- lambdasquirrel 14y agoSo where is Bing?
- erifneerg 14y agoIn all seriousness, I've been using that for public transit myself.
- dkordik 14y agoWe 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 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.
- hnriot 14y agoFor 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 14y agoDoes 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 14y agoI 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.
- kemayo 14y ago"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 14y agoYes 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.
- tomkarlo 14y agoHow is it "passive-aggressive douchebaggery" for Schmidt to say that Google would have preferred if Apple stayed with their mapping solution, but Apple had a right to make their own decision? Seems like a relatively straightforward statement about the situation in response to a reporter's question.
- richcollins 14y agoGoogle’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. *as long as you use Android
- Gigablah 14y agomaps.google.com ?
- tedsuo 14y agoIs 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 14y agoThe article states that was not the case. It's still possible of course, but we have no idea.
- markokocic 14y agoSmart 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.
- Achshar 14y agoWhy 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 14y agoThey haven't enforced that rule for a while now. Google Voice and Chrome replicate native functionality and are both in the app store.
- beej71 14y agoWould Apple approve the Google Maps app for sale? Historically haven't they frowned on apps that provided similar functionality to built-in apps?