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Why Apple Replaced iOS Maps
tlhIngan writes "So why did Apple decide to ditch the (working) iOS maps app with one based on their own data (despite having one more year to the contract)? It turns out to be turn-by-turn voice navigation. It wasn't a feature in the original Apple-Google licensing agreement, so Apple went back to Google to renegotiate what has become a top-tier feature on Android. Apple wanted it. In return, Google wanted increased branding in the maps app (Apple refused) or to integrate Latitude (Google's FourSquare competitor), to which Apple refused as well. As a result Apple was forced to seek other sources in order to obtain this feature." Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download a native version of Google's maps (rather than a hacked version), but that could be a ways off.
This is probably the most accurate, and intelligent read on the topic. His sources are very close to Apple; VERY close indeed. http://daringfireball.net/2012/09/timing_of_apples_map_switch You'll notice that he says it was all about timing, and how much time was left on the clock.
Help me, help you. - Jerry McGuire
While in the short term, I think its a huge loss for Apple. I think it is good for consumers because it may create some competition in this space. There are no real competitors for Google Maps. Apple has a ton of cash and if they can get it done right, it may create a competitor in the space and spur innovation as they fight for market share.
You'd think Google could've gotten Apple to agree to patent detente in exchange for full map support with turn-by-turn and the works. Whether branded or not, Google would still get the search terms to use to improve their systems. I wonder whether this was even discussed. Then again, maybe both sides were so concerned about branding that they lost track of the bigger picture.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
Usually starts with ego and greed.
Google wanted increased branding in the maps app (Apple refused) or to integrate Lattitude (Google's FourSquare competitor), to which Apple refused as well. As a result Apple decided to seek other sources in order to obtain this feature.
FTFY.
You don't help your enemy when he's digging his own hole. I'm sure Google is loving this, and is in no rush to release their Maps app.
First of all, start out by trying to use the new map. In your area it may be fine; it has been for me so far. It seems like Europe and other areas the data may be more wonky at the moment.
But if you really find you cannot use Apple maps, there are other alternatives:
1) Just use maps.google.com in a browser, you can also save the direct link to your home screen.
2) Use the Bing app which includes Bing maps.
3) Use an app based on Open Street Maps which generally have good maps in highly populated areas - Waze is free and also does crowdsourced traffic/hazard/police reports.
4) Use any of the offline mapping solutions like Navigon.
5) The Yelp app can help you find businesses in an area if you feel like Apple's Maps is not listing them.
6) There are apps that display StreetView images if you still rely on that.
7) Look and see what Apple Maps offers you for transit maps in the area as they can also be useful for finding other things or just getting around town.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In retrospect, Apple should have kept Google maps in iOS for another year, and rolled out iOS maps first as an app. That way they would have had time to debug, and get a more graceful market introduction. I suspect that the problem is that Apple did not do enough iOS maps testing in advance, and was blindsided by all of the post-launch problems. Given that this is a safety issue, this is actually a pretty big fail.
Well that makes sense then.
Thanks for clearing this up for everyone... ...
You don't help your enemy when he's digging his own hole.
The first part of that, "you don't help your own enemy", is exactly why Apple needed to stop using Google for maps...
But if they were smart they would be eager to release an app. After all, from this point on Apple is going to start using the maps feedback to improve the map. Now while so many people are criticizing the Apple maps is the time for Google to stand up an alternative map app for people to get used to using; if they did so they might not switch back to using Apple for maps for some time, and Google could continue gathering valuable information about map use.
If Google could actually kill Apple by not giving map support that would be one thing. But that's not going to happen, so it would be better to do something that helps Google more even if it helps Apple a bit also.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Honestly, Google Maps wasn't all that great. Sure, the current version of Apple Maps isn't quite as good, but it works just fine. Of course I live in the SF bay area so..
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Of course, John Gruber would never post anything negative about Apple or would never admit to them making a mistake. So we can pretty much discount his opinion and pure "damage control". That's what he always does anyhow. I don't know why people still defer to him, he's basically Apple's PR machine, along with AllThingsD.com.
"Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
I won't promise it is as good as Google Maps, but the turn by turn and the social (read: speed zone warning) aspect make it AWESOME.
| Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps (rather than a hacked version),
| but that could be a ways off.
That's not a given. Normally Apps that replicate builtin functionality in the iPhone are banned from iTunes. So Google might be working behind the scenes, although I'd guess that will be the more general applicable merging of Google Earth/Maps data sets, but till Apple commits to allow Google Maps, Google will not say in public if there will be a Google Maps for iOS app.
Apple is probably currently evaluating how big the shit storm versus time to fix Maps data is. The question here is mostly how big they assume fixing the Maps data is. (It's probably bigger than huge, according to Geodata experts for a number of reasons, but it will probably include setting up a big part of the Maps data creation processes from scratch.) When they realize that they'll have iOS7 before the Maps data will be fixed (we are talking outside the US, e.g. in the EU, they've got complete towns missing, misplaced by dozens/hundreds of miles, data that is clearly over a decade out of date, and developing countries seem to be even worse.), Apple will probably allow Google Maps into the store.
So Steve did what he was doing from the start: took an Open Source map (OSM) and gave gave it to himself, without an obligation to share back the updates. Unfortunally, OSM licence prohibited such treatment, so It appears he talked to OSM management and they changed the license, loosing roughly 30% of map data in the process! And before you can say "conspiracy theory", let me point out that both Apple decision to source OSM and the license change happened in 2010.
Fortunately, OSM got forked, and the fork I found is called FOSM. It does need some work, though.
Yes, I think they are going to allow it. Next question?
this site was renamed 'appledot', or maybe 'slashapple'?
They sued Samsung over the Google Android OS and now they want to use their applications? HAHAHA
John Paczkowski writes that a disagreement over a key feature - voice-guided turn-by-turn driving directions - led Apple to decide it had no choice but to replace Google Maps with its own poorly received home-brewed replacement. Spoken turn-by-turn navigation has been a free service offered through Google's Android mobile OS for a few years now. but it was never part of the deal that brought Google's Maps to iOS. Requiring iPhone users to look directly at handsets for directions and manually move through each step - while Android users enjoyed native voice-guided instructions - put Apple at a clear disadvantage in the mobile space. Apple pushed Google hard to provide the data it needed to bring voice-guided navigation to iOS but according to people familiar with Google's thinking, the search giant, which had invested massive sums in creating that data and views it as a key feature of Android, wasn't willing to simply hand it over to a competing platform. "There were a number of issues inflaming negotiations, but voice navigation was the biggest," says one source familiar with Apple and Google's negotiations. "Ultimately, it was a deal-breaker." Still Apple is not the only company to be bruised by this rough transition. Google suffered a blow when Apple ended the pair's deal and is scrambling to roll out a standalone mapping application for iOS. Google Maps were used by a large portion of iPhone owners, especially in the US and to abruptly lose that user base, particularly one on a rival mobile platform, is a blow. As one geolocation executive observed, "A hundred million devices upgraded is a big body drop" for Google.
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It's Google's fault you don't have decent maps because they wouldn't give Apple what they wanted.
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I dunno, it seems pretty straightforward to me. Apple does not like having their OS and user experience dependent on some other company's timetable (see also: Flash). They also like to have alternatives (see also: Pages, Keynote, etc). So it is not at all surprising that Apple would migrate away from Google's maps once Google and Apple started down their separate roads. They have been acquiring mapping companies and expertise for a couple of years now so this can't have been a surprise to Google either. The only surprise for Google is probably that Google could not get Apple to knuckle under to their demands and that Apple decided to release iOS maps as-is (warts and all).
I've got a an iphone 4 and I upgraded to iOS 6 the day it was offered.
The app itself is a lot faster and more responsive. Everything is a LOT more clearly labeled and a lot easier to read. Finding places and routes works as well as the old app does. Overall the experience is a whole lot better for me.
I live in northern California and I haven't had any issues with map quality. (But I understand that many areas do have issues)
I also have "the new" ipad and the experience was similar.
John Gruber would never post anything negative about Apple or would never admit to them making a mistake.
You don't actually read his site, do you?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I thought Apple had a policy that you cannot create apps that compete with their existing apps. Didn't Slashdot cover some rejections of email apps and browsers that were rejected for this reason? I bet Apple would not be happy about people using a Google maps app on the iPhone since Apple now considers Google a competitor.
You clearly don't read his blog regularly. He is frequently critical of Apple. He is on the record as saying the Apple "over promised, and under delivered" on Maps, and few people eviscerate iTunes on Mac more harshly than Gruber (which is saying something).
