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Google Maps for iOS Downloaded More than 10 Million Times
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Look at my join date and you'll realize I've been an apple fan forever. And, really I go back to Apple IIe so I'm hardly a hater.
But some of you fanboys are completely out of control. Apple maps is awful. The other day, it sent me to a wawa (convenience store) that was really someone's house. Pulled up map quest and they rerouted me just fine.
Now i have Google maps and Apple Maps has been relegated to the crap folder.
When you have 10M hate your default app so much that they immediately download google maps, you're doing something really wrong. Inertia and laziness is a huge factor in people sticking with what they have. You have 10M jump ship and that's not a loss? Please.
Ooooh only 10M instead of 100M who were prompted (IIRC) to update their iOS?
But some of you fanboys are completely out of control. Apple maps is awful. The other day, it sent me to a wawa (convenience store) that was really someone's house. Pulled up map quest and they rerouted me just fine.
Now i have Google maps and Apple Maps has been relegated to the crap folder.
When you have 10M hate your default app so much that they immediately download google maps, you're doing something really wrong. Inertia and laziness is a huge factor in people sticking with what they have. You have 10M jump ship and that's not a loss? Please.
Ooooh only 10M instead of 100M who were prompted (IIRC) to update their iOS?
If you look at the number of times it was downloaded, the fact that it has 20,000 some odd ratings/reviews isn't surprising at all.
Heck, even I (someone who rarely writes reviews) wrote one for Google Maps because I want to be a voice (albeit a very small one) that helps drive home the point to Apple that while I still support the company and its products in general, Apple Maps is complete and utter rubbish in my experience here in the U.S.
Heck, even I (someone who rarely writes reviews) wrote one for Google Maps because I want to be a voice (albeit a very small one) that helps drive home the point to Apple that while I still support the company and its products in general, Apple Maps is complete and utter rubbish in my experience here in the U.S.
Yeah but how many of those ratings are people simply giving it a high rating cause they are pissed at apple's maps solution and havent even tried the app yet? I mean realistically can you give a fair review of a maps app you have had for 2 days and maybe used 20 times only in your city?
The fact is, Google has rampant map errors (as many have pointed out) that do not get the publicity that apples errors do. I wonder how many people will complain about google maps now that errors in mapping apps have been brought in the spotlight?
I also dont see how you base any free app as a success based on the number of downloads, should be based on the number of people that actually use it more than like 10 times... I have downloaded plenty of free apps that I didnt intend on using at the time (and still havent) but i downloaded because its free and I might want to use it someday... in fact I just downloaded all the Halfbrick games because they are free for 24 hours even though none of them have any interest to me. Also there are some programs that give rewards just for downloading (and sometimes you have to actually use it for a bit) certain apps, that could really alter download numbers statistical significance too.
Im sticking with Apple maps as it is more accurate and gives a much better user experience in my opinion than Google maps on any platform I have used ever has. This is partially due to the turn by turn navigation I have wanted since getting an iPhone, and google adding it now is just plain too late, sorry nice try.
I downloaded it the day it was released but I haven't used it since. Doing side by side comparisons, what I found is that Apple maps is pretty darn good; it shows more POIs in my area, is easier on the eyes and when it comes to UI, I find Apple maps to be more intuitive and polished.
Some examples off the top of my head... I don't need to see every street painted in green if there's no traffic there... just show me the problem areas in orange and red like Apple maps which reduces clutter and makes the map easier to read. Also, the fact that a POI detail is disconnected from the pin and requires 2 swipes up to see the full page is annoying. Speaking of swipes, I always thought that Google's 2 finger swipe down to reveal 3D maps was backwards and now that I'm accustomed to Apple's more intuitive swipe up approach, it made going back to Google's gesture that much more awkward. There's also a problem with gesture sensitivity so it often overshoots how far I want to pan or zoom in and out. Lastly, I find Yelp integration with its reviews and photos more usefu, more often, than Google reviews and street view.
All in all, since I rarely use street view and transit maps, I'll probably just keep this as backup.
Some examples off the top of my head... I don't need to see every street painted in green if there's no traffic there... just show me the problem areas in orange and red like Apple maps which reduces clutter and makes the map easier to read. Also, the fact that a POI detail is disconnected from the pin and requires 2 swipes up to see the full page is annoying. Speaking of swipes, I always thought that Google's 2 finger swipe down to reveal 3D maps was backwards and now that I'm accustomed to Apple's more intuitive swipe up approach, it made going back to Google's gesture that much more awkward. There's also a problem with gesture sensitivity so it often overshoots how far I want to pan or zoom in and out. Lastly, I find Yelp integration with its reviews and photos more usefu, more often, than Google reviews and street view.
