iOS 6 Adoption Up 29% After Google Maps Hits App Store

[Compile 'em all]

Originally Posted by bacaramac

I agree that Google Maps had more data, but I have had no issues with the information that is actually in the Maps App.

My Biggest issue is Google was way smarter in finding places. As in example, if I asked Siri to search for Village Inn, stupid Siri would search for Village In and not find anything. Whereas with Google, if I searched for Village In, it would ask if I meant Village Inn.

Apple needs to fix this ASAP. Google was just way smarter when searching for awkwardly named businesses such as a place called Cookiez instead of Cookies.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

[MattInOz]

Originally Posted by LagunaSol

Wait until Christmas day, when everyone opens their brand-new iOS 6 devices. Google Maps is really going to drive up iOS 6 numbers then!

But how much of that spike was from xmas day two years ago?
I mean parent buy phone sign contract maybe a week before so that it's wrapped up and under the tree. End of contract upgrades for those would occur just before xmas.

Google have been pretty smart about timing on this to have silly writers give them credit for a whole bunch of un-related spikes.

[Ori]

Originally Posted by bacaramac

I agree that Google Maps had more data, but I have had no issues with the information that is actually in the Maps App.

My Biggest issue is Google was way smarter in finding places. As in example, if I asked Siri to search for Village Inn, stupid Siri would search for Village In and not find anything. Whereas with Google, if I searched for Village In, it would ask if I meant Village Inn.

Apple needs to fix this ASAP. Google was just way smarter when searching for awkwardly named businesses such as a place called Cookiez instead of Cookies.

That is my biggest gripe. Google maps search is so much better than apples version. You start to type an address and it completes it. You make a mistake and it asks if you meant ....... Very useful. Now if only I could set the default maps app to google maps and I will be happy!

[MattInOz]

Originally Posted by nagromme

Notice that Apple’s iOS 6 Maps app ALREADY links directly to the Google Maps app for transit. You’d almost think Apple wants the best experience for users, and that they’re not the lone bad guy in all this...

Except that this works in areas Google doesn't provide Transit directions. Time to hit up Apple feedback.

[jamescobalt]

Maybe... I had waited till Google Maps was out (city boy who needs fast and easy public transit data) as did a couple of my friends... *shrug* Still, that seems like it could be too big an increase in adoption to be solely attributable to the maps issue.

[gmanist1000]

Originally Posted by Cod3rror

It needs more stuff...

Starred items don't show the name you've given them in the bookmarks, instead they are displayed as coordinates.

Cannot add an address to a contact. Cannot drop a pin and assign the address to a contact.

Cannot give a starred place a custom name.

No Compass lock, sometimes when pinching the map gets tilted by accident. I'd like an option to lock the compass.

Multiple pins drop - I'd like to be able to drop multiple pins on the map and route between them.

Route from - cannot do anything else but write in an address. I'd like to route my contact's address for example or pick a map point to route from.

Route drag, an ability to drag the navigational route, like it's possible on the desktop Google Maps website would be nice.

Those are all great ideas, hopefully they come in future updates.

[Maschil]

ios is dead

[Medic311]

Originally Posted by Maschil

ios is dead

and elvis is alive

[stewy]

Originally Posted by nepalisherpa

Could it be that more people are buying iPhone 5/new iPads (which come with iOS 6 to begin with) for holiday gifts?

If they're monitoring ads I would think that the device would have to be on and connected to the Internet to be counted. Not in a closet or under a Christmas tree.

Leave it to google to make the iphone useful again...

[benthewraith]

Originally Posted by thekris1234

Ironic that the developer of a platform with slow adoption rates can cause the adoption rate of a rival platform to surge.

Android has done quite well adoption wise.

[iChrist]

Originally Posted by nepalisherpa

Could it be that more people are buying iPhone 5/new iPads (which come with iOS 6 to begin with) for holiday gifts?

Umm no. Since the day you actually give the gift has not yet arrived. Those devices are not activated yet.

[a0me]

So let's recap:
- Apple's CEO publicly apologized about how bad Apple Maps is, and went as far as recommending users consider competitors' alternative services.
- Apple fired iOS senior VP and the manager responsible for Maps.
- Over 10 million iOS users downloaded Google Maps in its first 48 hours on the App Store.
- iOS 6 adoption goes up 29% after Google Maps hits the App Store.

And there's still some people who will insist that Apple Maps is perfectly fine...

[chleuasme]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

TechCrunch spoke to MoPub CEO Jim Payne

http://www.mopub.com/about/

MoPub was founded by former AdMob and Google team members.

Prior to AdMob, Jim [Payne] was on the product team at Google, where he built the Maps Premier business and led Google’s real-time search initiatives.

[FluJunkie]

While this was at least true for me...man those are some appallingly bad statistics and data visualization.

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by MattInOz

Except that this works in areas Google doesn't provide Transit directions. Time to hit up Apple feedback.

And/or Google feedback

Luckily, Apple’s Maps app will link to other transit apps as well—you get multiple choices if you have multiple ones installed. (I have both Navigon and Google for instance.)

