Roundup of Features in Google Maps for iOS: Better Design than Android Version, iPad Version Coming

[galanot]

Hi! You may already talked about that, but is there a way to set this App by default instead of the Apple app?

[chr1s60]

The best feature of the app is that people might quit their whining on the forums about the maps app for at least a few days.

[galanot]

Originally Posted by chr1s60

the best feature of the app is that people might quit their whining on the forums about the maps app for at least a few days.

lol

[Zeusz]

Originally Posted by BuckusToothnuts

This Google Maps app ALONE is worth the price of admission of the iPhone 5.

Apple should really be kicking back some of the profits they make off iOS now back to Google.

If Google acted like Apple, they would have kept Google Maps exclusive to Android. Instead, they allowed iOS users have it for FREE.

Google supports customer choice whereas Apple believes in creating a monopoly.

Google believes in offering the best user experience despite jeopardizing potential revenues whereas Apple believes in protecting potential revenues despite jeopardizing the user experience.

Bravo Google! Thanks for making our iPhones complete again.

Yea, right. So Google's desire to make a profit by knowing more about you has nothing to do with Google Maps.

[DodgeV83]

Originally Posted by Analog Kid

If only Google had provided these features a little bit sooner those poor people in Australia may have never been in such danger...

Australian police issued the same warning for Google Maps users, but link-bait stories tend to favor Apple, so I'm sure you haven't heard of this

Police warn of safety concerns from Google Maps

[efktd]

Wow I totally missed google's layout. And green, yellow and red traffic!!!

[BWhaler]

Originally Posted by iChrist

That's fine. But since then, the Jobs' wonder boy, mr Forstall, has sat on iOS and let the competition catch up. It's too bad.

.

QTF.

THis is what happened in the 80's. Apple with the early lead but let competitors filled the gap. Even "good enough" was enough to win.

Apple has smart people. I hope they learn from this mistake and kick innovation back into high gear. The battle is far from over.

[coolbreeze]

"Google admits iOS app is superior than Android app" (design).

WTF is Google smoking? I'm a total Android fanboy (own a Nexus 4 and Note 2) and just cannot understand why Google is handing over their amazing app to iOS.

Yes, ad revenue, blablabla, but all these elated iPhone fans are the same people who probably were disgruntled with maps for iOS6 and probably weighed a switch to Android.

Now, Google has locked them into iOS...they are all like "wow, google! thanks for giving us the best map and navigation app ever!"

Translation - never getting an Android phone - lost conversion opportunity.

Again, I get market share and all that jazz, but google is just giving away the farm. Strange, really. (again, I understand search revenue, etc).

But at the end of the day, my Note 2 (primary) and Nexus 4 (spare, weekend and stuff) smokes my iPhone. No contest.

No troll.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by arn

Google wanted things in return

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/26/...ation-dispute/

Honestly I don't mind the Google branding, but I didn't even know what Latitude exactly did until I searched it up. No one (and I mean no one) that I have ever met uses it, mostly because they value their privacy.
I'm still somewhat ambivalent about Apple Maps (it does not map a new hospital in the vicinity), but I still think it works quite darn well as long as I don't use satellite imaging. If Apple refused to integrate Google Maps because Google tried to enforce a service that not many people use and could invade a person's privacy, then I guess Apple didn't really have a choice but to refuse the better mapping solution, but I'd still prefer the integrated solution like Apple Maps over a standalone app.

[unobtainium]

Originally Posted by DodgeV83

Australian police issued the same warning for Google Maps users, but link-bait stories tend to favor Apple, so I'm sure you haven't heard of this

Police warn of safety concerns from Google Maps

Yeah, once the media seizes on a particular meme (in this case, "Apple Maps = Terrible Disaster") they will. not. let. it. go. In my opinion, Steve Jobs would have handled the fallout differently. He was good at resisting the media's appetite for scandal. Look at how he defused the antennagate thing. He basically stood up and denied that it was even an issue: "Yeah, no...all phones do that. See, here's a demonstration of the same thing happening on a Samsung phone. You're just holding it wrong." Despite the massive potential for a sales catastrophe, the iPhone 4 went on to be a huge seller. If Tim Cook had been in charge during "antennagate" he would have issued a public apology and fired Apple's top engineer or something. And the media attention would only have ballooned.

