As expected, Google Maps Mobile has gained Street View photography. The move should further shore up Google as an alternative to the new Apple Maps on iOS 6, which are so inferior to the Google-powered ones on iOS 5 that Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized for them last week and suggested Google as an alternative, among other options. Google Maps, accessed through the browser, still won't be as nice as making use of an actual Google Maps app. Google lacks an app for iOS 6 users apparently because it hasn't "done anything" yet, as CEO Eric Schmidt said last week. Why hasn't it done anyth [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Street View | Top News

A feature article in BusinessWeek explores the differences in Steve Jobs and Tim Cook's leadership styles and the cultural differences at Apple under the two CEOs. The article also asks the question: would Apple Maps in its current less-than-perfect form would have been released under Jobs? Buried in the article is the following line: "Jobs also discussed pulling Google search from the iPhone, but figured that customers would reject that move, according to two former Apple executives." This fear was not unfounded. In 2009, when Verizon replaced Google with Bing as the default search engi [...]

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It's official. Apple's new Maps in iOS 6 have problems so serious that even Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a public apology about them. What does Apple do next? Going back to Google-powered Maps is unlikely but not out-of-the-question. More likely, Apple will push through the pain. However, it could reconsider whether maps really should be a a home-built product. Ripping Out Google Previously, Maps in iOS were largely powered by Google's mapping data (and remain that way in iOS 5). Google has been building its mapping product for years, something that makes sense for a search engine. Many s [...]

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has issued a letter apologizing for the current mediocrity of Apple Maps. The letter is striking in a couple of ways. First, it's noteworthy for its direct admission that Apple Maps "fell short" and, second, for its recommendation that people try other, competing map apps or services such as Google, Bing, Mapquest, Waze or Nokia. Here's the letter in its entirety: To our customers, At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: Maps | Channel: Mobile

Right as all the negative Apple Maps stories were coming out, Google's Motorola division created an ad and Twitter campaign to argue that, unlike Apple Maps, Google Maps won't get you lost. The campaign #iLost, also promoted on Google+, used a specific address as an example of one that Apple wouldn't get right: 315 E 15th Street in Manhattan. As the Siri screenshot indicates, Apple Maps can't find this address. However Apple Insider says the address is a park and not a real street address at all. The blog argues that Google created a false example to make Apple look bad: The problem, [...]

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Just in time for those on iOS 6 wanting missing Google Street View photography, Google is bringing its street-level pictures to the mobile web version of Google Maps in two weeks. That also means, as best I can tell, these will come to the web versions of Google Maps for Android and other smartphones, too. The news came as part of a scorching review of Apple's new Maps dysfunctionality by New York Times tech writer David Pogue, who writes in part: In short, Maps is an appalling first release. It may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed. Ouch. O [...]

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It's a marketing tactic that's about as old as time itself: When a competitor stumbles, you turn it into opportunity for self-promotion. That's certainly been the case since the Apple Maps app stumbled out of the gate a week ago on iOS 6. Bing is the latest competitor to call for attention. The company published a new blog post today touting its Bing App for iOS -- not because it has any new features, but because "you may be holding a brand new smartphone and wondering which apps have the essential search and mapping functionality you need." Bing wants everyone to know that its existi [...]

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The latest twist in the tale of Google Maps coming back to the iPhone and iOS 6 devices is that Google apparently didn't anticipate that it would be dropped by Apple as a mapping data provider. As a result, it's lost time needed to create its own app. If true, that's a pretty surprising lack of foresight on Google's part. Time On The Contract Clock We reported last year that Google had renewed its deal with Apple to be a search and map data provider for iOS devices. The term of that deal, as with all deals Google's done with Apple, weren't revealed. But it was pretty likely to be a multiyear [...]

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Today, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company hasn't done anything yet to bring Google Maps to iOS as a standalone app. That seems to contradict Google's statement last week about wanting this to happen, as well as the company's central mission. But negotiations and contract issues yet to be revealed might be a "good" reason for the delay. The bad reason would be if Google's doing this to promote Android. Let's look at them both. How We Got Here Last week, Google Maps disappeared from being the brains inside the Maps application on the latest version of Apple's mobile opera [...]

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For the past week many people have been trying to determine whether Google had built (and submitted) a replacement app for Google Maps for the iPhone. There were even some reports, now largely debunked, that Google had in fact submitted an app and it was waiting for Apple's approval. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt seemed to definitively quash those rumors today in Tokyo. Schmidt is quoted by Bloomberg and Reuters saying, "We haven’t done anything yet with Google Maps." However he added that, if there were such an app, Cupertino would need to approve it, "It’s their choice." That [...]

