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[TFA is basically content-free, but ...] This is the don't-make-your-company-dependent-upon-one-service thing we see happening around Twitter, but writ much la

[TFA is basically content-free, but ...] This is the don't-make-your-company-dependent-upon-one-service thing we see happening around Twitter, but writ much larger. That's not too interesting or too hard to see. What I hadn't considered before is that the situation is somewhat a natural outcome of Apple's have strategy of limited-set-of-apps-for-core-functionality. If Apple has fostered/encouraged multiple great mapping applications rather than promoting just one this situation might not have occurred. Of course, then they'd have multiple mapping apps and users might be confused. I understand that maps are valuable to mobile devices, but I don't think they're core to mobile devices. Apple treated them as core and didn't seem to have planned well for serious changes to maps.

cube13 14y ago
>If Apple has fostered/encouraged multiple great mapping applications rather than promoting just one this situation might not have occurred. Of course, then they'd have multiple mapping apps and users might be confused. Apple could have done this from the beginning... if they didn't rely on Google's data. That would have really opened up the market for quality map applications. The hard part of any maps application isn't necessarily presenting the data to the user. What really counts is your backend's data. Right now, Google is pretty much the king of that data, which is why everything that used their data, even Apple's old app, was pretty good. Honestly, I don't know how Apple could have come out looking good with the new maps. Even if it had been in development for years, it wouldn't have been nearly as full featured, or as good as implementations based on Google Maps. Apple's simply too far behind to come out swinging.
malandrew 14y ago
Maps absolutely are core to mobile devices. Besides communication, mapping is the other primary use case of my mobile device and I know I'm not alone on this one. Communication, mapping and calendaring are also the three primary "intents" built into the device since day one. For example, every "maps.google.com" link from any application is captured by the OS and routed to the native maps app instead of Safari.
- CoffeeDregs 14y ago
  By core, I mean that it's critical to have control of them for success/viability of the device (ie. strategic components). I certainly do think that maps are important, but I don't think it would matter which mapping application is used on a device or think that it's critical for Apple to control that application. The UI, settings, notifications, phone app, SMS app [maybe], location services seem like just about the only core bits. Treating a giant, very complicated application built by another company as core means that you're probably signing up to build that functionality in the future. As Apple is doing... In hindsight, I suspect Apple would have been happier had they launched with Google Maps, then had gotten Garmin, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, etc to build great mapping applications. I don't know how building a mapping infrastructure is a good idea for Apple [but perhaps I just haven't thought about it enough yet].
  - jessaustin 14y ago
    If these other players could "build great mapping applications", I suspect some of them would have by now. Google really is in a class by itself here.
loumf 14y ago
It's not just the app -- it's location services in every app.
- CoffeeDregs 14y ago
  Agreed. But that's not mapping, right? [See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4995 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4995 . Location services are used by apps such as Maps.] Location services do seem like a core feature for phones since the phone has the radio and electronics to do the positioning.

cube13 14y ago

>If Apple has fostered/encouraged multiple great mapping applications rather than promoting just one this situation might not have occurred. Of course, then they'd have multiple mapping apps and users might be confused. Apple could have done this from the beginning... if they didn't rely on Google's data. That would have really opened up the market for quality map applications. The hard part of any maps application isn't necessarily presenting the data to the user. What really counts is your backend's data. Right now, Google is pretty much the king of that data, which is why everything that used their data, even Apple's old app, was pretty good. Honestly, I don't know how Apple could have come out looking good with the new maps. Even if it had been in development for years, it wouldn't have been nearly as full featured, or as good as implementations based on Google Maps. Apple's simply too far behind to come out swinging.

malandrew 14y ago

Maps absolutely are core to mobile devices. Besides communication, mapping is the other primary use case of my mobile device and I know I'm not alone on this one. Communication, mapping and calendaring are also the three primary "intents" built into the device since day one. For example, every "maps.google.com" link from any application is captured by the OS and routed to the native maps app instead of Safari.

CoffeeDregs 14y ago
By core, I mean that it's critical to have control of them for success/viability of the device (ie. strategic components). I certainly do think that maps are important, but I don't think it would matter which mapping application is used on a device or think that it's critical for Apple to control that application. The UI, settings, notifications, phone app, SMS app [maybe], location services seem like just about the only core bits. Treating a giant, very complicated application built by another company as core means that you're probably signing up to build that functionality in the future. As Apple is doing... In hindsight, I suspect Apple would have been happier had they launched with Google Maps, then had gotten Garmin, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, etc to build great mapping applications. I don't know how building a mapping infrastructure is a good idea for Apple [but perhaps I just haven't thought about it enough yet].
- jessaustin 14y ago
  If these other players could "build great mapping applications", I suspect some of them would have by now. Google really is in a class by itself here.

loumf 14y ago

It's not just the app -- it's location services in every app.

CoffeeDregs 14y ago
Agreed. But that's not mapping, right? [See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4995 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4995 . Location services are used by apps such as Maps.] Location services do seem like a core feature for phones since the phone has the radio and electronics to do the positioning.