When Apple unceremoniously removed the wires that connected Google maps data to all the location services on iOS, it caused more than a bit of a stir. Firstly, users get used to things and are very vocal when something is taken away. The trusty Google Maps App was there on your home screen and it was to there that you went when you need to go somewhere. Suddenly it was taken away and replaced with something that, well, pretty much, did not just work.
The Apple Maps App was and is less easy to use, had fewer features and very importantly had a lot of information missing, compared to the previous Google Maps App. This left iPhone users with the stark choice of trying to live with the Apple Maps App or try to use the browser based version of Google Maps, neither being a very good option.
Apple put damage limitation into action, even posting a ‘letter from Tim Cook on Maps’ that made an apology for the fact that the Apple Maps App did not come up to the standard of services offered by the company. He goes onto suggest alternatives, (including Google and Waze so I think the letter has been updated since the initial outcry), to use while they work on improvements.
All the while there was no sign of a stand alone App from google to repair the damage.Yes Apple, can of course use an alternative mapping service, in this case one that they have developed themselves, that is up to them but to not allow a competing mapping service in the App store surely is not right.
Apple released Apple Maps in September 2012 and it was not until December 2012 that the Google Maps App appeared in the store again. It does seem like quiet a delay in producing an App for one of Googles flagship products on the worlds best selling smartphone, the iPhone.
It has also taken up until now for Google to release a native iPad version of the App. Previously the App was available for the iPad but was formatted for the iPhone and used pixel doubling for viewing on the iPad.
The new Google Maps 2.0 iOS App will now run in native resolution on the Retina iPad and has also been optimised for the iPad mini and about time too, Google.