Cant imagine apple has dibbs on any map patents would this be willful patent infringement? Someone has to have this patented one way or another lol
Jack of all trades,master of none
i still think of Cisco.
Actually, no. John Gruber is often an Apple apologinista, but he has been more than willing to call out Apple when he thinks they have done something wrong. For example, he frequently runs a "WTF App Store?" article on some odd App store rejection or other.
Apple was not forced to do anything. They chose to seek other sources because they wanted full control.
From the article:
Apple had plenty of opportunities to improve their navigation app without Google's help. For starters, they could have made it so that the phone wouldn't lock itself when in navigation mode. I can't count the number of seconds I had to take my eyes off of the road to enter my password. Apple: people use this app while operating a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds - I thought you were the guys that put thought into the user experience of your software. I hope for everyone's safety that this "feature" has been fixed.
And finally, I'm not trying to troll here, but I can't help but wonder how all of this would be playing out if Google had patented every trivial feature of their map and navigation software like Apple does for all of its apps. That would certainly have made this scenario a hell of a lot more interesting.
MapQuest is, by far, a better app than both Apple Maps and Google Maps combined.
It has some nice features and the map looks nice BUT....
For one thing it's ad supported. That occurs in a few different ways in the UI, in traditional banner ads but also branded searching tabs at the bottom.
The bigger issue is the first search I did, it gave me a result with a store that is actually across town but it placed within a mile of me... that's exactly the kind of thing Apple caught flack for, and rightfully so when it happens. For me Apple Maps has not failed to correctly locate a local place or business, so the fact that Mapquest did not makes me wonder if it might not have the same issues and not really be a good alternative.
I don't see any way to give feedback in the Mapquest app, at least with the Apple maps if it gets something wrong I can tell it so.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
iPhone 4 cannot handle 3d vector drawn aspects of new map app, so it's a little more limited on that device. I agree with you about responsiveness and better labeling. Apple always cares greatly about aesthetics, and it shows in this app, as the cartography just overall looks nicer and more polished.
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
I'm wondering about the legality of such a rule. Back in the day, Microsoft got a lot of flak just for having IE built in the OS; imagine what would have happened if they would have said: "sorry, Win95 has a built-in web browser, there is no need for an alternative browser, such as Netscape, and we won't allow it!"...
Well, actually, forget the Samsung brainwashing too, there are a number of devices that can compete with the S3 easily enough that cost half of it, e.g. the Nexus.
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
I love the concept of Waze. I was an area manager and made several hundred major fixes to the maps in my area (including building a missing 15 mile stretch of highway from scratch), but because my area is rural the social aspects of it were just not there. Also the routing engine was terrible when it came to my daily commute. There are two possible routes; one is 40 miles and the other is 43 miles. Both take about the same time. Waze would NOT route over one of the routes no matter how many times I drove it.
If I lived in an urban area I think my waze experience would have been better.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
If you live in an area where the data is actually accurate, it's probably alright.
The first time you discover it's put a city in the wrong place, you might not think the same way.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
I tried to open this page and got redirected here: http://slashdot.org/topic/cloud/google-maps-app-for-ios-whens-it-coming/
Quite a change.
Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
No, he means a Google powered solution with turn by turn. And better China covering, etc.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Of course, John Gruber would never post anything negative about Apple or would never admit to them making a mistake.
Actually he has; but let's say that's true.
So we can pretty much discount his opinion and pure "damage control".
I disagree. That's Apple's response, sure. But Gruber is really digging to find out what is going on, and he does as the OP says have very close sources. Even with the (valid) assumption the report comes through very Apple colored glasses, it still reads as probably quite accurate - can you find a flaw in his timing argument for example? That is a very well reasoned argument for why, if Apple was going to move from Google maps, they had to do so now instead of the exact end of the contract, for all the reasons he mentions.
Gruber being biased towards Apple does not change any of the facts Apple was up against in making the choices they made, which we are getting from multiple sources beyond just Gruber (like Maps contract expiring in a year). The pro-Apple view comes into play more in thinking about the choices Apple made being either good or bad ones, not as much about the facts themselves when we have corroboration from elsewhere.
Do not forget that BOTH companies are attempting spin control on this issue, not just Apple. Google for example wants to distract from Apple shipping 3D maps to consumers in an included map app first (yes they had Google Earth, but it was always more of a side project and not yet integrated into maps on mobile devices). Of course Nokia was ahead of both of them... it's interesting that no-one complained of similar 3D warping errors in that case.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
Yeah, its almost as if these "rules" were made up by Apple Haters.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Download the free Telenav GPS app. Screw Apple and Google.
I notice that when you type in Google search box "Samsung Galaxy S3" that "Samsung Galaxy S3 Jelly Bean" is the 2nd suggestion. Wow, that's some distressed deployment there... how long has Nexus had it again?
forget the Samsung brainwashin...there are a number of devices that can compete with the S3 easily enough that cost half of it, e.g. the Nexus.
If you are referring to the Galaxy Nexus, that's made by Samsung too.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Yes, you are the only one.
Should have included this in my original message, but here it is now:
Live Street View App
You should try the 3D + Satellite view though. When there is actually 3D data, I find it better than Street View for getting context on where something is. On flat areas it's not useful in that way, but can give you terrain hints at least...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Well, what it means for me is...I'm not letting my iPhone "upgrade" to the next version of IOS....so I can keep my googlemaps app.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
If you think apple maps is the worst thing to come to IOS6, then you haven't messed with the podcast app or tried the new panorama camera features.
In retrospect, Apple should have kept Google maps in iOS for another year, and rolled out iOS maps first as an app.
How many people would really have used it though?
The app itself works really well as is, the issue is data correctness. You only obtain that quickly through an app people use primarily and give you feedback through.
Also one factor you are not considering is this; That would have been one more year applications using the mapping framework were not able to give turn-by-turn directions overlaid on the map. Now that Apple has switched to using it's own maps application developers are free to overlay whatever they like on the map, and don't even have to worry about covering up the google logo (which would block an app from acceptance into the app store).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Steve Jobs said he wanted to destroy the Android platform when it was first released and Apple has been on that vendetta ever since.
Apple used Google while it suited them to provide features Apple couldn't produce but are necessary for a mobile phone.
Once Apple got their mapping product close to ready (but far far from being ready), they ditched Google, pure and simple.
Apple doesn't like Google, Apple wants nothing to do with Google, and Apple created some bullshit excuse to cover up the fact they are separating ties with "their enemies".
I guarantee that Apple will be filing some massive lawsuit against Google in 2013 concerning Android and it doesn't make sense to maintain any licensing agreement with them, just like Apple has reduced the use of Samsung parts so they can pursue legal actions against Samsung.
Why are people so ready to eat Apple's bullshit. Apple has been streaming a steady load of bullshit since the release of the iPhone 5 to cover up the fiasco that it is. They used inferior materials to build the thing, inferior labor to make the thing, and included inferior software to distance themselves from the rest of their competitors in the mobile marketplace.
It is VERY obvious that with the passing of Steve Jobs Apple can no longer compete through innovation so now Apple is switching to a business model of suing competitors to maintain market share. Google is clearly in Apple's targets.
Apple has become rotten to the core and people have to stop thinking they are an innovative company at the top of their game. A company willing to cripple their products out of a fit of petulance and jealousy is not a company whose products people should be proud owners of.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Yeah, because if you nit pick the small stuff you can claim to be fair when you apologize for the big stuff.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
You pays your money and they fucks you. If you gives them some more moneys then they fucks you even harder. Ignant apple losers with their bleeding asses.
Well, if this is true Google just proved their just another corporation looking out for their own interest. The user just happens to be the product they sell. Of course, I already knew this but I know lots of users out there think Google is out there for charity or some form of.
You mean like Instacast, or Amazon Kindle Reader or Sparrow or ... should I go on?
The only thing that you can't duplicate is an HTML/JS engine, and I imagine that might change in the future too.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Yes. They allow tons of apps that duplicate functionality.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
It's not like more than 200 trucks smash into bridges in New York due to faulty map GPS encoding.
Oh, wait, it is.
Ooh, look, a Starbucks out in the middle of Puget Sound! ... how pretty the fishies are ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
A lot of people are thinking that the Apple Maps errors are just going to be shrugged off – that in a few months or a few years, they'll reach "good enough" status, and everyone will just forget this embarrassing incident. But I think it goes deeper than that. A major part of Apple's appeal, one big reason why they have been able to charge premium prices and get people lining up to buy their stuff, is that their devices "Just Work." Other companies routinely used their customers as beta testers (this is why it's common knowledge that you never buy a new version of Windows or Office until at least the first Service Pack is out). But Apple avoided that.
