back to article Google Maps becomes Apple's most popular app

Less than a day after its release, Google's Maps app has become the most popular download in the iTunes store. On Thursday, Google got its mapping app cleared, three months after being unceremoniously dumped by Cupertino in iOS 6. Apple thought that it could do a better mapping system than Google, and presumably saw no reason …

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  1. Bob Vistakin
    Happy

    How humiliating

    Still, the user experience is Apples utmost concern.

    1. LarsG

      Re: How humiliating

      I like the fact that no one can find me.

    2. Ian McNee
      Holmes

      Re: How humiliating

      But just how humiliating? Now if Apple have patented schadenfreude...

      </smug-areshole>

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My plumber has an iPhone

    He thinks it's really cool.

    I went with something less shiny.

    1. g e
      Angel

      Re: My plumber has an iPhone

      iphone user at work today, looking for her next phone... gave her my S3 to play with.

      Her new S3 is being delivered on Monday.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        She probably had something like a 4 year old 3GS so comparing to a S3 is unfair. A colleague of mine bought a Samsung - went faulty after about 6 weeks and had to go back to Samsung for repair (3 weeks). He went and bought an iPhone.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          So can you book an appointment, go into a SAMSUNG shop and get your phone fixed / replaced there and then - thought not. I dropped my iPhone from head height onto concrete - phone was fine but camera much have got slightly dislodged. Went to Apple store - 20 minutes later it's all fixed. See how warm you feel about Samsung when it develops a fault and you are without your phone for weeks and then they just send you a refurb.

      2. Dana W
        Meh

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        Now that I've used android, I'm looking forward to my next iPhone.

        Then again, I DID download Google maps.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          I had a iPhone 3GS - thought I would switch to Android. The Galaxy is ok but it's no iPhone so when this contract us up I'm going back.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My plumber has an iPhone

      Isn't that the point? the iPhone brought the smartphone to the masses. Before then there were a toy for geeks. The success of Android is riding on the back of that "reimagining" of what the smartphone should be.

      Something perfectly illustrated here:

      http://images.pcworld.com/images/article/2012/04/android_before_after_iphone-11352342.jpg

      1. Greg J Preece

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        the iPhone brought the smartphone to the masses

        By costing £650?

        Apple doesn't do "unwashed masses", mate.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          iPhone starts at £529 SIM free not £650. Galaxy S3 is about £400 so hardly cheap either and the difference is hardly significant if the iPhone holds its value better (as it seems to) or lasts longer (as it seems to).

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: My plumber has an iPhone

            Galaxy S3 is £409 SIM free from Amazon right now - so it's £120 cheaper but on a 24 month contract that;s only £5 a month so suspect people will choose based on which they prefer / which is better made / which has more apps etc.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: My plumber has an iPhone

              "Galaxy S3 is £409 SIM free from Amazon right now"

              Well, yes, but the Huawei Ascend G300 which is not as good as the SIII or the iPhone 5 but good enough for most sells for £99 at Vodafone. Add to that £5.50 on eBay for unlocking (or £20 to Vodafone) and you're good to go.

          2. Mark .

            Re: My plumber has an iPhone

            Given the original claim about bringing "to the masses", I assume he was talking about an earlier iphone, which was even more expensive.

          3. Greg J Preece

            Re: My plumber has an iPhone

            iPhone starts at £529 SIM free not £650.

            I highlighted something for you. Also, he was talking historically, and so was I, though on reflection I got the currency wrong. It was €650.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: My plumber has an iPhone

              Makes a difference - and discounted on Amazon a Galaxy III (also with 16Gb) is £409. The issue is they are all expensive phones and £120 over a 2-4 year lifespan is not all that much - especially if the iPhone lasts longer (better / longer support) or actually has more value when you come to trade in / sell. I know people still running iPhone 3GS every day (now 4 years old and counting) and others than have sold their 2+ year old iPhones back for more than half the price they paid. I also know people who have Androids that are unsupported and now gathering dust after 2 years or less.

        2. Stuart Castle Silver badge

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          Compare smartphone sales before and after the launch of the iPhone. I think you'll find they had a small percentage of the market back in 2006, and quite a large one now.

