I can't believe how many people can't grasp why Apple did this. Everyone knows the maps aren't as good right now. Heck, Apple has publicly said as much. They are hiring engineers and working round the clock as we speak to improve.
It boils down to this. If you ever wanted native turn by turn without buying an expensive Garmin/TomTom app, you weren't going to get it via google/iOS. Google is pushing android; Google was holding out for some undisclosed terms that no doubt were burdensome for Apple. I hear comments above that apple needs to "suck it up" and pay. Companies dont just "suck it up" if they are smart. They position themselves such that they are not at the mercy of any single company, especially a direct competitor. Seriously people, this is common sense - no MBA required.
I read a lot of comments about how they dont think Apple will catch up to google and that it's fanboy induced wishful thinking. Well, honestly I do think they will catch up. At some point, you run out of things to map. Sure new roads are built and old roads are torn down. But once 99% of the roads are mapped out, the small small percentage of roads that do change become a LOT easier to maintain. Yes, google has been doing this for 7+ years, but the velocity in which things can be mapped has speed up considerably. Besides more powerful computers, better software, and the like, we all have something that largely didn't exist for google 7 years ago... smart phones. I read today over half the phones out there (in the US at least), are now smart phones. With mobile crowd sourcing, and the instant -convenient- ability to report errors in the map as you encounter them these maps will come up to speed far faster than the 7 years it took Google. This isn't fanboy-ism, this is a fact of technological progress and realities of the mobile landscape today.
I am actually glad Apple did this. It was going to be a painful transition no matter when it happened. And by catching google off guard and forcing users to test and prove out/correct Apples maps, we will be left with a better product quicker. I will go so far as to say something I know will be unpopular here, i hope they don't approve a native google app for a LONG time, a couple years even, so that iOS users continue to help polish the Apple maps. Ignoring the data deficiency, the underlying tech in the maps, the smoothness, the turn by turn, etc is actually more functional and better performing.
My last point is this... is maps really that bad right now? I mean to get from A-B I realize there are some errors. I haven't found any yet, but i hear about some online. I can also understand the lack of transit directions (even though a very small percent of americans are affected by this). But by and large, maps and turn by turn work for me. Its 11/11 for me in the 5 days ive been using it.
Okay, stepping down off the soapbox. I really don't understand all the complaining. I hear the arguments, I just think they are far outweighed by the alternative. But that's the internet for you...