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Apple's iPhone 5 sales appear to be rolling along as the handset receives high praise in most reviews -- except for Maps. And as the drumbeat of criticism over Maps continues, some tech journalists wonder if this "fiasco" would have happened if Steve Jobs were still alive. The NY Times Joe Nocera calls Maps an "unmitigated disaster" and implies that Jobs would not have allowed the current Maps product to get out the door. However we'll never know the answer to that question. Jobs was a perfectionist but wasn't perfect. He made his share of miscalculations and mistakes. The iPhone 4's "anten [...]

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Apple is taking a painful public beating right now on its new mapping app. Some people are even starting to get a bit hysterical over some of its failings. It's turning into the iPhone 5's version of "antennagate." Indeed, much more negative publicity might cause some "fence sitters" to hold off on upgrading or buying the device. It's curious that the product is so glitch-ridden. One would have assumed that the company had some indication of these problems from developers who've had the new OS for several months. Yet the scale of feedback now is much greater. While Apple has thousands of [...]

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The new iOS 6 Maps is out and users are starting to get their feet wet with the app. The reviews are not all that stellar. In fact, Ireland’s Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, said Apple's new maps app in iOS 6 is "dangerously misleading." iOS 6 labels Airfield Garden as an airport! Minister Alan Shatter was pretty upset and issued a statement: I am surprised to discover that Airfield, which is in the centre of my constituency in Dundrum, has, in Apple’s new operating system iOS 6 maps application, been designated with the image of an aircraft. Airfield, a 35 acre estate wi [...]

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The latest version of Apple's operating system for iPhones and iPads, iOS 6, is now out. As people upgrade, the Maps application previously powered by Google is now being replaced by Apple's own homegrown one. Not everyone's happy. Will Google release its own Google Maps app for iOS 6 users? The company, in its latest statement, remains unclear. I asked Google today if we'd be getting a Google Maps app, and if so, when and also if it would include turn-by-turn navigation. Here's what I was sent back: We believe Google Maps are the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps in the wo [...]

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While the iPhone 5 itself is getting very positive reviews -- essentially raves  -- Apple Maps have received a mixed response. It has emerged as the potential Achilles Heel of the new handset (other than the generally reviled "lightening" dock connector). Waze CEO Noam Bardin was quoted last night by Business Insider saying that the local data were weak and the navigation might get people lost. Most of the formal reviewers didn't test Apple's new maps very thoroughly, however. David Pogue's New York Times article is representative of many critics who only gave Maps cursory attention. (Upda [...]

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It's no secret that Apple is ditching Google Maps on iOS6. In Russia, that decision looms large for Russian search engine Yandex, which will provide the backend for the new Apple Maps app, according to Bloomberg. Software developers in Russia that have been using the developer version of iOS6 have reported seeing the Yandex integration in Apple's new mapping app. As one developer told Bloomberg: "When you search for Vladimir Lenin's Mausoleum, it offers you to get more details on Yandex.Maps application or offers to download Yandex.Maps from App Store if the user doesn't have it installe [...]

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Today at the iPhone 5 launch event Apple announced a thinner, taller and faster iPhone. (See Danny's hands-on first impressions.) Apple also reminded people of some of the software announcements made in June at its WWDC conference when it discussed the new iOS 6 extensively. Among the earlier software-related announcements that were showcased again today were Siri, Apple Maps and Passbook, Apple's mobile wallet. Apple said it will launch Maps/local search with "100 million POIs." It also showed off GPS turn-by-turn navigation and 3D imagery on its new 16:9 aspect ratio 4-inch display [...]

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Amazon has done a really interesting thing: it just bought mapping app UpNext. UpNext is a 3D mapping company that started on the PC in 2007 and more recently shifted its focus substantially to smartphones and the iPad. While UpNext has not received the same attention as other mapping startups the company has slowly built coverage and depth over the past five years. When the site originally launched it aspired to be a kind of "3D Yelp." There's a lot of room for speculation about what this means for Amazon and its future mobile plans. GigaOM, which first reported the acquisition, says th [...]

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We're starting to see what Apple Maps will look like as well as the features it will contain, among them check-ins on Yelp. At the same time it's becoming clear how important Yelp now is in the world of local and Local SEO through its Apple relationship. Yelp has always been important. However the site is now second only to Google in terms of its importance -- if not its equal. Yelp's Huge New Visibility On the iPhone 4S Yelp provided reviews for nearby local businesses found by Siri, in a generally mediocre local search experience. Though Yelp was the source of the content (or some of the c [...]

Related Topics: Apple: Maps | Channel: Local | Features: Analysis | Google: Maps & Local | Microsoft: Bing Maps & Local | Yelp

Apple developers have had more than a week to play with (and learn) Apple Maps, one of the primary announcements from last week's Worldwide Developers' Conference. One Apple developer recently sent us some screenshots of the Apple Maps app, and several Apple fan sites have already posted videos on YouTube showing their hands-on tests. Some of those photos and videos are below, and should be of great interest to our readers that are invested and/or interested in local and mobile search. Keep in mind, of course, that this is a beta version of the app, and it could change before iOS 6 is re [...]

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