          Also, remember that most people don't pay the full cost of the phone upfront. They pay a deposit then 1 or 2 years worth of line rental to get it.

      2. Mark .

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        "the iPhone brought the smartphone to the masses"

        False - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone#Historical_sales_figures

        "Before then there were a toy for geeks."

        The early iphone was a toy for geeks too. And the first iphone wasn't a smartphone anyway (couldn't run applications).

        Mainstream usage came with Android, or perhaps Symbian shortly before that in the late 2000s. (Plus the whole "smartphone" definition is ill-defined anyway - phones with Internet and apps, something the original iphone couldn't do, became standard and mainstream around 2005, it's just that only some were arbitrarily marketed as "smartphones" - the change more recently is simply that more phones are now marketed as smartphones.)

        As for before and after, we might as well say before the Nokia 5800 the iphone didn't have apps, and afterwards it did; or before the Samsung Galaxy, the iphone was tiny, and afterwards, it had a larger screen.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Flame

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          "Mainstream usage came with Android, or perhaps Symbian shortly before that in the late 2000s. "

          It would be more accurate to say that Apple made the smart phone desirable to the masses, but before the iPhone they were MOST DEFINITELY a geek only 'tool'. Thinking about my HTC TyTn here which I used to use with a bluetooth RS232 interface for switch programming. It was also great as a girl-repellant.

          Blackberry sold business users on always on mobile-email.

          Cut to a post-iPhone world, and suddenly everything looks like an iPhone as that's what sells. Android and Samsung et al brought cheap alternatives to the masses, but it was Apple who sold them on the concept by making something people actually wanted to use.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        and your point must be that the android prototype looks so much better than the rubbish iPhone and the butt ugly other one.

        That aside, you're completely confused. The rise of the smartphone was inevitable. The technology just caught up to what people have wanted for decades.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          "The rise of the smartphone was inevitable."

          Yes once someone else has actually done it - guess you will be saying the same about nuclear fusion, warp drive and food replicators. I'm sure one day they will exist but so claim 'inevitable'...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: My plumber has an iPhone

      All the chavs down the road have them. They went to payday loans to get the money for them.. They also have really nice union jack covers for them too..

      I laugh when people think iPhone or iPad is some kind of status symbol that shows you have made it in life, when every chav has one...

      1. Dana W
        FAIL

        Re: My plumber has an iPhone

        The only people who think they are such a great status symbols are Windows zombies and Android Fanbois

        1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

          Re: My plumber has an iPhone

          I have an iPhone. I don't consider it a status symbol. It just happens to do what I need, and quite well. Most of my iPhone owning friends feel pretty much the same way.

          Compare that to most of my Android owning friends who can't wait to get out their phones and show all and sundry they have the latest Samsung/HTC/<insert name of fashionable phone maker here> mobile, and sit there loudly discussing screen sizes.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: My plumber has an iPhone

      He probably earns more than you.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So this would make fanboi quite the hypocrites, would it not?

    At least they have taken the first step toward salvation.

    1. ratfox

      Maybe not

      I wonder how many downloads are necessary to jump to the top of the charts. I suspect that a percentage in the single digits in a day would be plenty enough. I.e. you could probably have 80% rabid fanbois swearing never to install the maps app of the enemy, and still have the app get to the top if half of the remaining users download it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Maybe not

        Any app that gets this much coverage on news sites would get to number 1 - what will be telling is the number of downloads after a month or how many people actually use it instead of Apple Maps.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      "So this would make fanboi quite the hypocrites, would it not?"

      You appear to be projecting a simulation of the imaginary iPhone users that you have concocted rather than actual ones.

      The reality (as is backed by evidence) is that the average iPhone user just wants something that works properly. TomTom's data (which is used by Apple Maps) clearly has accuracy issues, and I can't think of anyone (including myself) that would not return to tried and tested Google Maps (although it would be fair to point out that Google Maps is not 100% accurate either, however it is clearly superior to Apple's maps solution) .

  4. g e
    Holmes

    Apple should thank Google

    For quite possibly rescuing their Xmas sales.

    I'd have waited till the day after the January sales to maximise new Android sales/users.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Did you not read the sales results?