No longer. For Apple Maps users *are* beta testers, make no mistake about it. Apple's primary method of map improvement is for users to report problems so they can be fixed. This is unpaid QA work. This is not what Apple's customers thought they were signing up for.
Add that to the fact that the new Lightning connector on the iPhone has an IC designed solely to prevent creation of compatible cables, and of course the numerous lawsuits against Android vendors. It's increasingly starting to look like the post-Jobs Apple is no longer putting the customer experience first. Oh, they always cared about making money, but they understood that their business model was to make money by making the customers happy. Even moves that could be seen as anti-competitive, like the walled garden, could be justified from a user experience perspective (non-technical users probably *shouldn't* be randomly downloading un-vetted executable code, for security reasons). But with Maps, for the first time, they are sacrificing a significant aspect of user experience to internal politics. It is an ill omen for the future. If they continue on this road, what separates them any more from Microsoft, except that MS has a bigger installed base of business users?
Why not to use http://maps.nokia.com instead of hacking system. Yes, it will need data connection but so does Apple's own maps so no difference there.
I thought Apple had a policy that you cannot create apps that compete with their existing apps.
Like the Pirate Code, that is way more a guideline than a rule.
There are tons of alternate mapping apps already on the app store that do exactly what Maps did and does. Waze for example, totally free map application with directions and everything. But more telling, Bing is also an app on the app store that includes Bing maps. If they let Microsoft but Bing maps on the app store it seems very unlikely they would block Google.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Worse for Google, a lot of iOS users were totally unaware that the old Maps app even had Street View,
I totally agree with this. It was a little hard to activate and I myself almost never used it in the maps app the way I did on the desktop. If Google had released a map app now that featured Street View and made it really easy to access, they could have won over a ton of users. With nothing from Google most people will probably simply use the Maps app and adapt.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No, you're not. I've not run into a single issue, and I've been using it for months (developer previews). The old (Google) Maps app was so bad as to be nearly useless for me.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
They do want to grab angry iOS users. But they want to do so by switching them to Android instead.
It's true in the short term that Google may get some new Android users out of this. But not nearly as many as they have lost from Apple switching maps away from Google (well over 100 million iPhones running around now). If Google had a mapping app ready now, they could have got a significant percentage - say 10-20 percent - of them back as Google Maps users.
Longer term Apple will be able to use a large number of people to rapidly improve map quality. Longer term people will find that apps are providing better transit guidance than Google is able to give, and third party transit apps are integrated into Apple maps in a way that Google is unlikely to follow with since Google is trying to gather data about what you want to do, and they are blind if you go into a third-party app for transit.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Legally they have to allow google maps otherwise they will get caught in a monopolistic state where the consumer will lose!
Google was trying to expand its products. Many people were asking for the things they wanted to add but Apple refused to add them. Remember there are other mapping company's including TomTom Garmin and Navigon. Do you see there apps in the Apple app store? On googles play you do!
And remember google maps have been out for many years. The app was actually add to support an already growing tool.
Apple has a long way to go. Throwing away a good thing for something home grown might be a good idea but they shouldnt have dropped Maps till it was a solid product.
yes.
http://lifehacker.com/5946895/superior-replacements-to-the-boring-stock-iphone-apps
Next question?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
But on the other hand, it should exist in the first place. I've looked at the iOS 6 Apple map app.
Lift up the corner of the map where settings like "Satellite" are located, In there is also "report a problem".
There are a number of websites reporting this also so average users will in fact be making use of this link...
It also exists when you go into details for any pin, there's a prominent "report a problem" button at the bottom of all the details. That's the place most people will find and make use of I think.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Chrome for iOS exists. Fail.
I just found the box to change my sig. Um.... [timeless witticism].
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
I'm wondering about the legality of such a rule. Back in the day, Microsoft got a lot of flak just for having IE built in the OS; imagine what would have happened if they would have said: "sorry, Win95 has a built-in web browser, there is no need for an alternative browser, such as Netscape, and we won't allow it!"...
the apple defense is that they aren't a monopoly.
that's the apple defense to all allegations about unfair practices, pretty much.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It's only been available briefly, but it strikes me that "MapGate" is like "AntennaGate" was for the iPhone 4 -- representative of a real problem, but one that is blown well out of proportion.
Personally, I haven't had a problem using the new Apple Maps app -- it has found locations correctly and accurately. The navigation feature has worked as well, although it seems to suffer from some of the same routing issues that ALL GPS devices have -- the routes they choose are all reasonable, but they don't stand up to a local's innate routing ability which can balance details that won't fit in a map application (i.e., which route is fastest AND has a good liquor store which sells imports in 500 ml cans).
Google Maps didn't have my office address on streets for nearly 4 years. Admittedly it was a new development, but 4 years? And I've used plenty of standalone GPS systems with glitches -- the last time I was in Park City skiing, the GPS supplied with the car put the hotel on the wrong side of the road.
The photos of warped satellite views seem entirely unsurprising given that the 3D perspective is computer generated and there are probably adjustments that need to be made in the data or the rendering process for some locations. It's hard to see this as a show stopper, especially considering the Google alternatives are easily available and I don't know who uses the 3D satellite views for turn-by-turn navigation anyway.
I also think Apple's app has improvements -- the app rotates between landscape and portrait, the street map is vector based, allowing for faster zooming and panning, and overall it appears to have superior design/typography. And it has navigation.
It's not hard to see the glitches worked out over time, although the hard part for Apple will be coordinating the partners to make it happen faster than the typical evolutionary scale. Presumably Apple has a licensing agreement that allows them to fix the mapping data themselves and not just send flagged glitches to TomTom for them to fix as they see fit.
I've enjoyed the articles in the post, however, does it bother anyone that NONE of the sources are named? Or is it something that blogs can omit? I know these unnamed source fiesta would undergo a gauntlet of approval up the chain with each of the editors in a newsroom.
No, I'm not an Apple apologist. I actually own an android, pc desktop, etc.
Pretty much the definition of "fait and balanced" right there.
"Hot lesbian witches! It's fucking genius!"
... there is money in the usage data that a maps application collects about its users. Apple didn't want to turn that information and money over to google.
On Apple Maps, all the Starbucks appeared on land in a search, and just scrolling around puget sound revealed only water.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If Google wrote the original Maps app for iOS and Apple is going to let them publish a map app, why didn't they just publish the original app? Or, supposing that they for some reason licensed the source to Apple, why didn't they create a new app from scratch? It wouldn't have been hard and they have had plenty of time. Either they don't want to, or Apple won't let them. Apple did refuse to let them publish apps in the past, and only allowed them to publish apps after they received heavy scrutiny from the FTC. What makes you think that the leopard (or mountain lion if you prefer), has changed its spots?
Maybe not, but if they're a contact, you could probably pull them up from within the Google maps app when it comes out. That's almost as easy as going via the address book itself.
Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
Plus, google says they are not working on one:
Google not working on IOS app
"For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
Don't go to appleinsider for apple coverage, only go to /.
I've been using the maps and I fail to see the issues so far . . . perhaps I only use it as a map and not for whatever other people seem to be using it for.
Google's traffic has been sucky for the last two years; anyone who doesn't double-check is a damn moron to start with. INRIX and trapster work fine. Guess it's only people that live inside their phones and don't look around. Poor bastards.
they will never be competitors to Google Maps
When around a 100 million people are using Apple iOS devices, and mostly people use handheld devices when they need a map... instantly that makes Appel a very real mapping competitor regardless of launch quality of the Apple maps.
And the truth is, that most people will find Apple Maps to work generally OK. It will have some errors off the bat but in my daily use around the city it has not yet had a bad search or something that was terribly out of place.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
With his little tank?
-- Linux user #369862
Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
Yes.
1. Apple apparently wrote the original Maps app, but used Google's data.
2. Google themselves have said that their own replacement app isn't ready. Who knows why it's taking them so long.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
I'm wondering about the legality of such a rule. Back in the day, Microsoft got a lot of flak just for having IE built in the OS; imagine what would have happened if they would have said: "sorry, Win95 has a built-in web browser, there is no need for an alternative browser, such as Netscape, and we won't allow it!"...
Oh, good heavens. Not this again.
Windows had a monopoly (> 90% of PCs at the time) and still does.
Apple has only briefly had a plurality of smartphone market share, never a majority, and certainly not a monopoly.
