Google+ takes on a location element as it pushes deeper into iPhone Google has pushed its social network Google Plus deeper into the iPhone and given it a location element, launching the Google + Local app yesterday. Google is wriggling itself into more crevices on the iPhone before the axe falls on Google Maps in September, when Apple will introduce their own maps app in iOS 6. …
If this sounds like a silly question then maybe it is. What happens to Google Maps once Apple has implemented it itself? Is is then banned from IOS because "it duplicates functionality already provided"? If so, and I have no idea whether this is the case, that would surely be an interesting case for the competition authorities.
It's not a question of whether it is user "deletable" or not, if you have read any tech news in the last few months, you'd know that Apple is getting rid of Google maps under iOS, and dropping in their own software, with licensed map data.
The point being made is that Apple don't allow you to publish competing apps on the app store, that duplicate functionality already present, for the most part, even if they do improve matters. There are a few wrinkles to this, but they are mostly half-assed like being able to wrap another browser UI around the system webkit libraries etc..
Yes I know Apple are replacing the ('powered' by Google) Maps app that comes as part and parcel of iOS with a new one of their own.
My point to Charlie Clarke was that this is not the same as a google app being rejected or removed from the app store. Apple previously asked Google to provide the maps and in future they will use there own. This really is 'Not a big deal'... to steal a phrase ;-)
Not that "it duplicates functionality already provided" has been a reason for the competition authorities to investigate other cases of app store removals/rejections anyway.. so why would it be here?
And presumably there is nothing stopping Google submitting it as a stand alone app once replaced in iOS 6 - and it may or may not get rejected.
Google have been using a 'better' version of a maps app on Andriod as a selling point so Apple would be daft not to upgrade the iOS one.
Given that there are a number of map and navigation applications already - many using their own mapping data rather than the (soon to be Apple) Google maps. There is even a Navigation section in the App Store for maps. Google Earth is already available available in the App Store.
Given all the above I think it is very unlikely that Apple would reject a Google Maps application. On the other hand if the 'better on Android' factor is important to Google they may not offer it. Obviously in a case where Google submitted the app to the store Apple would not be paying them for use of the map data (which they are at the moment).
Given this Google would have to weigh up whatever ad-revenue (and valuable user location data) they would get from such an app against the cost of providing it and the effect if any on Android. I don't have the data to see where the advantage for Google lies. If I were them I might release as good a maps app as possible but require a logged in Google account for its use, driving G+ usage etc. and providing them with significant amounts of personal location information.
Google is watching you.
It could easilly come back to bit Apple.
It's HIGHLY likely that the Apple maps service will be crap compared to the Google offering, not least because it doesn't have StreetView data, but also because it's very US-Centric, where Google Maps is great pretty much all over.
You obviously can't set defaults on iOS like you can on Android, so if Google release a Maps application for iOS, it will be there, be better, but can't be accessed as easilly as the inferior Apple one.
That's surely going to piss off even more Apple punters and drive them to the Chocolately side, what with the better range of phones and other OS features they are missing out on.
Expect Apple Maps to be the final nail in the Apple coffin for many.
this isn't going to end well.
If it's this bad in New York.
http://gizmodo.com/5918176/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-a-side-by-side-comparison
Image how it's going to be in your little home town in the UK. They also conveniently don't mention that Google Maps on iOS is also rather naff compated to Google Maps on Android.
In other words, if Google Maps on Android were a 10, then Google Maps on iOS would be a 6 and Apple Maps a 2.
Really? Reminds me of when Microsoft renamed everything that previous had a logical name with something like "Microsoft MSN Windows Live {product name}" and then had go and invent 'bing' which sounds absolutely moronic and makes me think of a short American with bleached teeth in a cheap suit selling time-share.
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