      The iPhone 5 was selling quite well without Google's help.

      1. g e
        FAIL

        Re: Did you not read the sales results?

        'Not as well as expected' was what I read with 'analysts citing a shite mapping app as one reason punters were holding off upgrading'

        and so forth. I guess those analysts were fake or liars, though, like those climate scientists with inconvenient data, etc, etc,

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Did you not read the sales results?

          Analysts know shite - you get more sense on here...

        2. wowfood

          Re: Did you not read the sales results?

          Careful GE. I've seen people taken to court for libel and slander for less.

  5. ratfox
    Go

    Playing the long game

    The problem with this is that Google has more users, and thus get more feedback and corrections. Especially since corrections are vastly easier to report using a desktop web site, which Apple does not have. It have to say I do not understand why Apple is not creating a web site for their maps, like Nokia has done with here.com. It should give their maps a lot more users at a comparatively small price.

    EDIT: HOLY $#*! I CAN EDIT MY POST!!1! Adding GO icon!

    1. g e
      Holmes

      Re: Playing the long game

      They'll be getting a bucket load of data from Apple users over Xmas travelling around visiting and checking routes & weather, etc.

      Which is probably worth more than holding off till after Xmas, for Android switchers, to release the app, presumably.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Playing the long game

      Dont believe it - I've reported 3 issues to Google now at least 2-3 times each over the last 18 months - NO CHANGE.

      1. thesykes

        Re: Playing the long game

        3 issues reported, 3 issues fixed. So far 100% for me.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Playing the long game

          Used Google Maps to navigate to work - it's only 6 miles but 7 with Google Maps as it took a longer route for some reason. It also got the location of a nearby pub at least 1/2 mile out and another business was marked about 1/2 mile out and on the wrong side of the road. No traffic data and apparently it's a round-OH-bout I need to take the first left at. Can't say I'm impressed and certainly no better than Apple Maps on the same journey.

          Will test it some more today.

  6. Timo

    what about traffic data

    So here is an item that I've yet to see compared between iOS and Android and Windows Phone - the amount and quality of the traffic data that is displayed.

    I got a windows phone (for work, they foisted it on me, not my choice) and I noticed that very few roads have traffic information. I assume that since nobody else has the phones, that Bing Maps isn't getting much data fed to it. Likewise iOS maps would have a similar issue. The lack of data comes down to a lack of handsets reporting their locations. Were there any complaints about Apple maps and their traffic data?

    When I first got the phone I was sitting parked, stopped in traffic on what is usually a very busy street. Whip open WinPhone Maps and there was no data on the road... except to show a red line behind me. Does that mean to tell me that I am the only person on that road with a windows phone? A sample size of one??

    1. Alienrat
      Meh

      Re: what about traffic data

      Where I work in dorset, I tried traffic, google maps said traffic wasn't available in my area. Apple maps has it and looking out of the window, it seemed quite accurate.

      But then Apple maps are more accurate with shop locations too, googles locations are quite a way out, even if neither of them can quite keep pace with the speed of shop closures :/

      Google satellite view is higher quality though.

      Certainly if I was going to London, I would use the google maps, but out here in the sticks, the apple data seems to work better for me. It is certainly nice to have both (I tried nokia maps, but it didn't seem to offer much I didn't already have)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: what about traffic data

        The satellite images are higher quality on Google Maps but much older - at least 4 years old for here whereas Apple maps are perhaps 12-18 months or less. It's win one lose one - I could not really say Google Maps is all that much better - in some ways it is in others it's not.

        1. Alienrat

          Re: what about traffic data

          Actually, now I look at home, the satellite image of my house is exactly the same image, same resolution, cars parked in the same place etc, but further at the end of the road it is different, I can't quite see where the join is. The google maps have (c) google stamped all over them.

        2. jai

          Re: what about traffic data

          When you switch it on, there's a big warning about how the traffic data isn't in real time. Kinda defeats the point as you'll be switching it on to see how the traffic is going to impact your journey right now.

      2. Gerhard den Hollander

        Re: what about traffic data

        Not sure how it works, but here is how I understand it.

        Google maps get part of their traffic data from 3rdparties, and part of it from phones using googlemaps.

