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If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

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Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#41

Post by stickfigure »

untog wrote: post #14
epoxyhockey wrote: post #7

My bet is that the end users aren't even going to notice. I switched my website maps from Google to OSM/Leaflet and absolutely no one noticed or cared enough to email me about it. Disclaimer: I didn't use OSM's default/ugly color palette. Disclaimer #2: I have used iOS 6 maps, and the most visible change (other than the color palette) is that subway markers are clickable and that Yelp is more tightly integrated into…

Changing the maps you use on your web site and changing the maps on a person's smartphone are hugely different. Without knowing more about your web site I can't do a detailed comparison, but unless people use your web site every day, on the move, to search for transit, business and social locations then the use cases just aren't the same. Not to mention that the biggest issue with Apple Maps is the dismal coverage ou…

Here here. We switched our website's map system from Google to OSM/Leaflet when they jacked up the Maps API price. We love the new platform. But we just use it for yelp-like "create a bounding search zone and annotate places" effects.

If I had to use the same system to actually route myself from place to place, it would drive me insane. As an actual mapping product, Google Maps is peerless.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#42

Post by vosper »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #23
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #10

This is exactly the OPPOSITE of why I'm intrigued and impressed by Google as a company. They just want people to have access to their services. They are not about authoritative control over who gets access and locking their users in a walled garden. Android is wonderful and Google's done a great job of integrating their services with it.. but why shouldn't iOS users have at least some of the same benefits (if Apple a…

"They are not about authoritative control over who gets access and locking their users in a walled garden." You think the iOS maps app was stagnant for such a long time because of what? Because Apple is lazy? It's obvious they don't want to be on the hand of a competitor. Google Maps used to be free with a large API quota when released, remember? Then, once everybody was using it, they updated the API and imposed a m…

But there's just no possible way Apple can win out of this - there is nothing really comparable to Google Maps out there, and mapping has been core iPhone functionality from the get-go. Many people rely on it every day. Even if Google were charging a huge premium behind the scenes Google Maps have always been presented as "the Apple iPhone mapping app" not "Google Maps for iPhone" and so it'll reflect on Apple for messing it up, not Google.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#43

Post by [deleted] »

LoganCale wrote: post #25
hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #12

Really? Although the maps show less information, I found the navigation feature much more usable now. For me, it's the most useful feature since I don't have a car with GPS and TomTom's app is pricey. Now I have it built-in. For finding other stuff I can always use other apps or Google Maps mobile, which is very decent too.

The routing is nice. The maps themselves are much less detailed and in many areas have no detail at all or are completely incorrect, in the sense that they show roads in places where there have never been roads, and roads which have been there for 30 years are absent.

[deleted]

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#44

Post by aisenik »

Irfaan wrote: post #8

"If I were Google, I wouldn’t launch a native Maps app for iOS 6 for at least six months, [...]" If I were in Google's shoes, I wouldn't be launching a native Maps app. Period. It's not like Maps is driving vast amounts of search revenue for Google. And with the degraded functionality of Apple's own Maps app, Google's Map app has become a reason for a buyer to consider switching to a Google-blessed Android phone. And…

Maps gives google a ton of information, and it's fresh. Remember that our information is their product. They can see which areas are experiencing growth, which businesses are getting increased demand, travel patterns, etc. They can see where you like to shop and sell ads to their competitors that target you. They can deduce your shopping habits and how likely you are to eat at a fine dining restaurant vs. a fast food restaurant.

Everything they collect through maps can eventually be used to enhance their advertising offerings.

So maybe Maps isn't driving a lot of revenue right now but it's definitely one of Google's most ambitious data collection projects.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#46

Post by Irfaan »

rimantas wrote: post #21
Irfaan wrote: post #8

"If I were Google, I wouldn’t launch a native Maps app for iOS 6 for at least six months, [...]" If I were in Google's shoes, I wouldn't be launching a native Maps app. Period. It's not like Maps is driving vast amounts of search revenue for Google. And with the degraded functionality of Apple's own Maps app, Google's Map app has become a reason for a buyer to consider switching to a Google-blessed Android phone. And…

> If I were in Google's shoes, I wouldn't be launching > a native Maps app. Period. I hope Google does just that. It takes a nontrivial amount of stupidity to think that Apple does not know shortcomings of its maps application and are not working on fixing that. Loosing iOS users for some barely noticeable amount of switchers is hardly a good business for Google—do they even make money from Android phones someone sel…

"I hope Google does just that. It takes a nontrivial amount of stupidity to think that Apple does not know shortcomings of its maps application and are working on fixing that."