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by coolbreeze

"Google admits iOS app is superior than Android app" (design).

WTF is Google smoking? I'm a total Android fanboy (own a Nexus 4 and Note 2) and just cannot understand why Google is handing over their amazing app to iOS.

Yes, ad revenue, blablabla, but all these elated iPhone fans are the same people who probably were disgruntled with maps for iOS6 and probably weighed a switch to Android.

Now, Google has locked them into iOS...they are all like "wow, google! thanks for giving us the best map and navigation app ever!"

Translation - never getting an Android phone - lost conversion opportunity.

Again, I get market share and all that jazz, but google is just giving away the farm. Strange, really. (again, I understand search revenue, etc).

But at the end of the day, my Note 2 (primary) and Nexus 4 (spare, weekend and stuff) smokes my iPhone. No contest.

No troll.

You should be happy with Google because Google is open! It's no Evil!
If it refuses to release maps for iOS, doesn't it look more like Apple, the company that you hate?

[golfgrouch]

Originally Posted by pirateyarrr

...I can deal with typing in the first few letters of where I want to get to and having it pop up instantly.

This doesn't work with people.

No direct access to the addresses in your contacts is a huge deficiency.

[Mackan]

Originally Posted by kbt1020

Well at least now older iPhones can get a quality turn-by-turn.

I am sure Apple doesn't like that (damn, we couldn't force them to upgrade). Well, they probably don't like anything with regards to maps now. Good lesson for them.

[twigman08]

Originally Posted by coolbreeze

"Google admits iOS app is superior than Android app" (design).

WTF is Google smoking? I'm a total Android fanboy (own a Nexus 4 and Note 2) and just cannot understand why Google is handing over their amazing app to iOS.

Yes, ad revenue, blablabla, but all these elated iPhone fans are the same people who probably were disgruntled with maps for iOS6 and probably weighed a switch to Android.

Now, Google has locked them into iOS...they are all like "wow, google! thanks for giving us the best map and navigation app ever!"

Translation - never getting an Android phone - lost conversion opportunity.

Again, I get market share and all that jazz, but google is just giving away the farm. Strange, really. (again, I understand search revenue, etc).

Maybe it is because Google has absolutely no problem with competition and welcomes it? Their are companies out there that welcome competition.

Also you will be surprised how many will go out and buy a product just because they had a good experience from that company before (one reason why Apple is so popular right now). Google gives users a good experience then a lot of users will want to give another Google Product a try.

[/dev/toaster]

The scrolling is so damn jagged. I hope this fix this, because it is terrible to use.

[johndoejohndoes]

This is great. Instead of being forced to use a ****** Maps services Google is finally dominating again with an Ap that is 10X better than Apple Maps.

They could have charged .99 cents and made a fortune on this thing!

[Dominicanyor]

So what happens to the original map that came with the iPhone?

[Oletros]

Originally Posted by Icaras

What an awkward turn of events for Samsung. So do they now have to remove that anti-iPhone ad talking down about iOS Maps in Australia now?

Why? Navigon has been sold on the App Store since a while

[johndoejohndoes]

Originally Posted by /dev/toaster

The scrolling is so damn jagged. I hope this fix this, because it is terrible to use.

If "scrolling" is a major problem then there's not too much to complain about. I'd rather have "jagged" scrolling that gets me to where I need to go instead of smooth scrolling that gets me lost.

[Nale72]

Originally Posted by xofruitcake

I beg to differ. IOS is the clear big winner here. IOS users did not have access to the Google turn by turn navigation before Apple kicked them out of IOS 6. Now IOS user has access to the feature. The price is 3 months of confusion and not having access to Google map. But at the end, they get a better product.

Apple is also a winner here too. Google map in IOS is at least as good as in Android now. And the price is a hit on corporate image and bruised ego for the Apple software development team. They will have a very hard time to live down the map problem and all the trash talking until Apple fix the map problem. In a year, customers won't remember much about this problem and Apple does not have to give in to Google demand of either branding in the map or Google latitude.