The problem within your argument is the premise that people think that the new apple maps is worse than the old maps app. In fact, no one I know feels this is true. Most people I've spoken to about it have barely noticed, or if they have its primarily the slightly different look to the maps themselves (which people like or not equally).
In my opinion this is in line with most of the other 'problems' various apple devices have had, which have slowly faded away never to be heard about again. Now that I think about it, every apple product release apparently has major problems and will spell the downfall of apple. My suspicion is that this is because the 'problems' exist only for a very small minority of people, and are blown way out of context, for various reasons.
I myself have stopped listening to the doom and gloom news about apples products, because *every single one* which I've been able to test has proven minor or non-existent. There's no way I would have even noticed any of the so called major issues without media coverage about them. For example, the iPad 3 is a little hotter than the 2 - I wouldn't have noticed except that i was looking for it. I was never able to replicate the iPhone 4 antenna problems. The wifi 'problems' have never affected me (in fact wifi on my apple devices is far more reliable and hassle free than on any of my pc's or android devices). Now this whole map issue... It's a joke. From my use of it, it's virtually the same as the old map app. Actually it has more modern satellite data, at least for the areas I've looked. That its being flaunted as one of the major problems with ios 6, in my mind, illustrates how few problems really exist.
Anyways, my point was that I believe your premise that the new maps app is worse than the old (or noticeably so, to the average user), is flawed. This will no more of a problem for apple than any negative PR is. In one month it will be ancient history, and nobody will remember that the maps app even changed.
what separates them any more from Microsoft, except that MS has a bigger installed base of business users
MS learned from a true master at business ruthlessness. They learned from Apple.
Apple has always had a serious case of NIH. They do come out with 'cool' products. But once someone else sees it and gets their hands on it, it is only a matter of time before the copy cats show up and make 'good enough' cheaper.
Steve Jobs was handling the NIH syndrome the company has very well though. It was pretty much 'sure you can reinvent it but it better be out of the park or at least into the bleachers, if not do not talk to me, and if you do i will give you an earful of why it sucks'. You are starting to see the Apple of the late 80s early 90s reasserting itself. Steve Jobs ruthlessly controlled every product coming out of that company. You are starting to see the diff orgs in the company trying to one up each other. We are going to see a LOT of these sorts of hiccups over the next few years. You are going to see products Apple thinks is cool but the customers go 'eh ok'.
That's just wrong. When Gruber thinks Apple's messed up, he says so. He's definitely an Apple fan, but hardly an unthinking drone.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
If Google wrote the original Maps app for iOS and Apple is going to let them publish a map app, why didn't they just publish the original app? Or, supposing that they for some reason licensed the source to Apple, why didn't they create a new app from scratch? It wouldn't have been hard and they have had plenty of time. Either they don't want to, or Apple won't let them. Apple did refuse to let them publish apps in the past, and only allowed them to publish apps after they received heavy scrutiny from the FTC. What makes you think that the leopard (or mountain lion if you prefer), has changed its spots?
1. Google didn't write the previous IOS maps app. Apple did, they just used Google data.
2. There are many other map applications in the App Store already including ones with turn-by-turn (Bing, TomTom, Mapquest, etc).
The problem is the map app telling you where you are by using your gps + tower connection and giving you a routeway to go from where you are to where you want to be..without knowing the address of where you are...and keeps updating it as you move and suggesting alternate routes in traffic etc etc.
Eventually, iOS users who don't want to wait for Apple-Google parity will be able to download native a native version of Google's maps
You mean an application that duplicates the functionality of a built-in app?
You really think Apple is going to allow this in the iOS store?
I'm not sure how you got modded up so highly.
Apple now allows apps with duplicate functionality. There are dozens of map apps already in the App Store: Bing, Mapquest, TomTom, AT&T Navigator, TeleNav OpenStreetMap apps even.
Much like there is also a multitude of calendar, mail, note, and calculator apps etc.
You mean read his stupid crap snarky sneering comparisons on Amazon's earnings vs. Apple's ?
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/07/27/amzn-profit-correction
Or calling Apple's competitors turds?
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/08/01/nokia-nail-polish
Or his various hate filled diatribes on Google and Android? Or how he stated that Android would never overtake the iPhone? And then how he tried to muddy the waters by adding the iPad numbers to claim iOS' superiority? After even that failed, he(and his chums like Siegler) resorted to calling the Apple winner over Android because it takes 80% of the mobile profits! Like how MS wins the server OS market and the web server market and the IDE market with Windows Server, IIS and Visual Studio over Linux, Apache/nginx etc.
For proof of his partisanship see his analysis of Apple's forced 30% cut of in-app purchases over which it kicked out a number of apps.
http://daringfireball.net/2011/03/dirty_percent
Summary: Apple does it because it can and people complaining are doing so because they're jealous they can't do the same thing.
In short, he's nothing but a partisan hack. Actually anyone would be, if they could earn $3000 per RSS ad while lounging around in pyjamas looking for tidbits of news and "analysis" to post pandering to the typical type of audience he attracts.
For example, Nokia maps works fine in safari browser.
That sense of iHumour of yours? You're holding it wrong.
"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
Claim: "Of course, John Gruber would never post anything negative about Apple or would never admit to them making a mistake."
Answer: Frequent and numerous evidence to the contrary.
Your reply: Well, that doesn't count! It's not critical enough! Stop confusing my bias with facts!
Everybody bitches about iTunes and, now, Apple's new maps is the popular thing to rag on. He doesn't exactly shake up the status quo with negative stories about those.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
I am in Houston, Tx which is a large city with flyover.
One thing I have not seen mentioned anywhere is - what cities support flyover currently?
I am in Denver, and flyover is supported here also. Denver is not a huge city, so it makes me wonder if a fair number of U.S. cities are already supported.
On the other hand, they have a current picture of the new Dynamo Stadium
I have also found in some cases that Apple has more correct data than Google. That's a fact that goes largely unreported, and means it may take Apple less time to catch up to Google then they are thinking.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Anonymous coward demands proof that they're not hiding intentions or anything. That's a hoot.
Apple removed Nouvion from the ios maps. Madonna with the big boogies is lost forever.
You mean that Apple put in a flashy, showy feature just for the sake of looking cool and ignored functionality in the design of one of their products? That's unheard of! Aww crap, my roommate's iMac just overheated again, lol.
Remember that one?
As initially hyped, er, reported, nobody could make a call on the iPhone 4 and if you held onto your phone with more than 2 fingers you lost not only all your wireless signals, but you also started to lose your place in the space-time continuum.
That one got so bad Steve Jobs actually held a press conference to show the world that, yes, Apple had RF engineers and facilities and so on.
After some software fixes and the bumper case (which I actually liked and used with a 4 and 4S) the problem was never heard from again.
I don't even know how "real" the problem was -- I bought a 4 later in the release cycle (March?) and I always used one with a case anyway, but I never had any RF problems with it at all.
Hence his not posting a link to http://www.mondaynote.com/2012/09/23/apple-maps/ and then saying: Under-promise, over-deliver. Apple usually does a good job at that, but I agree with Gassée: they did not set expectations properly for the new Maps app.
Yes, they will allow it.
Just like they allowed Bing maps, which you could also use if you preferred.
Spoken like someone who's probably never picked up an iPhone in his life. Select contact. Click-Hold address. Select Copy. go to whatever maps app or webisite you like and click paste.
It's really that simple. The whole maps 'disaster' is so overblown it's hilarious. If you live in any larger city, chances are you will never notice an issue that impacts you in any meaningful way. About the only useful info that's lacking are bus routes/times.
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/apple-maps-furor-overblown-1B6071011
The rest of the issues are cosmetic. Is it perfect? No. Am I getting 'fucked' because of it? No. Hell, even Motorola's own commercial had to fake a bad address to do their commercial.
http://www.bgr.com/2012/09/27/apple-maps-motorola-criticism-fail/
The first link breaks it down into a little more 'sane' dialog.
A) There are flaws in Apple's Maps database.
B) These flaws very likely do not affect you in any way.
C) These flaws will be fixed and served up without you updating any software.
D) There is a lack of public transit information, which may or may not affect you, but is partially remedied by apps.
E) You now get free turn-by-turn navigation and instant links to Yelp pages â" and no ads.
F) GPS-enabled Google Maps are still available on iPhones and iPads for free, through the Safari browser.
G) A Google Maps app for iOS will likely be here soon, too.
His point is valid" It's impossible to know if someone is having problems with an Android phone or an iPhone.
The phone is not as good with out google maps.
That sense of iHumour of yours? You're holding it wrong.
So all of the errors reported are just jokes then?
