Among the first things people noticed about Apple’s new lackluster maps was that the 3D mode was not quite, um, true to life. Now Apple’s started to roll out fixes for some of the locations it flattened like a water-damaged waffle iron. More »
Google Maps isn’t really gone from iPhones in iOS 6. You can still get it through the vastly inferior mobile version of its browser-based web app. Tim Cook even suggested you try it if you’re dissatisfied with Apple Maps. In a recent video about Google Maps, Señor Walt Mossberg notes that the company will be adding Street View to this mobile version of the app starting tomorrow. This more or less confirms earlier reports that the feature was coming soon. Huzzah! [WSJ via 9To5Mac] More »
Following Apple CEO Tim Cook’s candid admission that Apple Maps might not be so great, and his suggestion that users turn to competing services, Apple has cleaned up one final detail: they aren’t calling their maps the most powerful any more. More »
Apple Adds New Maps Section to App Store to Help You Replace the iOS 6 Horror Show [Apple Maps]
Posted in: Today's Chili Buried within Tim Cook’s apology for the embarrassment that is Apple Maps was the candid suggestion that people go try the many other map applications and websites out there. Well, now Apple has gone one step further, adding a whole featured section to the App Store for maps from third party developers. That’s a big on Apple’s part. Now maybe get your own maps working better? [MacRumors] More »
It’s been a curious thing, wondering why Apple dropped Google Maps in iOS 6 in favor of its own, half-baked mapping system. According to AllThingsD, the answer could be pretty simple: Turn-by-turn voice navigation. More »
Today is a breezy, beautiful fall day in New York City. But if you ask Siri about the weather here, she’ll tell you it’s 90 degrees. This is not the weather in New York City, but rather the weather in New York, Texas. Something’s up with Siri again. More »
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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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Apple’s maps are not off to a good start. They’re getting killed by critics and users alike. And rightly so! They don’t hold their own against last generation’s Google Maps on iOS 5. And what’s worse for Apple and its fans? Things probably won’t be getting better any time soon. More »
It’s barely been a day since iOS 6’s native Maps app was released to the world, and already there’s a steady stream of mapsasters that have everyone not-so-secretly wishing a standalone Google Maps app gets released ASAP. More »