        This means that google maps works (at least over here) on my blackberry just as accurate as google maps using chrome on my desktop computer.

        As far as how real time the data is, I've used it a couple of times whilst stuck in traffic (either when I was not driving, or by having handed the phone to someone who was driving with me). The traffic data (at least in the NL, germany, belgium and france) seemed to be accurate upto a few minutes, good enough to get a pretty accurate idea how far you would be stuck in barely moving traffic.

  7. Shane Sturrock

    Errors in google maps too

    These companies must hate the antipodes because both sets of maps are full of errors. It may not be as bad as getting lost on the way to Mildura, but Google Maps shows a bus stop outside my house which isn't there. It is about 100m further up the road, and street view clearly shows this but Apple got vilified for having errors in their map data, yet Google also has them too. Even in the US there are problems because I went to visit a friend in Alabama and Google Maps put his street address two miles further down the road than it actually is. Sure, we can and do report these problems, but there must be something wrong with the source database or how the data is being modified to get to these apps because they are both difficult to rely on. Even the public transport feature of the new Google Maps app doesn't seem as good as the one that was in the old Apple built one sadly. Still, the existence of the app was enough for me to finally upgrade my iPhone to iOS 6 so we're getting there.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Robot

      Shoplifting and armed bank robbery are not morally equivalent

      No maps app is perfect, but you write as if Google Maps are as unreliable as Apple Maps. Bear in mind, the outcry over Apple Maps is unprecedented, not just in technical magazines, but in mainstream media such as New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, The Guardian, and Globe and Mail.

      Did Tim Cook apologize for nothing? Were two VPs fired for nothing? Did Google Maps overnight became the top free app for nothing (among Apple devotees, no less)? By the way, I own an iPad 3, and my wife owns an iPad mini. Great devices. (I don't own a smartphone, but am eyeing the Nexus 4.)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It doesn't take years, I can think of a couple of purchases Apple could do that would change the game almost overnight.

    In any case competition maps is already providing to be a very effective tool. Google never added so many features to their maps product so quickly.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Nine Circles

      "I can think of a couple of purchases Apple could do that would change the game almost overnight."

      Buy Google? That would work.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @Nine Circles

        @mutatedwombat

        They cannot buy Google. Their stock price has taken such a crap-kicking lately that they will have to tap into their cash reserves to support operations in the next 6 months, if current trends continue.

        The iOS map app sucks and asking Appleoids to send in corrections is like asking a potential girlfriend to recommend a good pharmacy for syphilis meds. You ain't getting to second base pal.

        Freely spending cash on a new HQ building and data centers when their user base is deteriorating is not going to result in anything pretty. Wait til their investors who bought in at $600 a share decide they can get better value elsewhere. Then no amount of cash in the world will stop the carnage that follows.

        1. stragen001

          Re: @AC 20.35 GMT

          "The iOS map app sucks and asking Appleoids to send in corrections is like asking a potential girlfriend to recommend a good pharmacy for syphilis meds. You ain't getting to second base pal"

          So true. It completely goes against the Apple mantra of "It just Works".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @AC 20.35 GMT

            It would have been better for Apple if they just put an html wrapper on Google maps instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Nine Circles

          @AC 20:35 Oops, I forgot the joke icon. Sorry.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @Nine Circles

          "Their stock price has taken such a crap-kicking lately that they will have to tap into their cash reserves to support operations in the next 6 months, if current trends continue."

          That's just delusional - they are making huge profits and sales and profits are increasing - they are just adding to the already huge mountain. They would only need the cash if they were making a loss which is clearly not the case.

          Put it this way do you think Apple could afford to buy Google or Google buy Apple.

        4. jai

          Re: @Nine Circles

          Re: asking for corrections

          You know, the google app is asking the exact same thing.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    API is a nice move.

    as all the apps on the store will soon be using Google Maps too, and Apple will have gained fuck all out of this humiliating farce and lost everything.

    This time last year, everyone was parading around the office with shiny apple things, now they hide them in their pockets for fear of being laughed out the room...

    Nice one Apple... You put your need for cutting Google out above the needs of your users.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: API is a nice move.