I dunno, like arn wrote in post #19:

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/26/...ation-dispute/

Quote:
Apple reportedly pushed hard for voice navigation in Google's maps on iOS, but Google was unwilling to hand over the functionality without concessions from Apple. As detailed by other sources, Google was seeking greater control over the mapping experience on the iPhone, such as Google branding and Google Latitude integration, concessions Apple was unwilling to make.

To me Google looks like the clear winner (beside the iOS users). They now got their branded app and, more or less, full control over their app with ads and integration they choose to use. And even though it isn't the default iOS app, they have made it possible to other app makers to link to Google Maps instead of the default Apple Maps. And they got this without having to pay Apple for it. Instead they more or less got payed in a way when they got to be the heroes that saved the iOS users from the (in most places) pretty crappy Apple Maps.

[coolbreeze]

Originally Posted by haruhiko

You should be happy with Google because Google is open! It's no Evil!
If it refuses to release maps for iOS, doesn't it look more like Apple, the company that you hate?

I never said I hate Apple. I genuinely have issues with how they sue everyone who makes competing stuff, but they certainly have their place in the world with people who want a power button and zero issues.

Be open, sure. But don't give all your stuff away, preventing people from buying into your platform/ecosystem.

But again, Google obviously knows what they are doing. And I personally feel being all open-y and free appy, etc, gives iOS users who are bored/frustrated less reasons to switch to Android.

And BTW, Andorid, with Jellybean, has come a LONG way. I highly suggest any skeptic/iOS fanboy to try it out. Simply put - well, you will have to see for yourself. Apple has it's work cut out for them, IMO.

[johndoejohndoes]

Originally Posted by coolbreeze

"Google admits iOS app is superior than Android app" (design).

WTF is Google smoking? I'm a total Android fanboy (own a Nexus 4 and Note 2) and just cannot understand why Google is handing over their amazing app to iOS.

Yes, ad revenue, blablabla, but all these elated iPhone fans are the same people who probably were disgruntled with maps for iOS6 and probably weighed a switch to Android.

Now, Google has locked them into iOS...they are all like "wow, google! thanks for giving us the best map and navigation app ever!"

Translation - never getting an Android phone - lost conversion opportunity.

Again, I get market share and all that jazz, but google is just giving away the farm. Strange, really. (again, I understand search revenue, etc).

But at the end of the day, my Note 2 (primary) and Nexus 4 (spare, weekend and stuff) smokes my iPhone. No contest.

No troll.

Maybe they're going it to pull the App forever in a year or two so then we really HAVE to switch to Android because their Maps are so much better? lol

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by coolbreeze

"Google admits iOS app is superior than Android app" (design).

WTF is Google smoking? I'm a total Android fanboy (own a Nexus 4 and Note 2) and just cannot understand why Google is handing over their amazing app to iOS.

Yes, ad revenue, blablabla, but all these elated iPhone fans are the same people who probably were disgruntled with maps for iOS6 and probably weighed a switch to Android.

Now, Google has locked them into iOS...they are all like "wow, google! thanks for giving us the best map and navigation app ever!"

Translation - never getting an Android phone - lost conversion opportunity.

Again, I get market share and all that jazz, but google is just giving away the farm. Strange, really. (again, I understand search revenue, etc).

But at the end of the day, my Note 2 (primary) and Nexus 4 (spare, weekend and stuff) smokes my iPhone. No contest.

No troll.

It really proves that Google is all about you using their services... regardless of device.

Or manufacturer.

Or OS. (even Google's own OS)

It's all about the money. And the iOS platform is a moneymaker... with many eyeballs... too big to ignore.

[janderson0719]

Originally Posted by BWhaler

It's remarkably rare that an app makes it to my home page.

....?

Instead of your long post, you could of just said, "I was waiting for a dedicated Google maps."

[HiRez]

Wait a minute, is it true that I can't access my (iCloud) Contacts in this app? Am I missing something? That's a dealbreaker if true.