Comments on: Google Maps searching for directions ahead of WWDC

By: Raw Bob

Raw Bob — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:59:36 +0000

@Tom Krazit

You can call it “political” if you want, but “financial” is the bottom line.

By: Terrence Martineau

Terrence Martineau — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:38:19 +0000

@Tom Krazit.. I understand all that.. but at the end of the day all the slap fighting with Google has caused maps on iOS to be substandard.. and it really is substandard.. Apple is updating maps because of real concrete reasons, not polictical ones and Apple needs to act.. no matter what the back story is.. and it looks like they are going to do just that.. so the ultimate cause of maps being substandard might be political, but the reason for Apple dumping Google Maps is to fix a real concrete problem that resulted from political in fighting.. maps on iOS right now IS substandard and needs to be fixed..

By: scottph

scottph — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:21:16 +0000

That’s what Google does…eternal beta, and over promise/under deliver.
http://scottsscripts.wordpress.com/

By: DanoX

DanoX — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:16:38 +0000

What makes Google concerned, is messing with Apple a company that had OS 10 working on Intel chips for almost 10 years before it was released to public, there is a good possibility, Apple has been working this for a long time.

By: Tom Krazit

Tom Krazit — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:40:12 +0000

@Terrence If you read the WSJ article about the long backstory of this dispute, it’s quite political: best friends in 2007 before Android angered Apple, Apple then accused Google of collecting too much info, Google then accused Apple of trying to exert too much control. Google then withheld features, Apple wouldn’t implement others, etc.

By: Terrence Martineau

Terrence Martineau — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:29:31 +0000

no turn-by-turn directions, no much faster vector maps that android maps gets vs the bitmap tiles iOS gets etc, etc, etc is “political”.. Google maps on iOS is a gimped, shadow of Google Maps on android.. that’s why Apple is dropping it..

By: Albert Hartman

Albert Hartman — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:00:58 +0000

Actually, the Google’s iOS maps has been the slower tiled raster version. Only Android got the faster vector versions. If Apple wanted better mapping technology, it couldn’t rely on Google to supply them with it.

By: Tom Krazit

Tom Krazit — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:50:53 +0000

You said it yourself: Google already had 3D mapping features. They just showed off better ones and made no promises as to when or how they would appear. It’s not like if they waited until they were ready anybody could accuse them of having ripped off Apple, you can’t throw together thousands of photos taken by private planes in two weeks.

There’s only one reason to hold such an event now: to plant seeds ahead of WWDC that Google Maps has a rich history and is still a strong product. But nobody thinks otherwise about Google Maps: it’s pretty clear Apple is dropping it because for political reasons.

So why not just announce these features (3D, offline Android maps) at Google I/O or when they are ready? By trying to pre-empt Apple with a news event, it makes it impossible to ignore the WWDC context and forces McClendon to stand there like a deer in the headlights answering questions he can’t answer.

By: Redwan Huq

Redwan Huq — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 19:35:16 +0000

So you think waiting for Apple to release a mapping product that contains 3D features, something Google had previously half-baked, and then waiting a few weeks to make the very same announcements would be a wiser, smarter idea?