Re: Apple iMaps?
It doesn't have to be better than Google's updated version is, or even as good as the current version is. It only has to be better than the absolutely shitty way outdated and never updated version of Google Maps iOS is currently cursed with.
That's a pretty easy target.
Keep in mind that while Google owns the streetview images etc. they do NOT own the maps data and images. Both are licensed from someone else. If they wished to, Apple could license the same data, though having 250 million iOS users crowdsourcing updates to OpenStreetmap ought to get it caught up in quality pretty quickly. That's assuming Apple has some easy method for users to note new streets that aren't on the map, closed streets that have been removed, or whatever else might keep the open source map data at a lower quality than the paid-for licensed data Google Maps uses.
Presumably there would be some type of quality control for these updates. i.e., don't update the data until enough people note it, to avoid hooligans with hoax updates sending grannies off a cliff on a road that doesn't exist. True, this has already happened with Google Maps as well as "professional" GPS devices like Garmin, but if/when this happens with Apple turn by turn directions it'll make much bigger news, as most things good or bad about Apple tend to these days.