Because that's just what you've done, is invalidated real problem reports.
It's amusing but detrimental to your cause, and because you did not indicate it was supposed to be funny, makes you look like a liar.
His brother Hans is more militant, he didn't like the Nakatomi, and tried to blow it up. Imagine what he would to if he was let loose in Cuppertino...
Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.
Hey, at least i got fucked.
In your rear end, that is.
He was very critical of the guy who was going to "reorganize" Apple retail, that's no small thing :
"“Even if the customer experience is compromised” are Allen’s words, summarizing what he heard from his sources, not Browett’s. But if they’re accurate, it’s hard to conclude anything other than that Apple made a terrible decision hiring him."
That's just one of many criticisms. Apple fans are some of the most critical around, you just don't notice because you only follow their news sporadically. The attitude of Apple fans is best summed up by John Siracusa's podcast tagline : "Nothing is so perfect that it can't be complained about." They'll happily rant for hours about how Apple stuff is near perfection and they'll happily rant for hours more on how it can become just that little bit more prefect as well.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
"Spoken like someone who's probably never picked up an iPhone in his life. Select contact. Click-Hold address. Select Copy. go to whatever maps app or webisite you like and click paste."
As oposed to finding your contact and taping in the mini map that appears with it, right? What if im driving? Will siri open a google maps app for my contact? Yeah, didnt think so.
And if the new maps app isnt all that good in the US and the UK, how the fuck do you think it will do in Mexico. And YES im just ranting because YES, im stuck with the damned thing. I will change to iphone 5 anyhow because im apple all the way.
For this change yes, i will say again and again: fuck them and the horse they rode in on until they get me perfect maps at least as good as I have right now.
NO SIG
That's a nice story. The problem with it is that, in the real world, the Maps app on iOS was maintained (such as it, which was not very much) by Apple. Google wasn't the app supplier, it was the map data provider.
So, if anyone was responsible for the UX experience of the iOS Maps app not keeping up with the UX of the equivalent Android app, it was Apple. (Well, I guess you can blame Google for working more on the Android app than Apple was willing to bother working on the iOS app.)
If Apple's concern was UX rather than continuing Jobs promised nuclear war with Google, they would have spent their resources making UX improvements (and not faced the blowback from dropping popular features that depended on Google's data resources) rather than on purchasing other companies so that they could replace Google as the backend data supplier.
I have used an iphone since iphone 3. I dont care if you believe me. Im posting from an osx lion early macbook pro 4gb mem (that is also slower than it should, by the way) and thats why Im stuck to iphone as well: nothing will integrate as well with this thing.
NO SIG
I was browsing appshopper.com and found a new third party google maps app today. It doesn't have voice navigation it seems but it does have street view.
http://www.appshopper.com/navigation/mapipo-6-g-maps-street-view-and-navigation
Hell its also impossible to know if he is posting from cupertino. Asking this question makes him what? A shill. We are all more or less anonymous but an AC really is more anonymous than us with a profile and a posting history.
NO SIG
That's exactly what he's doing. Seriously. I'm surprised so many people are blind to such praticises.
Intersting that you should raise 'while I'm driving' as a concern. Prior to Apple ditching Google Maps, you were forced to look and manually step through-each-step in the directions...while driving.
Now you can just listen to the directions as you drive.
That's pretty much exactly how they handled the changeover of the YouTube app - the app is no longer built-in, but if it's installed, Apple's apps will still open things in the YouTube app.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Apple still relies on a lot of outside data sources for iOS functionality. They just needed to get away from Google for the maps, since that was restricting what Apple could do, and in Apple's opinion collecting too much data about users.
Yes, if you live in Monterrey, California. Unfortunatly, I live in Monterrey, Mexico and if google took ages to get this clusterfuck of a city right, im pretty sure we are at the tail of apple's priorities right now, specially since they are getting butchered by people from, damn, Monterrey, California.
Fuck them. I need this to work well and I aint shutting up until it works perfect. They wont loose me as a customer: ive tens of thousends of songs in imatch, ive bought plenty from itunes, i gave my dad his first ipod and ipad and he now has an Air, i have an ipad latest, i have a macbook pro i have a shuffle. Im fucked. Im never getting out of here.
But I can be pretty nasty if shit doesnt work like it has to. And work it will or else.
NO SIG
They do not yet make an iPhone 6.
What else you gonna do, buy an Android and contract devices just by bumping into strangers?
It will open youtube content in youtube, which is quite the thing you wanna do if you dont have a mactube or whatever competing service that matches youtube's content tit for tat.
A maps app is different: why would they go through the effort of making a new one if they are goin to work just as well with google's content that is already well established and developed? No. This brick, they will pass to customers.
It took google quite a while to get their stuff workiing in my country. I patiently waited but now, out of nowhere, im going to have to wait again. Or maybe not. Ill shut up if it works just as bad as in the US, but I know it wont: if it sucks 1x there, it will suck 10x here. If it takes T time to fix it in the US, it will take 10T time to fix it for my country. Its just the way the economy works.
NO SIG
If you have information countering what he said, cough it up. Otherwise take your ad hom attack and stuff it up your geek ass along side your empty head.
Voice turn-by-turn is not available on the iPhone 4 or 3GS.
So about the only significantly new feature... and most importantly, the alleged "killer feature" of the app, isn't even available for a a lot of existing iPhone owners.
It reminds me a lot of the whole Sony removing the "other OS" feature on the playstation debacle.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
If it were a problem with the software, I might agree. But the problem is with the data, which Apple admits has a crowdsourced component. If you have a problem with this, then you have a problem with crowdsourcing.
Pure speculation, and wrong. The controller is there to allow the wires in the cable to be used for different functions as needed. The chip can negotiate with a USB end to line up power and signals for USB transmission, or with a power end to just line up power. This means it will also likely negotiate with a video cable end to send video signals, etc. Apple built a future-proof connector that doesn't require getting tied down to the physical constraints of any one standard. Doing this required a chip, can't do it with plain wire.
There is evidence this may be true with the stores. Traditionally they put the customer ahead of every other consideration, and the profits rolled in naturally. With the new retail head, it looks like they may be starting to think like a standard retailer.
He doesn't like Android or Google! ZOMG! KILL THE HERETIC!
If you have evidence countering this explanation, THEN POST IT! Saying "Apple does it cuz they can, derp!" is just cartoon universe childish bullshit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_map_services
People forget they bought Navteq in 2007. Wonder why they did that now...
Yahoo maps: Nokia
Garmin: Nokia data
Mapquest: Nokia data
Navigon: Nokia data
Onstar: Nokia data
Amazon: Nokia maps
Microsoft Bing maps: See the Nokia logo at the bottom?
Pretty much every in car system on the planet uses Nokia data.
The list just goes on and on. But why would a ***mobile*** phone company care? Did you notice I highlighted the word "mobile"?
Now look at their new phones, the 920 now has "citylens" which is first generation augmented reality. You can use it to "see through" buildings to find things nearby. They added Nokia Transport public transport and Nokia Drive turn by turn navigation. Their music app gives you nearby gigs.
Nokia phones are going to be *highly* context aware, with superb 2D & 3D data and superb POIs. Google's the only other company which is even close with respect to mapping on mobiles. As you've seen
http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/
Apple Maps is now *years* (longer) behind in terms of data, they have a vast area to cover. They totally blew it when they told Google to go take a running jump.
What I find amusing is that Apple have a hundred billion dollars that they have no idea what to do with. Looks like they're now going to have to try and hire thousands of Nokia and Google map experts (and no, we're not just talking about software developers, they are ten a penny in comparison).
Deleted
A lot of people are thinking that the Apple Maps errors are just going to be shrugged off – that in a few months or a few years, they'll reach "good enough" status, and everyone will just forget this embarrassing incident. But I think it goes deeper than that. A major part of Apple's appeal, one big reason why they have been able to charge premium prices and get people lining up to buy their stuff, is that their devices "Just Work."
The thing to keep in mind here is that Google is the undisputed champion of mapping, whatever data Apple was going to use it just wasn't going to be as good as Google's. Google has sunk millions of dollars and man hours into their maps in the past few year and redefined people's expectations (a couple years ago who would've thought that having access to a nearly perfect global map at all times would be seen as a necessity ?) Google also knew of this advantage and used it as leverage. Sooner or later something would have to give and it has, unfortunately this means iOS users will have some minor inconvenience in the transition period.