      I wonder if they'll decide that since everyone has jumped to Google Maps, to discontinue their own maps app since they've got such a huge uphill battle now just to get users back to it.

      I mean Apple have got the reputation of not being able to provide accurate maps before considering stuff like Street View etc.

  10. arober11
    Meh

    iPhone / iPod only

    Wonder when the iPad version will appear, guess I'll have to stick to the web version for now.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/unhappy_32.png

  11. h3

    I think Google Maps Navigation is worse than Navigon (WP7 or Android) / Nokia Maps (on WP7).

    If you want Ordinance Survey then you can use Bing Maps. (Web version).

    (Using Memory Map / Viewranger (with OS data) for outdoor is extremely expensive but probably the best money being no object.)

    Surely Apple should have just licensed the Ordinance Survey data. (They have the money to do it). Dunno if it is so easy for other countries but here in the UK OS data is the best. (I have only ever used it for a small town though). They have all the data that you need to do stuff like 3d mapping properly.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      The Ordinance Survey is without comparison

      And also pretty damn expensive to licence commercially - as it should be, given the high accuracy, and the depth of the data is enough to build a full 3D scale model of the UK!

      - At school we built a physical model of a local hill using an OS map. Interesting but took ages.

      So while Apple (or Google) could have licensed it, presumably they thought the cost was too high.

      Strange because i'ts available in some really nice digitised formats. Friend of mine has them for his squadron to use in DofE planning.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Holmes

        Re: The Ordinance Survey is without comparison

        I have an app for my iPhone that uses the OS data. It's bloody nice but a regional map at 1:50 is £9.99. The 1:25 maps by county can be as high as 30 quid each!

        Then there's the storage space required. I have 2gb worth of maps installed! That's GB map at 1:250, and 3 sets of regional 1:50 maps. Download time aside, that's a huge chunk of storage space on a bog standard iPhone. It all seems rather "bulky".

        It really needs someone clever to take that OS data and perhaps provide it in some kind of vector format rather than what seems to be a whole load bitmaps as in the app I'm using (it's called Outdoors GB and Parks).

        In short, I'd like to see OS map data using some of that fancy pants Apple Maps technology. That WOULD be something to get excited about. I'd happily pay for it as well.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Long game

    Indeed, if Apple users are happy to switch from Apple Maps to Google now, it's reasonable to assume they'll be equally willing to switch from Google to Apple in the future (if/when it actually works).

    The only thing is, I don't know if Apple Maps will ever get a commanding market share. In the same way that many people equate Google with searching the Internet (to the point that Bing and Yahoo don't even exist in their mind), Google is fast becoming synonymous with maps too.

    Apple not getting its maps right the first time could well see their respective market shares following a similar path to Safari and Chrome.

    1. Mark .

      Re: Long game

      "Apple not getting its maps right the first time could well see their respective market shares following a similar path to Safari and Chrome."

      I don't think you meant Chrome - it's now the number one browser!

      1. scarshapedstar
        Headmaster

        Re: Long game

        I think he meant Safari VERSUS Chrome.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple still wins

    The difference between apple allowing google to have a maps app on iOS6 and Apple buying their mapping product and making it part of the OS is a huge one. Apple is saving money and no longer funding their competition, while Google appear to have won, but are now giving away something they used to get paid for.

    Of course, they can add adds, but then the user experience will not be there, and slowly users will turn away from their app, and back in to Apple's arms. Meanwhile, Apple is now improving their database, and two years from now it will be good enough.

    And the availability of the old maps app will boost Apple's sales in the critical Christmas period.

    I swear Apple is like the cat with 90 lifes, and they always fall on their feet...

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I used Google Maps to navigate home today - it send me on a workable but inefficient route (adding about a mile to the 5 mile journey). Also noticed the location of a pub I passed was more than 1/2 mile out when I know it's accurate with Apple Maps and Apple picks the shorter route.

    I'm glad to have the choice but in reality there were errors with Apple Maps but for a new product it's not bad and some of their data is more accurate than Google.

    Do we really want Google to have no decent competition?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next week we will be hearing about errors in Google Maps - people react as if either is perfect. In Oz another police department basically said Google Maps sucks. So before they throw stones at Apple they better be sure they are not in a glass house themselves.

