Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
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Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#2It's not shenanigans, it's browser sniffing instead of feature detection, and Google does it on too many of its sites.
What's annoying about this "controversy" is that the minuscule marketshare slice that is windows phones merits this much coverage, when this is daily life for the significantly larger (in absolute number) set of Opera users, on desktop and mobile. There's also a very real reason that Mozilla has considered adding (and is going to add?) webkit prefixes to a few CSS properties.
So, sorry WP users. Unless the claim is also that the Opera/Google war is heating up like crazy, I'm pretty sure you're just being neglected. Welcome to the world of built-in user agent string spoofing just to make sites that would work fine not redirect you first.
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#3I'm very confused. Isn't it in Google's best interests to have everyone in the world using their mapping product? Why would they want to get people on new platforms used to using alternative maps, like, say, http://www.bing.com/maps/?
Something doesn't sound right here...
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#4> Internet Explorer 10 for Windows Phone 8 uses the same rendering engine as the desktop build of Internet Explorer 10, which is certainly capable of loading and running Google Maps.
This argument makes no sense. Google Maps desktop works on IE10, but Google Maps mobile is clearly a totally different site.
I think people are jumping to conclusions here.
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#5I'm very confused. Isn't it in Google's best interests to have everyone in the world using their mapping product? Why would they want to get people on new platforms used to using alternative maps, like, say, http://www.bing.com/maps/ ? Something doesn't sound right here...
It confuses me, too, but they also want me to have to find an alternative to their contacts, calendar, and push-email stuff when I get my next Windows Phone device, even though they're still going to be supporting Exchange syncing for paid Apps accounts.
The sad thing is that the alternative I use might just end up being a Google Apps account... :| so they'll get some money out of that, at least (I'm assuming the free one I have right now will have to be upgraded to get the sync support added back in).
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#6This argument is ridiculous. What business sense would there be for Google to restrict access to Maps on one platform in the interest of "competition"? It's not like any potential WP8 users will be swayed over to Android just because of GMaps, considering Bing Maps is a more than adequate alternative.
Occam's razor: it's more than likely that they just don't want to invest the dev + support time to support WP8 (web or native app). It's a relatively small demographic that isn't growing that fast (yet).
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#7I'm very confused. Isn't it in Google's best interests to have everyone in the world using their mapping product? Why would they want to get people on new platforms used to using alternative maps, like, say, http://www.bing.com/maps/ ? Something doesn't sound right here...
They see Google maps as a strong enough brand that they think people will avoid Windows Phone if it doesn't have it.
I think it's a good move. The last thing we need is our one chance at an Open Source OS being undermined by Microsoft.
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#8I'm very confused. Isn't it in Google's best interests to have everyone in the world using their mapping product? Why would they want to get people on new platforms used to using alternative maps, like, say, http://www.bing.com/maps/ ? Something doesn't sound right here...
As some people have already been pointing out, try maps.google.com in Opera Mobile (if you have an android device handy). I honestly think they just don't care about most mobile browsers.
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#9The real problem is that it is a slap in the face for html. What does Google think it is? Is it a presentation layer standard with ideally many implementations or is it a file format for web kit?
Re: Google Maps redirect issue on Windows Phones is a matter of competition
#10It's not shenanigans, it's browser sniffing instead of feature detection, and Google does it on too many of its sites. What's annoying about this "controversy" is that the minuscule marketshare slice that is windows phones merits this much coverage, when this is daily life for the significantly larger (in absolute number) set of Opera users, on desktop and mobile. There's also a very real reason that Mozilla has cons…
> I'm pretty sure you're just being neglected.
First of all, when "neglect" gives Google leverage to harm a competitor in a different market (using maps to harm a mobile OS vendor), it is reasonable to think it might not be just neglect, but also strategy.
Second, neglect is bad enough by itself. Google has been phasing out support for Opera in properties like blogger.com on desktop, and now is officially on record as saying that google maps for mobile is WebKit-only. That goes against the very basic principle of an open web accessible to all, that Google used to champion.