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With Google Maps they wouldn't have been allowed Turn By Turn. Apple made the decision to prioritize Turn By Turn and thats the decision they live with.

That article is saying there was more than a year left on the existing contract for using Google data for the Apple Map App. They could have kept the existing app, brought out the new non Google data sourced one as a beta and asked the users to help build that up for a complete switchover with iOS 7 with no issues and no damage to the iPhone brand.

All of this distraction (and continuing) for the iPhone 5 launch and sales into the holiday was completely unnecessary.
 
Really? Releasing Maps is a sign that a nearly 1 trillion dollar company is on a slide toward mediocrity? Okay... yeah, because the Maps application is Apple's signature product. [sarcasm]

You know, I'm sick of the, "This wouldn't happen if Steve were here" BS, but I have to say, it really was a huge misstep on Apple's part. Maps are something a lot of people do use their phone for and do find important. GPS is what convinced me to go with the iphone back when I bought the 3G over the other smartphones that were available (and yes, there was competition, it just wasn't doing as well).

As for the "This wouldn't happen if Steve were here" BS... Mobile Me anyone? How he handled Antennagate? HOw about this, if Steve really did have his way with everything, we wouldn't have 3rd party apps on the iphone. That, in my opinion would be at least as big a mis step as this maps thing if not bigger. I really don't think the iphone would have taken off without that, and he only caved cause the other people working at Apple wouldn't leave him alone about it. Sure, Steve Jobs did a lot for Apple, but he was not perfect and he made mistakes too.
 
Alot of these issues come down to the fact that apple closes the betas to developers only. I personally think if apple opened the flood gates to those willing to assume the risks in these betas more kinks would be sorted out before major releases. Personally I'm not a "developer" but was running iOS 6 since its release on my 4S. I noticed tons of issues from daily use, but never took the time to look up how to report them in fear that I would be bricked. Some of these issues still carried over to the public release. It's my belief developers using the iOS 6 for their apps strictly do that, and not much more, while on the other hand those of us that use it for the curiosity factor would be better to notice issues in the overall software
 
I appreciate your thoughtful answer to my post ... but with all due respect... do you know how much a trillion dollars is? I think the entire US economy is only something like 15 trillion. The entire national debt is like 16 trillion. We are talking about ONE COMPANY. Believe me ... please take this one to the bank... this "apps issue" will be virtually forgotten a few months from now and only people on MacRumors and Engadget will even recall it.

Bottom line: a trillion dollar company with a massive trove of patents is not going to be phased by this. Besides, I believe that with Apple's resolve to beat Google and their cash reserves that make it possible ... Apple will create a better Maps product in due time.

Apple is worth about $670G, not $1T.

Think about it from an investor perspective. It doesn't matter how big the company is. If Apple fails to meet expectations, their stock will go down. The price is partially inflated by expectations (not to be confused with artificial bubbles).
 
So, why did Apple just hire an ex-Google employee.?

I believe because Apple KNEW they were no match for Google.

This is not a coincidence...

Yea...even Apple can't match years of data that Google has for maps.

No question.

There is no way that Apple maps could/is better. Overtime it might, but Google has years of head start.
 
Looks like Ill be on iOS 5 for a while.:)

FWIW- I am on a 4S with the new OS 6 and I just checked whether I could use Google Maps like before. I could by going to Google Maps via Safari. It brings up an app and you can get the same kind of directions as before where it shows you one step at a time and you hit an arrow to go to the next direction. Looks a little different as far as where the directions text shows up but it's basically the same. You can put the app on your main page for future convenience.

So far, I prefer the new Apple Maps because it's a true hands-free gps tool that's vastly superior to the old Google maps but if their maps don't work in your area, Google maps is still an option.
 
Spend 1300$ on a phone, so we need to cut them slack?

sweet

You had other options.

It's a new service that is not required to be given to us. Google Nav had similar issues and it took time and user input to improve. So yes since my iPhone works great as advertised and I have no issue with maps, but understand others do, I will cut them some slack.

Your sense of entitlement and requirement of perfection upon initial roll out of a service new to a company is humorous. Buyer beware I guess.
 
I had to create an account to voice my opinion on this one.
...
Lastly, I never considered an Android phone until now. We customers choose our products with our purchases. Companies that think they can bully their customers pay a steep price ala Netflix. If Google submits an app and Apple does not approve it, I will definitely switch to Android on principle alone.

Welcome to the forum. I don't know what principle would cause you to switch to Android based upon competitive decisions, but if that's the case, you should just switch now. Apple and Google are vigorous, antagonistic competitors. Every business decision includes an analysis of how each can try to bury the other. Cutting ties with Google and developing an in-house Maps app is just good business sense. There isn't really any good time to do it - they just have to jump in. As far as bullying "ala Netflix" - I wouldn't call that bullying. Netflix is paying billions in fees to stream content, they had to start charging customers something close to what it actually costs (and it's still an incredible bargain).
 