All in all, since I rarely use street view and transit maps, I'll probably just keep this as backup.
just because you and some other people are having minor issues with a new app (and yes pretty much any mapping error is really only a minor issue as only a retard would not realize a convenience store is probably not in a housing developement) does not mean it is awful... what about all the features they added that now google desperately rushed to get into their new app?
Personally, this whole Apple Maps "Errors" issue has only made me realize how many errors I had when using the old google maps app. (places marked in completely wrong spot in my town, or showing results to places that havent existed for years or not showing places that have existed for years)
Fact is, for every person who has a problem and complains about Apple Maps, there are at least 5 people (and that is halving the data everyone else here is pointing out) who do not have any problems with Apple Maps - you just dont hear from them because of the same reason you dont really hear much good things about any product, people mostly only post their opinion when it is negative.
Agreed. The maps debacle is quite a good benchmark of fanboy level. Some of the apologists of Apple maps here may be living in a world that's modified by Apple to match their maps app (cf The OnionLook at my join date and you'll realize I've been an apple fan forever. And, really I go back to Apple IIe so I'm hardly a hater.
But some of you fanboys are completely out of control. Apple maps is awful. The other day, it sent me to a wawa (convenience store) that was really someone's house. Pulled up map quest and they rerouted me just fine.
Now i have Google maps and Apple Maps has been relegated to the crap folder.
When you have 10M hate your default app so much that they immediately download google maps, you're doing something really wrong. Inertia and laziness is a huge factor in people sticking with what they have. You have 10M jump ship and that's not a loss? Please.
Ooooh only 10M instead of 100M who were prompted (IIRC) to update their iOS?
)
I'm still trying to figure out why someone comes to a site like MacRumors to remind people what a great company Google is. Why do you care? I mean I'm not going to sites like androidauthority.com defending Apple. I honestly could care less what they think/say about Apple.
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In your opinion.Nah man, Apple makes the best looking hardware and a pretty end user experience. Gotta hand it to Apple though, their customer support is awesome.
But let's not get carried away with saying best hardware or best OS
Man, you're really pushing the excuses. 10 million downloads in 2 days isn't a success because it's free? Like people haven't been clamoring for it's inclusion since the release of iOS6, and now that it's here and people are downloading it, well...that doesn't say anything at all about it's popularity.
I mean comeon. They might just run it once.
Course it would've been nice if we iOS users got turn by turn navigation a'la Android at least a year ago. I blame Google and Apple both on that front, though. Not just Google alone. Apple relied on Google for all their mapping data, but wanted their name on everything. That's understandable, it's their mapping data. Their back end. Their hard work. Though I do think they could've come up with some compromise before Apple decided to drop it entirely for their own (at the moment still rather lacking) service.
The whole mapping situation is corporate politics at its worst.
I bet if the situation was reversed - you (or many others) would be bravo'ing Apple for it's tremendous download and great reviews. Maybe not you - but there seems to be a bit of a double standard.
P.S. - your frustration re: TbT is misplaced. It's not Google's "fault". It's not really Apple's fault. They both wanted something and couldn't reach an agreement. But sure - go ahead and "blame" Google for it.
You know you can like/enjoy both Apple and Google, right? Just because someone likes Google's apps doesn't make them hate Apple and vice-versa.
Strawman argument/defence there.
- Nonsense. I have other apps, including one for navigation, that work just fine with my contacts in iOS.
Like: That it autocompletes what I might be looking for (if I type it correctly).
Don't Like: It's SLOOOOWWW... Took 30 seconds to draw the map at my current location (on Verizon with full bars).
It's nice, but not totally sold.
Don't Like: It's SLOOOOWWW... Took 30 seconds to draw the map at my current location (on Verizon with full bars).
It's nice, but not totally sold.
Uh what? If you don't know an area, you rely on the map app to find things for you. Or am I only supposed to use Apple maps for places I'm intimately familiar with?
How am I supposed to know that when I make my last right turn to the block where the convenience store supposedly is according to apple maps that it's a housing block. Do you understand what a convenience store is? It's not like I was looking for LAX in the middle of a treelined street.
You deserve another one of these:
I miss the days when there were apple fans and not apple fanboys.
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Apple makes the best hardware.
Apple makes the best end user OS, regardless of platform.