I'm... not sure how to parse that sentence. I guess it's implying I have a non-trivial amount of stupidity, which probably explains my parsing problem.

Transit routing is a hard problem to scale - Apple has taken a shortcut and pushed it off to 3rd party developers, who can tackle the much more approachable problem of solving it on a city-by-city basis. Which make sense... but this is still a large regression as far as users are concerned. And doesn't help folks that live in smaller cities.

Yes, Apple is probably working on this. But now we come to an odd signalling issue - Apple has basically told 3rd parties that it is worth their time investing in this area. If-and-when Apple opts to plug this functionality hole, they've pulling the rug out from under these developers. And any app developer worth his salt has to be factoring that.

And I'd be really surprised if Apple steps in any sooner than the next iOS refresh - fixing transit seems like a wonderful bullet point for iOS7.

"Loosing iOS users for some barely noticeable amount of switchers is hardly a good business for Google [...]"

Err... what are they losing, exactly? Users aren't inherently valuable. If there's value these iOS users add to Google, I'd love to hear it.

Google is already generating local search and behavioral data via their large Android install base. Beyond brand visibility (which is going to be reduced, thanks to Apple's own offering), what does releasing their own native app get them? A native version that, again I want to emphasis, Apple is actively competing against their own product. Whatever Google releases, it is now going to be a 2nd class citizen, without the OS-level hooks Apple's own solution gets. And this assumes that Apple even lets them release an app. This wouldn't be the first time Apple has blocked Google from releasing an application on iOS because it duplicates existing 1st party functionality.

Basically - why should Google release their own app?

"—do they even make money from Android phones someone sells? I heard Microsoft makes more money than Google does."

I don't think I can adaquately address this in a response to a comment. Google is not a charity, and Android does add to Google's bottom-line.

In closing - I'd fucking love it if Google released a native Maps app. I'm an iPhone user that's gotten bit by this, and am sticking with iOS5 for now. But I'm not going to hold my breathe waiting. Particularly when I don't see a compelling reason for Google to save me.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#47

Post by starik36 »

robomartin wrote: post #31

Just throw an old 3GS or 4 in your pocket and use Google Maps by creating a private WiFi hot-spot with your iPhone 5. Wait a minute. The iPhone 5 doesn't do that. Hey, but it's longer, thinner and faster. What else do you want? It almost reminds me of Microsoft Word. Once MS Word got to the point where it did pretty much everything the majority of users wanted it to do there really was not reason to upgrade. As my ow…

Are you kidding? I use Siri every single solitary day. I use it to create reminders, I use it to dictate text messages, I use it to schedule appointments and find a local sandwich shop that delivers. Siri was one thing from iOS5 that actually met and exceeded the hype.

From what I've seen tonight with iOS6, Siri got extended to deal with movie showings (another thing I frequently do with Flixter) and the latency seems a bit reduced.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#48

Post by [deleted] »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #10

This is exactly the OPPOSITE of why I'm intrigued and impressed by Google as a company. They just want people to have access to their services. They are not about authoritative control over who gets access and locking their users in a walled garden. Android is wonderful and Google's done a great job of integrating their services with it.. but why shouldn't iOS users have at least some of the same benefits (if Apple a…

[deleted]

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#49

Post by stickfigure »

rdl wrote: post #24

This clearly makes commercial sense for Google in the short/medium term, but fails "don't be evil". I got screwed by iOS 6 Beta's lack of transit directions in NYC this summer; I had no reason to expect a serious feature regression, and I'm amazed this made it to release. It might be a Cupertino vs SF thing, but really, even a car owning Bay Area tech person is going to use the subway when visiting NYC or some other…

How does not adding features to a competitor's product fail "don't be evil"?

Sounds more like "don't be stupid". We don't see Apple distributing Siri for Android.

Re: If I Were Google, I Wouldn’t Release A Native iOS 6 Maps App For Six Months

#50

Post by spullara »

veidr wrote: post #6

The iOS 6 maps subsystem is the worst OS component regression Apple has shipped since Open Transport 1.0. It is really bad, and if navigating a city is one of your key phone usage scenarios, this change makes Apple's arch-rival's devices significantly more attractive than they otherwise would be. I carry around both the latest Apple phone and the latest Google phone, and this is one area where the Google phone was al…

I've been using it since the first beta and it is much more useful to me. Turn by turn is great. I bet most iPhone users will also find this to be true.
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