I'm also one of those that also prefers the new Apple maps - really digging the turn by turn directions.

I guess you like making a right turn on a straight street. Could not believe that maps told me to turn right. Clearly there is something wrong.
 
I'm done with google, they pay piss poor for all the hard work we put into our online videos. I'm looking for another way to monetize my content. They've dive us too many choices and I believe that is bad. They've got us hooked on the free internet with free content. Like a pimp and his hookers they've sold us down the road to destruction. Let's build a new model without these bastards.
 
Yesterday, I was in Seattle and used my Android phone to navigate the bus system (which I know noting about) from the airport to Bellevue, then back to the hotel. Then I used Google Navigation to get me to the Seahawks game on the light rail (what a mess that game was).

I wanted to try this on my iOS6 iPhone, but there is no transit.

Thank God for my Galaxy Nexus. It was a flawless experience using transit nav with Google Maps. Stops down to the second and very accurate directions all around. It just can't be beat and Apple has it's work cut out for them.

If I only had an iPhone, I would be left with juggling paper maps (or the "One Bus Away" app) which is far worse than Google Transit Navigation.

Just sayin'. It was a life-saver and my iPhone was sitting asleep in my pocket. It was all but useless when it came to transit directions/stops/times.
 
Welcome to the forum. I don't know what principle would cause you to switch to Android based upon competitive decisions, but if that's the case, you should just switch now. Apple and Google are vigorous, antagonistic competitors. Every business decision includes an analysis of how each can try to bury the other. Cutting ties with Google and developing an in-house Maps app is just good business sense. There isn't really any good time to do it - they just have to jump in. As far as bullying "ala Netflix" - I wouldn't call that bullying. Netflix is paying billions in fees to stream content, they had to start charging customers something close to what it actually costs (and it's still an incredible bargain).


But to hurt the customer in the name of competition? What if Apple decided to get rid of everything Google related including gmail accounts? Your hurting the customer and making yourself look like a spoiled brat.
 
I guess you like making a right turn on a straight street. Could not believe that maps told me to turn right. Clearly there is something wrong.

I'm not saying that Apple maps is perfect by any means - apparently not since it has received so much criticism - but I hated using Google maps because it was always hard to tell exactly where to turn - especially when driving. I've had no problems with Apple maps but I've only used it once on a trip.
 
Why does everyone ignore the fact that Google was preventing Apple from utilizing turn-by-turn?

I'd rather have turn by turn.

The maps aren't even bad. People just like to complain.

OH YEAH YOU CAN STILL USE GOOGLE MAPS, too.
 
I'm not saying that Apple maps is perfect by any means - apparently not since it has received so much criticism - but I hated using Google maps because it was always hard to tell exactly where to turn - especially when driving. I've had no problems with Apple maps but I've only used it once on a trip.

This. Perfect point. Apple maps is better for turn by turn directions than Google Maps and will rival Google Nav.
 
I'm still on iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 so I haven't experienced any issues people are complaining about. It's stories like this that make me a little hesitant to update to iOS 6. :(
 
You know, here's the thing... while the old maps Apple used was more accurate, it did not do turn by turn instruction nor was it good at the math (at least when I bought a turn by turn app) to make sure it was accurately keeping you on the right road.

So, even before they put out their own maps, it was worth buying a turn by turn app anyways (I have Navigon and one reason why I wasn't too worried about Apple maps, I've had it for a while cause it was worth buying cause it was much more useful than Apple's old app).

So if you need turn by turn map, really nothing has changed. The old app didn't do turn by turn nor did I find it kept itself accurate enough up to the second to be very useful in that regard (ok, at least on the 3G iphone, the 4's iphone GPS got better so it didn't need to try so hard). And yes, some of that is up to the app (to be able to realize when the GPS suddenly has a small inaccuracy to be able to guess where you really should be and to snap you back on the road on the display).

Sorry I wasn't quite clear enough, but what I meant to say was that, that app is just a turn-by-turn navigation app and I don't need one of those. Also it's expensive. What I need is a global mapping service with correct and comprehensive POI data. Google Maps had that and I used it daily. Most of the POI data in Apple Maps around here is missing and the rest has wrong information. It doesn't even find train stations, hospitals or libraries, let alone cafes or shops.

The main train station in our capital Helsinki looks like this.

Helsinki2.jpg
 
So what happens in a year if you have Google maps on your iOS5 iPhone/iPad, will it just stop working or was the contract for newer versions of iOS?

I'm kinda glade they didn't wait but the should have called their Maps App a Beta release and still kept the Google Maps as backup.
 
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