Apple scrambled to hire iOS 6 maps engineers DAYS before launch

About those Google Maps apps

Many seem to expect that Google will helpfully provide an app to plug the gap. They even expect that Apple may block that app.

But... wouldn't it make sense for Google to delay that app, just a bit? Yes, they'd forgo some proximity-based business ad revenue.

But think of all the people who may opt for an Android instead. Tasty! Why pull Apple's chestnuts out of the fire?

Full disclosure: on iOS 5 for now and will cautiously dip my toes into iOS6 once I know my iPhone 4 isn't a second class citizen on it. Not a great fan of the Google App, mostly because it's non-caching/network only. Do appreciate public transport routing, which is available and works really well where I live.

And, as far as no-network/caching map software goes, I nominate PocketEarth (paid app & not to confused with an older celestial app of the same name) which uses OpenStreetMap.

Bit pants on the routing bit, but links to wikipedia for local POIs. And free maps, reasonably accurate in my neck of the woods.

(Black helicopters, cuz starving Apple of a decent map app is a bit conspiracy-theorist)

Nothing new really

Apple wanted to get rid of Google fast as possible so the bosses asked other bosses if they could produce a superb system bye them selves fast as hell. They all said "Yes" as that is the only answer allowed. Then they asked the programmers and others if they can do it, and again the answer was "Yes" as that is the only answer programmers are allowed to use. I should know, I said "Yes" for 35 years. It is indeed very common, and probably one of the reasons why many good programmers do open source rather than work for companies run by idiots and so damned dependent on what ever Christmas or similar event is approaching. The rest is history.

Makes me happy, in fact.

As somebody pointed out without up to date maps you have absolutely nothing and I wont believe TomTom is the reason here as their navigators work fine. A map is not a map but a hell of a lot of code you have to make into a map.

If you do not know how to work with that data you produce rubbish.

He he.

Long hours

'Hard-working and proactive' sounds like a euphemism for 'working for 12 hours a day to fix this mess'

mapgate

Tom Tom supplies maps to the masses, and the masses manage to map quite well. This problem belongs to the iThing. All antennas have shitty maps, why!! you only have to look at the other maps to see iXXX is not alone. And other bullshit like that will be running soon. Apple might even tell it like it is in RDF:: You are simply holding the phone wrong.

Giving it to the competition on a gilded platter

I see very little mention of Nokia / MS here...

I'll resist the temptation to mention Symbian to heavily, with my main point being.. Lumia with Nokia maps blows even dedicated sat nav devices out of the water.

WP8 launch should start with a video...

A car with a Lumia on the dash directing the car to the venue, shift time a bit to get in all road types, nice places on the way, all shot of course with a Lumia... I dunno maybe show someone riding bike in, walking too yes, don't forget public transport either.

I thought the icloud would be apples Achilles heel but hey, they couldnt have chosen worse fail considering the new competitions massive strength in the exact field.

And they'll be made by Nokia and therefore drop tested.

Who'd a thought it...

This is the real popcorn moment.

The wall biting Apple on the arse for a change

Due to Apples walled garden policy it's unlikely that a Google Maps app will be allowed as it duplicates functionality. That along with other walled garden policies like all alternative browsers essentially being a re-skinned version of safari means that the consumer suffers at the end of the day.

Apple should embrace allowing rival products to the likes of Apple Maps & safari, because without rivals Apple are free to just put out products and never improve them, but if they opened it up and they had competition from other developers making rival browsers that aren't a re-skinned safari or a rival maps app then they might pull their finger out and improve and innovate their products which is better for the iPhone users in the long run.

I've got an iPhone 4S but as long as that POS maps app is on there I won't be upgrading and I'll probably get a Galaxy 4 as my next phone. Apple are standing still and the industry shows those who stand still are essentially going backwards. What have they added to safari for example? - Synchronising of tabs and a full screen browser. Hardly showstoppers and the limitations of safari are still present.

Naff Maps, Dirty Apple Stores, iPhone5

When Steve died the magic died.

Beginning of the end.

Shame on you Apple for dumping Google Maps and replacing it with a bunch of crap. So what happened to your hyper-testing of installed SW? No matter how many engineers you hire, there is no way you could have made a working map app in a few months. That takes a lot of time and patience; plus you can't possibly have all that Streetview data which permits the Google navigation to even tell you what is written on the road signs at intersections (unless you steal that from them!)

COOK is a new word for Compromise

Jobs might have treated his employees like a maniacal fanatic but rarely would he compromise on quality.

The Don't squeeze phone obviously embarrassed him and a few heads were pushed.

This COOK guy has screwed up serially: first with Siri and now with this joke called maps. It's not as if Apple hasn't been purloining user location data. The satellite maps are crappy old black and white, low resolution junk. Russia sat ops are selling better quality sat pictures.

This fiasco shows just how good Google maps are.

So I have a rubbish sense of direction...

...and I am utterly, thoroughly lost without GPS, even in my own back yard.

I upgraded my iPad to iOS 6, and discovered in Apple's Maps application a reason to hang on to my Android phone. There's quite a lot I really don't like about Android, but Google's maps app is undeniably the only thing that lets me find my way around.

Now if only I could figure out why the voice synthesis in the turn-by-turn navigation keeps stuttering and glitching since I upgraded to Android 4.0...

I'm surprised Apple isn't hiring geographers to correct the problems, which are clearly in the Real World and not in Apple's conception of it.