Originally Posted by a0me

So let's recap:
- Apple's CEO publicly apologized about how bad Apple Maps is, and went as far as recommending users consider competitors' alternative services.
- Apple fired iOS senior VP and the manager responsible for Maps.
- Over 10 million iOS users downloaded Google Maps in its first 48 hours on the App Store.
- iOS 6 adoption goes up 29% after Google Maps hits the App Store.

And there's still some people who will insist that Apple Maps is perfectly fine...

It’s perfectly fine—for me. Nobody (other than Artie McStrawman) will argue that it’s fine for everyone.

I will argue two things, though:

a) Your points demonstrate that Maps have a PR problem—not whether that problem in actual reality is as big as the media and blogs would have you believe. Maybe—maybe not.

b) Google’s maps are full of problems too (even life-threatening ones in Australia). Google can’t find my city’s main bus station! Apple can. Google has missed all kinds of road closures in my (US) city. Apple has them correctly. Google misplaces lots of local businesses. Apple misplaces different ones. (I used to use Bing a lot when Google let me down. Now I’ll use Google when Apple lets me down.)

Apple’s problems are real—but that doesn’t mean there are more problems than before. Just different ones, in different areas. There COULD be more, but we don’t have that info.

People notice problems if they are told to look for them. If someone had gotten the media riled up a year ago to say that “Google’s data has gone bad—now full of errors,” people would suddenly notice all the errors and believe the story!

To say Apple’s Maps are significantly worse than Google’s, you need actual data, not anecdotes and bias. It very well may be MUCH worse, in which case I’ve been lucky. But the media has cried wolf on big Apple scandals too many times to just accept them every time. And this one smells the same way antennagate did: you get a LOT of people complaining on OTHER peoples’ hypothetical behalf... and very FEW people complaining on their own behalf.

The only real data I know of is this test in Canada, showing Google’s data being worse than Apple's:

http://blog.tabini.ca/2012/09/old-maps-vs-new-maps/

[nagromme]

* Delete - double post *

[a0me]

Originally Posted by nagromme

People notice problems if they are told to look for them. If someone had gotten the media riled up a year ago to say that “Google’s data has gone bad—now full of errors,” people would suddenly notice all the errors and believe the story!

To say Apple’s Maps are significantly worse than Google’s, you need actual data, not anecdotes and bias. It very well may be MUCH worse, in which case I’ve been lucky. But the media has cried wolf on big Apple scandals too many times to just accept them every time. And this one smells the same way antennagate did: you get a LOT of people complaining on OTHER peoples’ hypothetical behalf... and very FEW people complaining on their own behalf.

I realize that your experience may vary depending on where you live. I live in Japan and Apple Maps are completely unusable over here: public transit is the main travel mode in this 130-million people island, but even major train stations (some of the busiest hubs in the world) don't show up on Apple Maps, and the App doesn't give directions for public transit. The fact that the mapping data that Apple Maps use is grossly inaccurate, has about zero POI and can't tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Korean, is just the cherry on top.

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by nepalisherpa

Could it be that more people are buying iPhone 5/new iPads (which come with iOS 6 to begin with) for holiday gifts?

Doubt it. That'll show in data for the 25th Dec and onwards when people unwrap presents. People don't buy an iPad as a christmas gift for someone but open it first and play around with iOS6. LOL.

Anyway, the pick-up isn't surprising, glad someone tried to do something with the limited data on it. I've now advised my mother it is safe for her to update her iPhone for example since the Apple Maps were useless for where she lives in the UK.

[jwhite878]

Yeah, I think this is more of a "this happened after this" thing than "this happened because of this".

[katewes]

I did not upgrade to iOS 6 because of the lack of Google Maps - but even now I'm not. Waiting for YouTube for iOS 6, or maybe I just don't feel like having an OS with Facebook integration all over the place. I do not want everything I do shared on Facebook. Who, at Apple, thought that Facebook integration was a good idea?

[PeopleTheseDays]

Originally Posted by Consultant

Erasing a device to reinstall the Android counts as an activation.

This is not true, it is unique activations, which has been cleared up multiple times already. Also, even if this did include those figures, which it does not, the impact it would make would most likely be minimal. That would be like saying the majority of ios users jailbreak their devices, which is also not true.

[mrsir2009]

A lot of people also get their paycheques near the end of the week - With along with the fact that it's almost Christmas, could explain why it went up by so much.

[haruhiko]

Originally Posted by katewes

I did not upgrade to iOS 6 because of the lack of Google Maps - but even now I'm not. Waiting for YouTube for iOS 6...

YouTube is on the App Store since forever.

----------

Originally Posted by katewes

...or maybe I just don't feel like having an OS with Facebook integration all over the place. I do not want everything I do shared on Facebook. Who, at Apple, thought that Facebook integration was a good idea?

You need to OPT IN for Facebook integration!!

[SnowLeopard OSX]

Originally Posted by nepalisherpa

Could it be that more people are buying iPhone 5/new iPads (which come with iOS 6 to begin with) for holiday gifts?

That's initially what I had in mind. There are plenty of other Google Map substitutions that were available on iOS 6 prior to the update. I doubt people would hold out on an entire OS upgrade just because of one application. I could be wrong, though.

[BiggAW]

Jailbreak? Oh wait, I gave up, I'm getting my new Galaxy S III soon.