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Major Backlash Looms For Apple's New Maps App
Hugh Pickens writes "Michael DeGusta writes that Apple's new Maps app is the very first item on their list of major new features in iOS 6, but for many iPhone and iPad users around the world Apple's new maps are going to be a major disappointment as the Transit function will be lost in 51 countries, the Traffic function will be lost in 24 countries, and the Street View function will be lost in 41 countries. 'In total, 63 countries with a combined population of 4.5 billion people will be without one or more of these features they previously had in iOS,' writes DeGusta. 'Apple is risking upsetting 65% of the world's population, seemingly without much greater purpose than speeding the removal of their rival Google from iOS. Few consumers care about such battles though, nor should they have to.' The biggest losers will be Brazil, India, Taiwan, and Thailand (population: 1.5 billion) which overnight will go from being countries with every maps feature (transit, traffic, and street view) to countries with none of those features, nor any of the new features, flyover and turn-by-turn directions. Apple's maps are clearly behind in some key areas, but they will presumably continue to improve over time. Google has committed to making their maps available everywhere, so it seems likely Google will release their own iOS maps app soon, as they did with YouTube, which has similarly been removed from iOS 6."
But what percentage of people who actually buy iPhones lost these features?
Most of their customers will grumble about it, and guess what? They'll still buy the next iPhone. Apple's marketing really helps them here.
Umm, doesn't this only affect those who voluntarily upgrade to iOS6 or the iPhone5? It surely is annoying, but at least they're not pulling a sony (e.g. upgrade-to-iOS6-or-you-can't-use-apps kind of update).
I applaud Apple for once again holding the line on features that are simply not ready for prime time. Better to have nothing at all than something that is not invented by Apple.
Just download and add Google Maps back. Surely people (even Apple users) can figure out how to do that.
5% of India is still what, 50 million people? That's a fair bit of money.
This time you'd better live down to the expectations of technology pundits.
They're getting really tired of you succeeding despite their most dire prognostications.
Sincerely,
An obviously brainwashed Apple zealot
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
... than being dependent on their biggest competitor.
If they had waited until they had *all* the features in *all* countries to roll it out it could mean several more years of Google Maps, which had a severely limited API on the iPhone. The new maps app may be limited, but it's also far more extensible. IIRC they added the ability for an app to register as a data-source for transit or bike paths or walking directions. That's something you couldn't do with the old API. This allows cities and/or transit companies to make their own apps that can account for train/bus schedule a lot more reliably. Maps have turned out to be a critical feature of Mobile OS's. Why wouldn't Apple want to have more direct control over what the Maps in their OS can and can't do?
Only a sap would grapple with apple's map app. It's a trap.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
You presumably don't have to upgrade to iOS 6 immediately. Or are they removing Google apps across all versions of iOS?
If they are going to remove it altogether then do the obvious thing and either crack your iDevice, or buy an Android tablet instead of putting up with that shit.
which is totally what she said
On the plus side, between the new iPhone connector and the loss of features like Google Maps, Android's just looking like a nicer alternative. :-)
Check out Unsealed: Whispers of Wisdom! http://unsealed.k3rnel.net It's an action-RPG about Open Sourcerers.
The article also acts as though every single iOS user took advantage of those features. For myself, I didn't even know that street view was on the thing until I heard some people complaining about its removal. Why? Because it was a feature I never found myself needing, and thus never checked to see if it had. Same with transit and bike routes. For me, iOS6 maps is a straight upgrade, because we *finally* get turn-by-turn navigation, and it works really well (running the GM).
Even if they were features you used, maps.google.com has you covered. It looks like it has all the features mentioned in the article. And I do not doubt Google will release a maps app, just like they released a Youtube app.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
Apple used to have a contract to build-in Google apps, they don't anymore for whatever reason so they rolled a better solution themselves.
If by "better" you mean "worse"... Here's some screenshots someone did comparing the Apple map with the Google map for his neighbourhood in London.
Was Google banned from Appstore? If not, their mapping app will be (if not already) available as a free download for all.
Google stands to lose more in the long run than Apple from this. While I appreciated being able to use public transportation schedules in Bangkok and Hong Kong on my iPhone, that's a small convenience. At the same time having my location, movements and destinations sent to Google in exchange for this convenience is not particularly desirable. I went along with this for the lack of reasonable choice.
Now that a different mapping solution is available, my location will "only" be sent to Apple and their partners. As long as they don't sell this information to Google (that's what competition is good for) this is one less element of comprehensive profile on me that Google can build.