Apple has the best customer support.
And "the Google" makes the best map app for iOS.
I can live with that.
Yes, and Apple Maps is perfectly good for 95% or more of users.
I downloaded it just to play around with. Apple maps is my main navigation software, I love using Siri to pull up my route.
I don't really care about your post but the fact that you are trying to call this person a retard for what is actually the software's mistake is absolutely disgusting.
With this said... Google Maps isn't all its cracked up to be.
I will admit that Apple Maps was very frustrating upon first release. I have never gotten wrong directions before - mainly frustrated in regards to POI search. It seemed Google was much better at producing relevant or ANY results, where as at first launch Apple only returned matches if they were a 100% match (not very good when you are unsure of a name or place).
However, this is where Apple Maps has steadily improved since its launch in iOS 6, and they now show related or relevant results that don't always 100% match the search (in a good way). So much so that Apple Maps has performed better than Google Maps in a few POI requests. When I went to Santacon in NYC this past weekend and had no idea where the "Pier 84" starting meetup was I found one such instance that supports this. Wanting to try out Google Maps I searched for it - and wasn't really given a clearcut answer to where it was.
Comically, I switched to Apple maps, searched the same entry, and got an exact and much more clearcut result. See below:
Google Maps:
![FB17F64F-ED71-4B76-B437-E0BADFC8DE86-6206-000003F3FDF4D9FA.jpg]()
Apple Maps:
![212A2E45-A56A-4E21-801F-A083AF6DEE75-6206-000003F3FBB0A2A9.jpg]()
As you can see, Google brought up "Pier 84 Supply Co". I was unsure if that was where the Pier was located, and later discovered that Google Maps had the pier labeled as a "Dog Park". If you look at Apple Maps result for the same search, it comes up with a much better answer and correctly has the pier labeled and noted as a park.
I then used Apple Maps to navigate me to the destination. It did so flawlessly and it was the first time I have relied on it 100% for turn by turn directions to get me to a place I was unfamiliar with (rather than simply testing it out on release). I was very impressed, especially with the lock screen integration and lighting the screen when directions are being given temporarily when its locked.
As such, I will definitely be using Apple Maps as my default and first-to mapping service. Hopefully I won't run into any problems, but if I do, I can just check Google quick. I would rather use Apple Maps though going forward for the improved integration and to make it better/more accurate. Not to mention, I'm not exactly a "fan" of the new Google Maps UI. I don't like how the names for the pins show up at the bottom now instead of on the pin, and to operate the app is a bit cumbersome.
I will admit that Apple Maps was very frustrating upon first release. I have never gotten wrong directions before - mainly frustrated in regards to POI search. It seemed Google was much better at producing relevant or ANY results, where as at first launch Apple only returned matches if they were a 100% match (not very good when you are unsure of a name or place).
However, this is where Apple Maps has steadily improved since its launch in iOS 6, and they now show related or relevant results that don't always 100% match the search (in a good way). So much so that Apple Maps has performed better than Google Maps in a few POI requests. When I went to Santacon in NYC this past weekend and had no idea where the "Pier 84" starting meetup was I found one such instance that supports this. Wanting to try out Google Maps I searched for it - and wasn't really given a clearcut answer to where it was.
Comically, I switched to Apple maps, searched the same entry, and got an exact and much more clearcut result. See below:
Google Maps:
Apple Maps:
As you can see, Google brought up "Pier 84 Supply Co". I was unsure if that was where the Pier was located, and later discovered that Google Maps had the pier labeled as a "Dog Park". If you look at Apple Maps result for the same search, it comes up with a much better answer and correctly has the pier labeled and noted as a park.
I then used Apple Maps to navigate me to the destination. It did so flawlessly and it was the first time I have relied on it 100% for turn by turn directions to get me to a place I was unfamiliar with (rather than simply testing it out on release). I was very impressed, especially with the lock screen integration and lighting the screen when directions are being given temporarily when its locked.
As such, I will definitely be using Apple Maps as my default and first-to mapping service. Hopefully I won't run into any problems, but if I do, I can just check Google quick. I would rather use Apple Maps though going forward for the improved integration and to make it better/more accurate. Not to mention, I'm not exactly a "fan" of the new Google Maps UI. I don't like how the names for the pins show up at the bottom now instead of on the pin, and to operate the app is a bit cumbersome.
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Wait, did you search Google Maps first or Apple Maps?
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In all seriousness, this site definitely isn't the best place to conduct these polls.