Add that to the fact that the new Lightning connector on the iPhone has an IC designed solely to prevent creation of compatible cables
Actually the best analysis so far is that the chip negotiates the assignment of pins in the reversible connector :
"The controller/driver chip tells the device what type it is, and for cases like the Lightning-to-USB cable whether a charger (that sends power) or a device (that needs power) is on the other end.
The device can then switch the other pins between the SoC’s data lines or the power circuitry, as needed in each case.
[...]
I really see no justification for the “authentication chip” hypothesis"
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Anecdotally, I don't know of anyone who was affected by this reorganization of Apple's stores to even bother to mention it. On the other hand, EVERYONE I know who has updated to iOS 6 or purchased an iPhone 5 has commented on how fucked the new Maps application is.
This would imply, in my world, that the first issue is a fluff piece, posted to garner this false aura of fairness, and the latter is a huge fuckup that he's apologizing for like a good lap dog eagerly waiting his tickets to the next great thing unveil.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Except one has a posting record where you can see if it's a new throwaway account, whether they're likely to be shilling based on previous comments and writing styles, etc.
Apple has literally gone full Caligula insane and has deemed the entire universe unworthy of all but giving them their money. If Apple could patent the alphabet and sue the entire human race it would.
Anecdotally, I don't know of anyone who was affected by this reorganization of Apple's stores to even bother to mention it.
It affects all Apple employees in those stores as well as all customers who walk into those stores.
This would imply, in my world, that the first issue is a fluff piece, posted to garner this false aura of fairness, and the latter is a huge fuckup that he's apologizing for like a good lap dog eagerly waiting his tickets to the next great thing unveil.
Calling a senior Apple exec "a terrible hire" is a fluff piece and doesn't qualify as criticizing Apple ? It's your opinion but it shows your own bias at least.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Hey, i hear the aquarium is pretty good there, have you seen... oh, wait, nevermind!
Apple is routinely lauded for outstanding customer service. You don't think screwing up one of they key pieces of that (the Apple store) will have an effect? Had he not been stopped, as it seems the most drastic changes were, the lasting effect on Apple would have been huge. Nobody cares about the maps. Most people like them because they did not have turn-by-turn before. You need to go into the world outside of the tech blogs sometimes.
Interesting how the GPs driving comment clearly proves the post he was responding to. If you were driving with iOS5, I hope to you weren't using the maps app to navigate.
Either you're wrong, or that's one hell of a broken toy computer.
There shouldn't be a single personal computer made the in last 20 years which gets in the way of a full system backup / restore.
If your PC can't do that, then you have way bigger concerns than the possibility of one of iOS6's applications (the mapper) sucking or not sucking. The mapper is tree in a totally burning forest. Ditch it now. Even if iOS6's mapper turns out to be good (and seriously, it'll likely be just fine, even if not perfect) you are totally doomed anyway. Get off that platform ASAP (if it's true that you can't back up).
Thats what siri will say for sure.
NO SIG
Actually no, the rules were made up by Apple. They just choose to follow them when they choose. The iFans just defend the rules. Why? Because Apple made them, and Apple just works.
There are lots of fans of Salvador Dali working in apple?
[1] indefinite article, singular. [2] noun, plural.
[1] + [2] = FUCKING GRAMMAR FAIL.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
If you live in any larger city, chances are you will never notice an issue that impacts you in any meaningful way.
I live in London, and I now cannot use my iPhone's native map apps to navigate, as it misses/relocates public transport entirely.
That's without the blatant renaming, misspellings, inaccuracies and so on. I could live with all of those if I could be sure of finding the nearest tube.
For those of us who live in cities where cars are not the be all and end all, this is a big deal. It's reckoned that about 40% of London households don't own a car, and a lot more don't use them for commuting. So it's a pretty shite tradeoff for turn-by-turn navigation.
but who isn't criticising apple for the maps fail...
You live there but don't know where the tubes are?
No, you can have your own HTML parser and CSS layout engine. What you're not allowed is anything that will execute any code not provided by the application (which therefore includes any JS engine taking content from the web), except for WebView.
Nokia launched 3D on mobile first, and deserves props for that.
But have you looked at the Nokia 3D maps?
The maps they have do not look at good as Google Earth, or Apple Maps 3D in the areas I've looked.
I can't find coverage anywhere of current cities that support Apply flyover, but it would not surprise me if they were ahead in terms of building 3D data.
In terms of areas with 2D images mapped onto 3D terrain, it also does not look as good - look at Hoover dam. Nokia has a really old map (shows bridge still under construction) and also does the worst job of mapping the 2D image on the 3D terrain.
You can use it to "see through" buildings to find things nearby.
As you can with quite a number of augmented reality apps on the iPhone, and have for some time.
As for the Tumblr site - while amusing, Google has problems of its own which in practical terms would matter to more people than most of the errors shown in that Tumblr link. Over time Apple will correct those errors. If you really want to you can find issues with any of the mapping services, Apple just has some more highly visible issues out of the gate.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
maybe Google has a patent on the turn by turn navagation on a phone and can really put the screws to Apple - who admit they don't have it since they went to Google for licensing
A) There are flaws in Apple's Maps database.
B) These flaws very likely do not affect you in any way.
I live in a medium-sized (1.3 million) city in a Western industrialised nation (Australia) and Apple Maps is worse than useless. At an anecdotal guess I'd say 75% of my searches for established well-known businesses and locations in my city give me "No Results Found"; 25% are laughably incorrect; maybe 25% are useful.
An Apple product that only does what I need 1 out of 4 times is a horrible failure.
Select contact. Click-Hold address. Select Copy. go to whatever maps app or webisite you like and click paste.
You've done a pretty good job of describing how Apple will not integrate with Google maps, although you strangely seem to think you've done the opposite. I believe the parent said with one tap
In Android, when you click on the address you get a prompt for which map app you want to use with a little check mark to set that app as the default from then on if you wish. That is an example of integrating with third party apps. What you describe is how not to integrate.
Spoken like someone who probably never traveled outside of the USA. When you say big city, does the second biggest city in Sweden count? Because if it does, I can tell you it's missing completely from Apple gaps (seems like a more accurate name for what it is).
What's incredible is how massively off topic these two posts are.
FC Closer
More bullshit FUD from a Fandroid. How the fuck do outright lies like this get modded up? Hate for Apple is like a fucking religion with you shitballs.
"As oposed to finding your contact and taping in the mini map that appears with it, right? What if im driving? Will siri open a google maps app for my contact? Yeah, didnt think so."
If you are driving you might appreciate having spoken turn by turn directions -- something that wasn't allowed with Google map data.
"A maps app is different: why would they go through the effort of making a new one if they are goin to work just as well with google's content that is already well established and developed? No. This brick, they will pass to customers."
Google is free to write an app, put it on the app store, and register a custom URL on iOS so that when you click on it from a website it opens Google maps.
Spoken like someone who's probably never picked up an iPhone in his life. Select contact. Click-Hold address. Select Copy. go to whatever maps app or webisite you like and click paste.
Sure, if I expend more effort, I can use the clunky copy and paste functionality and open the app I want and still lose functionality: no Siri integration, for example. I can even use the crappy mobile version of Google maps, giving up speed, Siri integration, etc., delivering a worse experience than before. All of this makes my life harder. IMO the Android way of handling this is pretty good, and Apple should look into stealing the idea for at least mapping and navigation.
SSC
I'm loving the new Apple maps, at least here in the US. Seems to have no problem finding addresses, and features spoken, turn by turn instructions. Used them extensively this weekend. Huge upgrade over the old Google maps.
Now, apparently the default maps app sucks - at least for the moment - in many countries overseas. China oddly enough not being one of them. The Chinese are apparently marveling at how much better Apple's map app is than Google's. Go figure.
Seems to depend a lot on the quality of the map database Apple bought in each country. In the US they bought their data from Tom Tom, which is pretty high quality (for driving, anyhow). Overseas looks like it's a crap shoot.
I think a lot of users are going to read the hysteria surrounding Apple's maps, then have an experience similar to mine and wonder what the Fandroids are all smoking. Apple's critics keep doing this ("Antennagate" being the best example), and come off looking like idiots as a result.
As oposed to finding your contact and taping in the mini map that appears with it, right? What if im driving? Will siri open a google maps app for my contact? Yeah, didnt think so.
Seeing as twiddling with a phone while driving is illegal in most of the (civilised) world, I don't think your "what if I'm driving?" objection will carry much weight with Apple.
If you live in any larger city, chances are you will never notice an issue that impacts you in any meaningful way. About the only useful info that's lacking are bus routes/times.
Except for the lack of cycling maps, and that a few towns less than 100km from my city are misplaced, and that the search function can't even be called hit and miss since I rarely hits, and that businesses come up in completely the wrong place.