As far as features go, I am sure in time Apple's own maps will get public transportation info for other countries.
BTW, Google public transportation info was off quite a bit (both in US and elsewhere) making it sometimes less than useful. Hope Apple does better. As far as traffic goes, in my experience Google is wrong more often than not (other than generally painting everything yellow-red during rush hour, which is self-evident). They apparently use returned data from mapping apps on mobile devices to gauge traffic conditions (here, another reason they need app on iPhone) I stopped using their traffic information a while ago.
Disclaimer: I don't *like* any large enterprise or product. I use iPhone because it best fits my requirements for mobile device. I am also a Windows and Mac user, and develop software for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and a few other platforms. :) In case any of the "anti apple" crowd pull out their usual fanboy slogans.
One thing overlooked in the discussion of iOS6 maps, is that they have a fantastic feature not found on other platforms - the ability to locate applications that help you find routes by region, within the map itself.
What that means is that an application devoted to helping you find your way around a specific city, can register a geofence around that city that applies to that app. When the user is in that city looking up things on the map and wants to find their way to something, they can all up alternate routes and what appears is basically an app store just for that region produced by finding all the apps that have that location inside the geofence they proclaimed.
This will make it really helpful to find guides and other applications specifically tailored to a place without having to hunt across the whole apps store - and it helps the apps get discovered that might not have been otherwise.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You must not be a fisherman. There definitely is an appropriate amount of exaggeration, and too much exaggeratoin.
I am currently an iPhone user, but never bought into the whole "Apple can do no wrong" aspect of things. It was a functional device that allowed me to do what I wanted with it.
But I'm not going to buy an iPhone 5 when my upgrade comes around in November. I was honestly considering a Lumia, but not if all I'm going to be given the option of (being on Verizon) some lower end model. If they do pick up the 920, then I may seriously consider giving it a purchase.
Otherwise, I'll end up with an S3. I'm not married to any particular type of phone (had the original Moto Droid, with no real complaints) but I do tend to dislike when companies do things that just don't seem to make sense from a consumer standpoint. I am aware they don't want Google anything on their phones anymore, for obvious reasons, but I don't like anything done at the cost of experience. Being petty and spiteful really does not serve others well.
BULLSHIT!
There is NOTHING forcing you to upgrade to iOS6 other than getting access to the new features in iOS6.
You can still connect to iTunes, iCloud, etc.
For fuck's sake, I know we fucking hate all things Apple, but can we stop spreading bullshit?
Google didn't write the maps app that is on iOS5 or earlier, Apple did.
Amazing how Apple can risk upsetting 65% of the world's population when they've only sold products that could be effected by this change to *up to* 4.6% of said world population, with the likely number falling well below that due to repeat sales to the same individuals.
Let's do the math:
World Population: 7 Billion
Number of iOS Devices Sold: 400,000,000
iPhone 2G Units Sold: 6.1 Million
iPhone 3G Units Sold: 20.25 Million
iPod Touch 1st - 3rd Generations Units Sold: 32 Million
iPad 1St Generation Units Sold: 19.48 Million
Total iOS Units that will not get the "New Maps": 77.83 Million
Total Effected iOS Devices: 32,617,000
Does it suck that their offering is less mature than Google's, of course, however Google has also announced that they will be providing an updated version of their Maps app via Apple's App Store, so if you aren't happy with what the mighty Apple provides, than give it a couple weeks and let someone else fill the void.
It is just amazing to think that people really think that companies like Apple really have the power to impact the lives of 65% of the world population through changing a back-end web service on a small subset of their devices.
Thirty four characters live here.
Unless you, you know, hit settings, then tick the 'allow apps from unknown sources' option.
Or install things from amazons store.
Or the 3 dozen other app stores that you can run on android.
But aside from that, yeah. Walled garden. Totally the same.
Mod parent up, not down.
If I didn't know better, sometimes I'd believe that 3/4ths of slashdotters were astroturfers fighting the battles of their overlords.
Will Apple make their clientele suffer the death from a thousand cuts by cutting the quality and openness of their devices? That's for Apple to decide. Apple is by no means a democracy.
As for Google, you sacrifice most of your personal info to get the juicy maps. Is there a solution where locational privacy and great maps intersect? Not in the "free" model, but perhaps there is in the "open" model.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
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I'm sorry, you were saying something stupid?
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