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Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

blog.telemapics.com

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Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#81

Post by InclinedPlane »

lispm wrote: post #35

The article does not really provide much new information. That mapping is hard is known. That there are companies who have much experience in this area and that Apple will have to compete with them is known - from Google, over Garmin to Nokia. It's just that it is hard and that it will take Apple a lot of time and investment to bring the mapping functionality to a better level. I'm pretty sure Apple knows that. It's…

You can get away with releasing a flawed first gen product as long as you are forging into a new field. Both the iPod and the iPhone had plenty of competitors, but they were also so massively differentiated from the rest of the market that they effectively created new product categories (especially the iPhone).

When you try to compete with an entrenched product that is feature rich and highly polished (such as google maps) you either need to differentiate your product or come to the table with an equal level of polish. Apple has failed to do this. They have made a classic "strategy tax" blunder.

This move is straight out of the playbook of the old, bad Microsoft and the old, bad IBM. It's the sort of fundamentally bad idea that a big, dumb, lumbering company makes. If there's anyone in the world that is happy about this it has to be the people on the surface team at Microsoft. Because it shows how massively vulnerable Apple is to competition now. Whatever magic Apple used to have, it seems to be gone.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#83

Post by dvanduzer »

saurik wrote: post #75
dvanduzer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Which companies succeeded at "getting social to work?" Facebook? 2) Okay. I've tried to buy large numbers of servers from Apple in the past. They really aren't server people, it's true. I was trying to buy these servers because I was working for a company whose primary business is searching through petabytes of data. Apple was and still is kicking the shit out of everyone with Spotlight. 3) I'm not saying there ha…

1) A more relevant example in this case might be Spotify in specific, but sure: Facebook. Do you honestly disagree? If so, I am pretty certain you are in the minority. In a list of 7 reasons a reporter from the Huffington Post "left iTunes for Spotify", #7 was "Spotify gets social" (with specific contrast to Ping). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/left-itunes-for-spo... 4) I currently host jailbreakme.com, bu…

1) I think Ping was a shitty idea, and that no one anywhere has gotten "social" right.

4) I said hello on IRC a little bit ago. I'm not going to argue the point on security when I'm clearly outclassed.

5) Whoops. I'm just being careless there. Sorry about that.

I'm really only arguing any of this because of the remark "Apple actually makes this kind of mistake often." This maps thing is a rare, but colossal fuckup from Apple. First other thing that came to mind was when they cut the original iPhone sticker price by $200 only a couple weeks after it came out.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#84

Post by prawks »

raldi wrote: post #82

I'm sorry, but can someone paste the part of this article where Google announces anything about 400 years? I can't find it.

I'm thinking it's a ploy to get people to read yet another criticism of Apple's new maps.

We get it, they're bad.

EDIT: Frankly, I think it's pretty hilarious this article is so long and formal.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#85

Post by sethg »

DanBC wrote: post #71

> I suspect that Apple does not yet understand what a headache it will be to integrate the information from these three disparate sources. This is ridiculous in the year 2012. Nothing about this should be a headache (apart from people keeping their data secret for various reasons) yet it's still bafflingly hard.

I’ve been hip-deep in this kind of thing for years, and it really is hard.

Suppose that data source A has a point for “Logan Airport” and data source B has a point (a few hundred feet away) for “General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport” and data source C has a separate data point for every terminal.... on a case-by-case basis it’s not hard to resolve questions like this, but when you try to come up with an algorithm that scales to tens of millions of map features, you spend a lot of time scratching your head saying “why did it do THAT?!?!”

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#86

Post by sigzero »

hythloday wrote: post #13

"[Apple's] problem is that they thought they did not have a problem." Crucial insight, there. From the perspective of an observer who has no special affection for Apple, it's surprising that a company of that competence would succumb to such a basic process error.

I doubt that Apple was not aware of how good or bad their maps program was.

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#88

Post by jlmendezbonini »

saurik wrote: post #75
dvanduzer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Which companies succeeded at "getting social to work?" Facebook? 2) Okay. I've tried to buy large numbers of servers from Apple in the past. They really aren't server people, it's true. I was trying to buy these servers because I was working for a company whose primary business is searching through petabytes of data. Apple was and still is kicking the shit out of everyone with Spotlight. 3) I'm not saying there ha…

1) A more relevant example in this case might be Spotify in specific, but sure: Facebook. Do you honestly disagree? If so, I am pretty certain you are in the minority. In a list of 7 reasons a reporter from the Huffington Post "left iTunes for Spotify", #7 was "Spotify gets social" (with specific contrast to Ping). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/left-itunes-for-spo... 4) I currently host jailbreakme.com, bu…

I realize my question will be off topic but I'm sure everyone in this thread would appreciate the answer. Apart from deactivating Preview, what other measures do you take to protect your Mac?

Re: Google Maps' advantage over Apple Maps

#90

Post by pagejim »

raldi wrote: post #82

I'm sorry, but can someone paste the part of this article where Google announces anything about 400 years? I can't find it.

If you read the OP carefully, you will find that it is an implicit announcement. Google hasn't announced it explicitly. But the amount of hard work and time that they have put in, takes them years ahead. The number 400 is open to discussion and interpretations.

Read some of the other comments to find out how it can be interpreted.

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