Hasta La Gadget!

It might seem as if Apple chose its iOS 6 release last week to practice the biblical directive to love one’s enemy. For, by ejecting Google Maps from updated iPads and iPhones, Apple hath caused glorious comparisons to shine upon its foe. If most people were unaware of comparative feature sets and quality aspects that distinguish Google Maps from Apple Maps, every tech-loving person on God’s earth is an expert now.

The media love a bloodbath, and Joe Nocera led the rhetorical pack by calling Apple Maps an “unmitigated disaster” in a NY Times piece. He wondered whether such calamity would have ensued if Steve Jobs (who called the 1998 “hockey puck” mouse the world’s best pointing device) were guiding the company’s product evolution. Mr. Nocera argues the Maps replacement as an indicator that Apple has peaked.

I argue that replacing Google Maps with Apple Maps was shrewd, inevitable and an indicator that Apple understands the true battle it wages.

Continue reading Editorial: Apple’s smart Maps maneuver

Filed under: Transportation, Wireless, Software

Editorial: Apple’s smart Maps maneuver originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The craziest thing about Apple switching out Google Maps for something so clearly subpar is that Maps is one of the apps people use the most on a smartphone. I mean other than checking e-mails and using a web browser, what other apps do you absolutely need more than Maps on a smartphone? More »

It seems like all of the 15% of iPhone owners who upgraded to iOS 6.0 yesterday took to the internet to complain about Apple’s new map program and the fact that it actually replaces and removes the old–and totally usable–Maps app, which used Google Maps. The biggest complaint about Apple Maps is that it doesn’t include transit directions, and the button to receive transit directions in the app actually takes you to the App Store. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just download a Google Maps app by Google?

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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: All your Google Maps are belong to us, Google Maps updated, introduces new turn-by-turn navigation, biking directions, campus imagery,

Legions of suckers iPhone users jumped at the opportunity to upgrade to iOS 6 yesterday only to discover that Apple Maps is a horrible piece of crap that doesn’t work. Some of us on staff are refusing to upgrade until there’s a Google Maps app for us to use. Maybe you can live with the funny 3D terrain glitches, but having no public transit routing really sucks. We can’t possibly be alone in feeling this way. Is the Apple Maps abomination enough to keep you from upgrading? More »

We’ve talked plenty about the flaws inherent in Apple Maps, and where it differs from Google Maps on paper. But how wide is the disparity between the two in actuality? We stacked two iPhone 4Ses side-by-side (one running iOS 5, one running iOS 6, both on wi-fi with GPS on), and let the two mapping apps do battle. More »