    1. scarshapedstar
      Thumb Down

      Who's throwing stones? Apple tossed a boulder when they KICKED GOOGLE MAPS OUT OF THEIR STORE, and it rolled right back downhill into their glass palace. "Killer app" is supposed to be figurative, not "the app that could conceivably leave you dead in the desert".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Flame

        "Apple tossed a boulder when they KICKED GOOGLE MAPS OUT OF THEIR STORE"

        …but do you know why? The license expired. It was either pay *per lookup* or implement a new solution. They licensed TomTom's data to produce their own app, then got burned by the inaccuracies of TomTom data.

        Google have clearly been dragging their heels to make their competitor look bad, and now they look like heroes for 'saving the iPhone', however as this is now a Google solution, Apple will not have to pay, and consumers get the benefits of two competing map systems.

        Everybody wins.

  16. James O'Shea Silver badge

    Nokia is worse

    Nokia Here tried to kill me. Twice. And nothing so subtle as getting me lost in the desert (well, around here that would be 'lost in the swamp', there's a reason why the part of I-75 running east-west across Florida is called 'Alligator Alley'). No, if I'd followed the route specified, I'd have first driven off Forrest Hill and onto the Turnpike, several metres below. If I somehow survived that, and still followed the route, I'd have been directed straight into a concrete wall.

    Apple Maps does not do that.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nokia is worse

      Most of the anti Apple comments on here are from people who have never actually tried the Apple Maps and are just Apple haters or jumping on the bandwagon. I've used Apple Maps daily since I installed iOS 6 and in some ways it's better than Google Maps and in some ways it's worse (previously I had used Google Maps daily so I can compare).

    2. garbo

      Re: Nokia is worse

      Is it Bangkok or what? My N8 runs Ovi maps without wi-fi - just GPS satellites - and gets me within 10 meters of my actual location - walking or driving. Google maps demands a wi-fi connection but does no better, and sometimes worse.

  17. jai

    Poor colour scheme

    I don't like the colour scheme. Main roads in bright green, if the phone isn't close, a quick glance isn't sufficient to tell that the arrows are directing you off onto a minor orange/yellow road. Colour scheme in the old app was much clearer, and so is Apple's app.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: Poor colour scheme

      Also very surprised by the colour scheme.

      The Apple one, has only two colours - single and dual carriageway - regardless of the actual size of either.

      Meanwhile Google have small road, main road, dual carriageway and motorway, much better.

      However, the Google treatment of motorways is strange - they are green with a blue central reservation, which you can't see once you zoom out so there's no visible difference between the M1 and the A1 at small scale - a major issue with the Apple one at all zooms.

      - For our foreign friends, this matters because there are many vehicles you can drive on one but not the other.

      Different to Googles web map, which makes it very weird.

      On the brighter side, Google's map still loads much faster than the Apple one.

  18. Raz
    Happy

    What, you did not know?...

    Google Maps is the best.

    True dat.

    Double true.

  19. Nick De Plume
    Meh

    Apple was supposed to get it right the first time, right?

    Apple devices are supposed to work right, right out of the box. That's one of the justifications for the markup in price, and short-sell on the options (and extras).

    At least, that's the company line. It took them ages to get copy&paste, video chat etc on their highest-tech devices, but at least (with quite a lot of restrictions) they got it, with cute UI effects.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple was supposed to get it right the first time, right?

      Yeah and Google and Google Maps are perfect - oh hang on a mo - they had a big outage just days ago and now another police department in Australia are complaining about GOOGLE maps. Perfect?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Apple was supposed to get it right the first time, right?

        Google have been doing maps for years and it's still not great, not bad but not great either. I welcome the competition as should make both companies work harder.

    2. JohnG

      Re: Apple was supposed to get it right the first time, right?

      Apple missed the point completely. When Google releases something new, they release it in beta and then tweak things and add bits to it until they are happy. If you tell users something is in beta, they still tell you how crappy it is but they don't get nearly as upset as if you tell them it is a finished product - like Apple did with Maps. Gmail was in beta for 5 years.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm going to try Google Maps for a few days to compare - that's the benefit of choice and at least I have both to use now (well I had Google Maps before via the web but having an app is better).

