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The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

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Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#271

Post by _djo_ »

angryasian wrote: post #257
_djo_ wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what the terms of the Apple-Google agreement were. It's possible it did not include the additional features.

correct it is speculation, but from a business perspective I wouldn't see it as beneficial for Google for them to not allow apple (at one time the most popular smart phone worldwide) additional features upon request. Googles bread and butter is search and data collection. But yes there could possibly be a reason.

Agreed, but we know how poisonous the relationship became after they started warring. It's possible that reasonable contract extensions and expansions became mired in politics.

For instance, when Google launched turn-by-turn navigation for Android they said that it'd be available on the iPhone as well before long. That never happened.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#272

Post by underwater »

taligent wrote: post #169
adildoatemybaby wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being obtuse, people have money invested in the Apple ecosystem, it's not easy to switch, and no other mapping app will have the iOS integration Maps does. Until a comparable app is available on the OS, yes Apple is forcing users onto their product.

You're not forced to upgrade to iOS6 nor is Apple blocking Google Maps on the browser.

I upgraded to iOS6 to get the turn-by-turn navigation. Now I discover that only iPhone 4S and 5 devices get voice guidance. There is no way I can get Google Maps back without jailbreaking my phone.

The voice limitation appears to be simply planned obsolescence; Waze can handle it without issues. This is a slap in the face to someone who paid a lot of money to Apple for a current-generation phone a little over a year ago.

Apple's closed platform has worked only because they've been able to give consumers such a high-quality experience. I think this fiasco will be a big wake-up call to lots of iPhone owners about how Apple's limitations can hurt them.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#273

Post by kemayo »

toyg wrote: post #253
ChuckMcM wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably correct. However if you look at Google's moves in the maps API with respect to charging money the simplest explanation is that Apple and Google could not come to terms on the price for access and so Apple went with 'plan B'. Given the pain Apple is causing Google in its patent assault I don't doubt for a minute that the senior management at Google would have any regrets about 'losing' the Apple map b…

> the simplest explanation is that Apple and Google could not come to terms on the price for access Yeah, it's not like Apple is sitting on a mountain of cash right now! Oh wait...

"I have a lot of money" doesn't translate to "I should make bad business deals".

If nothing else, it's certainly possible that writing their own maps app and taking the initial PR/UX hit of "it's not as good as Google's yet" was the only reasonable option available to them.

(Not that we have any idea.)

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#274

Post by rburhum »

Ziomislaw wrote: post #240
rburhum wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For most people the 3D is an amusing toy, not really useful. I'd be happy without it frankly. The complaints about the "zigzagging" are about the 3D viewer, hence, my comment about 3D. >They have data for searching on street addresses and towns, and the data is available separately for postcodes etc (TomTom for example will have sold a solution for this to Apple, so they could have gone down that route). Google has…

I am offended. How could you mix up GPL with OSM? Is this some kind of a troll? If so it is very bad taste. OSM data is licensed under ODbL. It has nothing common with those "license terrorists".

The ODBL license change was done 8 days ago and took 2 years to change. I was referring to the CC-share alike license it had before for the past several years. This was in reference to Apple using it (if they wanted to fix the data, they would have had to share it). I have not had enough time to study the ODBL license yet since as of 8 days ago it was not relevant to me.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#275

Post by devcpp »

snogglethorpe wrote: post #226
ChuckMcM wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably correct. However if you look at Google's moves in the maps API with respect to charging money the simplest explanation is that Apple and Google could not come to terms on the price for access and so Apple went with 'plan B'. Given the pain Apple is causing Google in its patent assault I don't doubt for a minute that the senior management at Google would have any regrets about 'losing' the Apple map b…

> I also don't expect Apple to approve any Google "maps" application any time soon either given how strategic it is for their mobile business. Soooo, their users don't matter? "Business strategy" is more important? This is Apple?!

You know, I'm starting to miss Steve Jobs. He was a businessman as well, but he also knew how to treat his customers right, because keeping the customers in the hype is extremely important in his high-benefits scheme. I don't think he would have let that kind of stuff happen. He would have paid the price: it's not like Apple can't afford Google Maps for another version of two of the iPhone, and now some customers are considering switching. If they get out of the walled garden that turns into a prison, they might not come back.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#276

Post by redcircle »

outside1234 wrote: post #141
headShrinker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is relative and adds very little to the discussion here.

Sorry - my point is that (minus sarcasm), for the first time, Apple has done something to discourage folks from upgrading both on the hardware and OS fronts. Not a great move.

I agree: I am not installing iOS 6 until I can install a Google mapping app (besides their Google Earth).

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#277

Post by enraged_camel »

ForrestN wrote: post #203

It's obvious that Google withheld or made it prohibitively expensive for Apple to pay for the liscence to google maps. It does retroactively make the case for handling these things in-house, especially when the partner is a competitor. After years of giving Google valuable data to the point where it becomes a major competitive advantage, google presumably says "go to hell."

I don't know why you got down-voted, because you're most likely correct. A lot of people blame Apple for making this move out of pure spite (and perhaps some grudge), but they probably did a huge cost-benefit analysis to be able to justify the switch.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#278

Post by ryannielsen »

enraged_camel wrote: post #259
spitx wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs would have fired the whole Maps team, en masse. Furiousness is a skill. Tim Cook falls short here.

Actually, Jobs would never have allowed Maps to be released in this state to begin with.

So… you two both personally knew SJ?

And SJ, while he was leading Apple, was always without fault?

If that's the case, how do you explain Ping? MobileMe? The G4 Cube?

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#279

Post by diggan »

jsnell wrote: post #269
angryasian wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple and Google had an agreement in place. It was apple that chose not to continue this agreement. Speculation: I find it hard to believe from a business perspective that Google would want to do anything to harm this relationship as the map and map search provider on the ios platform. Being the default service for maps on ios is a win for google. Even if they release an app at this point, they aren't the default whi…

There is no way that it was a unilateral decision by either company. Clearly there was some offer (e.g. more money, dropping patent lawsuits against Android) that Google would have been happy with. Or some terms that Apple would have been happy with (e.g. lower cost, access to more API features). It's not either party's fault alone that they couldn't agree about the terms.

Don't forget that Apple and Google is currently playing in the same game, smartphones and tablets. Probably a strategic move by Apple.

Re: The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

#280

Post by andrewljohnson »

grey-area wrote: post #2

What confuses me about Apple's choice of maps here is why they didn't go with OpenStreetMap? It was the perfect opportunity to leapfrog Google and help the open source community at the same time, and they would have had more control over the data - as it is they are beholden to TomTom and other providers to try to get things fixed, or will have to try to merge future map updates with their own patches. As it is they…

OSM is only comparable to commercial data in Europe AFAIK, and there, only in some places.

It's not surprising that densely populated areas in Europe/UK are complete and accurate in OSM.

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