But hey my city only has a population of 2million. Oh and Steve Woz was at our local apple store signing autographs on launch day. So we mustn't really count right? Oh and all the new features don't work all to well directing people to the wrong highway exits, the wrong way around large roundabouts, and the wrong way up one way streets, something that the TomTom app doesn't have a problem with.
Sorry but not impressed. I keep hearing about how all other maps have problems too, but I have yet to find them. /has Google Maps shortcut on desktop.
And I'm one of them.
I bought iPads for my business mainly to use the maps feature for home delivery of our products. All of my data saved for customers is gone!.
The new maps are incomplete and utter crap. I'm in Japan and in Japan, we read and write Japanese. The new maps are in written using western alphabet and not kanji! Only an idiot company would piss off millions of (soon-to-be-previous) customers like this. Half of the countries on the planet now have no working maps function.
I've gone from being an Apple fan, who bought Apple for 20 years, to someone who will never, EVER, buy another Apple product.
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
Yeah, its almost as if these "rules" were made up by Apple Haters.
Or that there *are no fixed rules*, and your investment in creating an app is completely at the mercy of the whim (and unknown future business plans) of a single corporate entity.
Nowadays, a usable map database has gotten so big and complex that it can made decent only by putting something in the hands of millions of users, letting them (forcing them to) find errors that can only be found by actual field usage, and using that volume of feedback to scale up a competent team; a team that might eventually be able fix a healthy portion of the problems so found. Apple may have put this half-baked map app out now, where millions of people will be stuck using it because they want the exciting new iPhone 5, and are too lazy to use any other map app. Using the feedback contained within millions of complaints deriving from actual mass volume field usage, Apple's map database will eventually evolve to something closer to a Google maps competitor, maybe over the next year or three.
They can't say they are doing this because not enough users want to be unpaid beta testers and/or usage analytics data sources. And it's hard to build a good database without knowing what data is bad.
lol apparently IOS finds that Motorola address correctly if you supply the zip code: 10003
as well as yahoo finding it and bing finding it..
guess you need to read the comments on the fanboy sites you decide to link.
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=315+E.+15th+street+NY
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=315+E+15th+Street+NY
http://maps.yahoo.com/#q=315+E+15th+St%2C+New+York
I guess this is supposed to be irony: you got that exactly backward. Unless you mean "fuck them until they're gratified", which would be a somewhat unusual use of that imperative. You're pretty clearly positioning yourself as the `bottom' in this relationship, though.
Or else what? You'll get over it?
-rozzin.
that could be a ways off.
How can people even write that nonsense?
"Ways" is plural. "Some ways off" might be satisfactory.
"A ways off" makes no garmmatical sense.
What if im driving? Will siri open a google maps app for my contact? Yeah, didnt think so.
Siri got me directions to my contacts no problem.
Samsung is apparently encouraging their fanbois (let's call them Samsingers) to make posts like this. Conveniently, there's no way to validate that you use an iPhone, that you've had any problems with the new maps app, or that you have any investment in this other than to make Apple look bad. I'll bet you're posting this from a Galaxy Tab 10.1 from a Google office. Prove me wrong, fandroid.
And you're an Apple apologist posting this from behind the genius bar...prove me wrong iTard.
Assumes that Apple will let Google publish their own app independently.
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
Yeah, its almost as if these "rules" were made up by Apple Haters.
Or that there *are no fixed rules*, and your investment in creating an app is completely at the mercy of the whim (and unknown future business plans) of a single corporate entity.
Or that that is also made up by an Apple Hater.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
I agree with Gassée: they did not set expectations properly for the new Maps app.
Well expectations had already been set by the existing Google Maps app, Apple maps failed to match its quality.
Didn't Android fans like to bandy about the fact that Android has a bigger market share than iPhones?
So what market are you going to argue Apple has monopoly power in? The iOS market?
Anecdotally, I don't know of anyone who was affected by this reorganization of Apple's stores to even bother to mention it. On the other hand, EVERYONE I know who has updated to iOS 6 or purchased an iPhone 5 has commented on how fucked the new Maps application is.
>
So nobody then.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
Look, whatever, the problem here is we users with a significant investment in the apple garden are fucked even if we get a google maps app because its not going to link to the native apps. If i have an address in my adressbook, apple is not going to let me open the direction in the google maps app with one tap. Of course the fuck not. They will send me to their ugly ass bitch fucking botched maps app that will take years to work anyware but the states and the UK and that really is fucking us up.
I didnt hate them. I bought into them like a lamb in the butcher house and im getting fucked and then slaughtered and then eaten.
Hey, at least i got fucked.
http://gps.about.com/od/mobilephonegps/tp/Iphone-Gps-Navigation-Apps-Top-Ten.htm - looks like several navigation apps have "address book integration". If Google can't do it, that says a lot about Google, not about Apple.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
We had an Iphone user say this last night, all six of us tried to find our houses, 1 success out of 6 (it put my house in a river) and 4 out of six of us were GIS analysts. After that i asked it to find me the nearest ATM, it said 6 KM away. I looked across the street at the CBA ATM flabbergasted.
IOS maps is truly terribad despite what you want to believe. Serious rectification issues (rectification info is public knowledge), very poor knowledge of local topology (which is freely available in my state) and a very limited database of points of interest (POI). If I want to find a petrol station, I use google maps and it even gives me the price of petrol. IOS maps cant even find an ATM that's right in front of me.
BTW, I can still make my sisters Iphone4 lose signal by holding it, your opinion on "antennagate", you're holding it wrong.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Not blinding thin barefoot orphans with the corners of their devices. Samsung wanted that.
FUCK APPLE.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
His other brother Franz was a better composer.
Now, apparently the default maps app sucks - at least for the moment - in many countries overseas. China oddly enough not being one of them. The Chinese are apparently marveling at how much better Apple's map app is than Google's. Go figure.
Might have something to do with the current state of relations between Google and the Chinese government. Mainland China considers accurate maps to be state secrets, and their export is highly regulated.
I hate turn by turn, I can read a map. I would like one that's accurate.
I haven't upgraded to iOS 6 yet, so I still have the Google Maps app on my iPhone. The article says Google wanted in app branding. The app already has that. It says Google in the bottom left corner of the map after you launch the app. What more branding did Google want?
That's the simplest answer, and the only one which answers the real question which is "Why did they replace Google Maps with a product that wasn't finished?" There are a dozen good reasons for Apple to make moves towards replacing Google Maps with their own offering, but I can't think of a single one for doing it in IOS 6 aside from pure spite.
The new Apple mapping product is inferior to the competition in pretty much every way, it wasn't and isn't ready for release and Apple know better than to use the "it's our first release" excuse for poor functionality. Nothing Google asked for either in terms of branding or the integration of latitude(stupid service though it is) was particularly extreme, Apple just hates Google.
What folks seem to be missing here, is that, flawed as it is, the ios6 maps is just plain more useful than the crippled version of google maps that preceded it.
I can now ask for directions in the car, and get them. A week ago, I could not (and, yes, I tried mapquest and wares).
This is usable while driving; last week's offerings were not.
hawk
Yes, but who cares if the aerial pictures are updated fully, if the map takes you to the correct spot.
Apple's maps are ALSO taking him to the correct spot. That's what you are missing from his post; in Houston it's pretty much working fine for him.
In Denver I have yet to have a search fail or lead me somewhere wrong.
You look at those humorous pictures and think that everything mud be broken; but the opposite is true. Apple Maps mostly work as they are, with a few glaring errors at a high level. They are easier to make fun of, but they don't mean real life use encounters that level of problem.
Apple would have been better off offering a optional replacement to Google Maps before they tied their immature maps to the latest OS upgrade
That is only true if most people find problems in normal use of Apple Maps. That's something that will take about a month to find out; meanwhile another important factor is how quickly Apple can fix issues.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why didn't Apple covertly develop their mapping app while continuing to use Google's maps?
Then they could have taken the extra time they needed to get things done right, before cancelling the deal with Google and rolling out their own mapping app.
It seems like that would have been a more conservative and business-savvy approach in a competitive business environment. I'll bet that's what Steve-o would have done.
If they don't allow it, that makes my next mobile purchase a game, set and match Android.
I travel, Maps are crucial to me. Apple expecting me to live with this half baked, incomplete, error ridden, heap of duck droppings rather than allowing an accurate maps alternative from a competitor means they have simply thrown their customers to trh wolves in the interest of determining who has the biggest corporate Johnson.