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google have lost 500m+ a year in revenue and will end up stacking ads on their app - all the time Apple will be improving theirs - too many ads and everyone moves back to Apple maps. I actually suspect most people will not even bother with Google Maps - sure it's number 1 in the charts today but that does not really mean that much after all the publicity.

  22. Radelix

    Map apps.

    They all have issues. How about we use an updated paper map and common sense when navigating to places.

    Obligatory XKCD:

    http://xkcd.com/461/

  23. JaitcH
    Thumb Up

    Google on Apple

    People are defending Apple. I have a single question: Why did Apple ever publish Crappy Mappy using Black and White satellite pictures?

    I have bought satellite pictures for my home/business/hotel in one city and for a second hotel in another city. They were in colour and less than 4 months old. If I, a financially distraught person compared to Apple, can do this, why didn't Apple?

    Google isn't perfect, but they are very good. They show highways and bridges within a week or two of their being placed in to service. They occasionally confuse people who don't study the Google Maps by showing a ferry boat with a symbol much like a road.

    But Google, and everyone one who prints maps omit two streets in the former Imperial capital of Hue! No one, but no one has got this right, yet. And these two streets are big enough to have two hotels.

    China and VietNam re-aligned their common borders (when China lost the 1979 invasion, VietNam grabbed a little extra back) and sure enough, Google was there, virtually, almost tracking the workers who hauled the huge marker stones to their new positions.

    Everyone seems to ignore the fact that most of Google Maps are free - to the user - and they should be cut a little slack when they have errors. Apple didn't have only "a few errors".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Google on Apple

      You paint a very rose tinted view of Google Maps - here the Google Maps sat pics must be well over 3 years old whereas the Apple sat pics are less than 12 months old. Google Maps just got slated by a different police department in Australia for a similar issue as Apple Maps.

      As for Google adding new roads / bridges within 2 weeks - seems generous as I have reported various issues more than once over the last 2 years and no far zero have been fixed.

  24. W.O.Frobozz
    Thumb Up

    Only one thing to say

    HAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA

    I only wish St. Jobs of the Ex Cathedra were alive to see this.

    Come on "Anonymous iTard," make your comment. I'm sure it's someone other than Apple's fault, as usual. Must be a dastardly Korean spy in Cupertino, or something.

    1. Dana W
      Trollface

      Re: Only one thing to say

      No need to be anonymous. Android is flaky freebie junk.

      Nexus 7 going cheap.

  25. Dana W

    Testing.

    Apple.

  26. Jean-Luc
    Thumb Up

    Review neglects an important feature

    New Google Maps also seems to work much better than before offline.

    I downloaded it last night, looked at today's itinerary and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was still seeing some considerable zooming and panning capability once arrived at my destination, despite my being cheap and relying only on WIFI for data.

    I suspect it is a side effect of its vector-based graphics, they probably download enough data when you look at something in particular to support offline mode in the vicinity.

    Hats off to Google for a job well done. And, kudos to Apple for not being stupidly obstructive and letting them in. Or maybe they were just relieved to have a better map story on iOS6.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Review neglects an important feature

      "New Google Maps also seems to work much better than before offline."

      If you read the release notes, the offline feature is something they have improved. They have done a great job.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bought some Nexus kit this week for work

    We usually use iPads, iPhones and ipad minis, but after some of our team got lost using their phone as Sat Nav ( goodness knows why?) I thought I'd give some Nexus kit a go.

    Let the MD have a go with the test model, still not got it back - he loves it.

    Looks like what Apple has started another player will finish.

    Posted from my iPad - BTW all our plumbers and electricians have Apple kit.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bought some Nexus kit this week for work

      Not sure why anyone would love a Nexus now they have Google Maps on an Apple device.

      I actually find it amazing people expect a free mapping app to replace a proper sat nav - if I were a sales person or going from site to site think I would have a proper naviagtion app (which is better still) or a standalone device.

      Incidentally tried to use Google Maps (via the web app) to navigate somewhere last week and it got me lost - sent me round a housing estate and was about 2/3rds mile off - switched to Apple Maps and it got me there. So it's not just black and white.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Bought some Nexus kit this week for work

        Hi

        I agree, some of it might be the MD loving a different shiny thing to the rest of the team - makes him stand out.

        Though I do like the Nexus Unit from a personal note (I can do a lot more regarding network analysis) - I do prefer from a work perspective the simplicity of the IOS system as people do find it intuitively easier.

        But like a lot of things it is essentially each to their own preference.

        I like tweaking and fiddling out of professional curiosity (Was a heavy user of "XDA Developers" in the old days) - but like many Admins don't like the users doing the same thing or me having to perform too much hands on training showing them how to use stuff - no time budget.

  28. Piro

    How ironic..

    So to everyone who thinks everyone actually WANTS an iPhone, turns out, an Android device was the device they actually wanted.

    Google Maps, YouTube and Google Earth being in the top 10? Seems to me a Google device would serve them better..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: How ironic..

      That makes no sense - Google are desperate to get their apps on an iPhone. Get an iPhone and you have Google Maps AND Apple Maps = better overall. You probably have a PC and use Google Search, YouTube but it does not mean you have to go out and buy a Google laptop.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When is Apple Maps coming to Android?

    The biggest problem I have with Apple is they want to lock you into there way of doing things. Why hasn't apple release a version of it's mapping app for Android? I'm sure that in some areas Apple Maps are better than Google Maps, and vice-verse. But Apple don't let people choose which is best, instead they deny it for some people (non-iOS users) and force it on others (remove Google maps, not add a new mapping choice in iOS 6.) More users = more corrections. I'd give it a go on my droids... why do we even care what OS our phone is running?

    Is Apple the new Microsoft wannabe? Microsoft 2.0 perhaps?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: When is Apple Maps coming to Android?

      Simple - Google make money selling ads on their maps and mining your data - Apple do not (yet) have their revenue stream. Apple were paying Google about 500m+ a year to license Maps for iOS - the contract was due up next year and perhaps Google wanted even more. Now Apple only have to pay for people still running iOS 5 as Google will have to foot the bill for Google maps via their own 'app'.

      Now Apple users have better choice - Google or Apple Maps - whichever you prefer or whichever is better where you are (and that's not always Google). Apple can also help iOS developers and give them better access to mapping or at least possibly cheaper access to mapping.

    2. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      Re: When is Apple Maps coming to Android?

      A few things.

      1) The reason Google actively support other platforms is due to their primary revenue stream. Apple's primary revenue streams are selling hardware and media from itunes. As such, it's not in their interest to support competing platforms. Google's primary (possibly only) is advertising. As such, it's in their interest to get their products on as many platforms as possible. Remember, whatever they tell you, a company's primary objective is to make money. Apple do not currently make money from maps. Maybe once they do, they'll start allowing Apple Maps use on non-Apple hardware.

      2) Apple haven't (in this case at least) stopped people from choosing what is best for them. On the contrary, when they apologised, they started actively pushing the alternatives.

    3. El Andy

      Re: When is Apple Maps coming to Android?

      "Is Apple the new Microsoft wannabe? Microsoft 2.0 perhaps?"

      Nope, Apple are the same old lock-in Apple they've always been. Google are the new Microsoft, have been for quite some time.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We use iPhones at work - bought a few high end Android devices to compare (as they are cheaper) - junk. Not one person was prepared to give up their iPhones (even older models) and we are not even plumbers or electricians.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tried Google Maps - hate they way they try and make you sign in to save data - why not just save it locally on the device, on iCloud or allow me to be a guest (tied to the device ID). I don't want to sell my soul to Google.

  32. Nick Pettefar

    No Problem

    I have absolutely no problems with Apple Maps. Every time I have used it is has been fine. I have noticed plenty of glaring errors in Google maps though and their update is very slow. For example, if you look up Regent Circus, Swindon on Google Maps, it puts it in the wrong place, not by much but not correct. Also it shows the library as a building site whereas it was completed in 2008! It also shows the buildings of Swindon college but they have been demolished. Apple Maps show everything correctly.

    After many years, TomTom still have not recognised the roundabout heading into Laverstock from Salisbury.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All those people

    All those people who said Google maps would never return to iOS because it "violated Apple policies" must be feeling foolish now.

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