At the moment I'm considering getting a Samsung Galaxy 3S to SUPPLEMENT the reduced functionality of my iPhone, and to use when I'm travelling. Apple preventing a Google Maps alternative app would mean that I simply give up on the iPhone 4S and move to Android. Given that I'd also have to look at replacements for my iPad and Apple desktop.
Maps are a core service for other Apps. Map errors and omissions mess up Location Services data. The lack of reliable business data seriously impacts me when I travel. Were I Apple, I'd agree to whatever Google wanted, fling a billion or two their way if they are unhappy about advertising pop-ups and make this problem go away, and work for the next five or six years on getting the data behind their Maps app into a reasonable usable standard.
Apple was attacked by the communist Google Scumbags. They're not even American.
...as long as Apple allows the app.
Remember when Apple nixed Google Voice? Months of development time shot in the foot. You really think they want to go down that route with Maps?
I can now ask for directions in the car, and get them. A week ago, I could not (and, yes, I tried mapquest and wares).
And they even have a 25% chance of being correct and not sending you to the wrong street in the wrong city!
Woohoo!
There are many other map applications in the App Store already including ones with turn-by-turn (Bing, TomTom, Mapquest, etc).
True. Let's see if any new ones are approved (ie, ones that weren't around before Apple introduced it in iOS 6). Let's see what happens when they start upgrading their apps...
Remember Kindle? Great app! Buy and read books! Then Apple comes out with iBooks. Suddenly, you can no longer buy books in the Kindle app. It can't even redirect you to a webpage where you can buy books! Sorry...
i still think of Cisco. Tollywood News Nice Article.Thank you for sharing with us.
Yes, but what's the use of those 10% to 20% if most of those people couldn't act as data points for up-to-date real-time traffic information.
Why couldn't they? It's Google's app, they could collect what they like and send that back to Google. That's my main point in fact, then Google even gets the Latitude service data they wanted. They gain back those users as crowd sourced data.
Yes, a large number, but not as large a number as Google's.
How many people really correct Google at this point though? Not very many. Apple meanwhile has the whole planet carefully looking over the maps for flaws, and of course they themselves will be working hard to clean up issues they find.
They actually start from a solid base, more solid than some of the errors would have you think. Many cities search works pretty well and the data is pretty good. Outside of major cities Apple might even have better data than Google, that's true in China and true in the example of Arbys I gave.
Actually, Google currently sees into most third party apps on Android since most third party apps use Google Maps APIs,
They see into where the people are on the map but have no way to interpret any overlays going on for significance.
Also, Android is also pretty good about letting other apps share location information with them, to save on battery life
iOS does this also, because everyone is using the same location manager.
In other words, it's a company that's well known to play with others with their APIs
But not to direct people to third party apps from central ones the way Apple is directing people to transit apps based on location.
Also in trasnit Google is most certainly not consuming other people's API's. They mandated a transit format that agencies have to provide for Google to understand transit from that area. But then Google is at the mercy of when those files get updated (yes, most of the transit feeds are files placed on a web server somewhere) and results in Google getting pretty good transit data but not nearly as good as if they were really integrating with the transit agency. Apple's approach is much nicer for transit because apps for an area can fully integrate into the transit data, and even offer more forms of transit than google (like bike sharing stations).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Do you think Google execs who supposedly "talk with Apple everyday" according to Eric, would even think about writing one line of code for a Google Maps App unless they had confirmation from Apple that they would approve the app? The stage I think they are in is still negotiating with Apple what their Google Maps app can and can't do if they should write it.
Google Voice, YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, and Earth are already in the App Store. There are more navigation products in the App Store than you can shake a stick at. Why would Maps be any different.
How is this insightful??!?
I read his posts purely to see how far he can bend reality to support Apple. In his world, Apple never makes a mistake - or if they do, it's a calculated one that needed to be made. The only time he ever says anything that is not 100% Yay-Apple, it's a 1 liner and it's only sort-of critical at most.
Gruber is basically a full time Apple PR spokesperson.
No one could objectively read the last 10 of his posts (at any time in history) and not think "this guy is exceedingly pro-Apple". If you read Gruber and don't come away feeling like you're reading an Apple PR statement then I suggest you must have had quite a bit of the kool-aid yourself, already.
25%+25%+75% = 125%?
Criticizing Apple over something they didn't do is most definitely a fluff piece.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
No, about a dozen friends and relatives who have iPhones.
You really should work harder on your ad hominem attacks. This one isn't even worth the mod point to bury.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Oh sure, everybody loves maps turn by turn directions. Especially my friends wife Lisa, a non-technical sort, who was told to turn the wrong way down a one way street in downtown Beaverton, OR last Friday night. Oh, but I'm sure her ire stems from her slavish devotion to tech blogs, and not the reality that Maps sucks.
Or perhaps my friend Casey is reading too many blogs and that's why she's angry that Maps doesn't include street view, a feature she used a great deal delivering goods around Portland? She doesn't even own a computer. But you're right, it's only the tech blogs that are making a big deal out of this.
You need to be realistic about Apples failures. Encouraging them by rushing to their defense when they screw up isn't going to make things better.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Of course not. That was his other brother, Hubert.
Your understanding of the rules of the App Store are a couple of years out of date - there are plenty of apps in there now that duplicate the functionality of built in apps:
It doesn't necessarily guarantee that Apple won't attempt to block Google's efforts though.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Following Apple's directions might not be such a good idea.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You know when maps apps are most useful? When you are somewhere you aren't familiar with. London is a big city.
Hmm, Gothenburg and Malmoe are both there ....
Dennis Onstenk
Then perhaps if they searched for London England Subway. When I do, I see numerous hits on the map.
Typical slashdot troll. Complaining about something that doesn't exist...
Siri doesn't open any maps for me. It gives me the polite equivalent of "go fuck yourself - I don't support no stinking other countries!" (What it actually says is "I can't give directions in New Zealand" because Apple couldn't be fucked supporting more than two countries). The maps app also can't get a single address right - it's moved my house across the road and 50 metres down, just for a start. The train station got moved into the harbour.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
So you can read a map while driving?
"Address book integration" means "from the app, you can select a contact to navigate to", not "from the Contacts app, I can get xx app to navigate to the contact". It's not integration at all.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
At least their search results go "up to 11", or in this case, 125%!
You mean people will actually have to plan a trip? People will not be shown instantly out how to get from one place to another when ever they want? The horror!
People did figure hot to get from point A to point B before this turn by turn app. People can still do this. You may have to use some brain power but I am sure people can do this.
If this means people will be looking at the road instead of their phone or ipads while driving I call it a good thing.
Streetview
Ah, I see. He has to criticize Apple about stuff they actually do well in order to count as being unbiased in your world.
Dude, Apple is the most successful company of the last decade by almost every rational metric - - near dead to most-valuable-global-company-by-market-cap, achieving by redefining multiple market sectors. Apple hasn't made a lot of mistakes to be criticized for.
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
Yeah, its almost as if these "rules" were made up by Apple Haters.
Or that there *are no fixed rules*, and your investment in creating an app is completely at the mercy of the whim (and unknown future business plans) of a single corporate entity.
Or that that is also made up by an Apple Hater.
There are, of course, *multiple* examples of rejections available if you look around:
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/20-classic-apple-app-store-rejections-654230
reported by *iOS developers*, hardly the core group for "Apple haters". But in your world I suppose all of these are lies. It must be nice to be able to hold your opinion and not have to worry about reality.
More bullshit FUD from a Fandroid. How the fuck do outright lies like this get modded up? Hate for Apple is like a fucking religion with you shitballs.
Not only do I not have a SmartPhone (le gasp!), but the only SmartPhone SDK I've used was Apple's XCode 3.6.x (not sure of the exact version as it was a while ago).
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Or else ill rant until im considered a nuissance to them.
NO SIG
For a company who sells high-priced products on the idea that "It Just Works", and the idea of fire-and-forget technology where you don't have to worry about bug fixes or upgrades, to make any sort of mistake on something as high profile as the Maps function is a bad sign. You have a whole year and unlimited resources to get things working right, and more importantly, tested. And yet there are web pages devoted to all the screw ups, silly or not, that Maps has on launch.
Shrugging and proclaiming that things will be better with a fix down the road is a business attitude that Apple fanatics used to make fun of. Now they're making excuses for it.
I'm reminded of the Pentium floating-point error fiasco; just because only 1% (or less) of your customer base will be affected by your screwup does not mean your image will only take a 1% hit.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
This is exactly what I mean.
NO SIG
Because all your other apps, mail and addressbook will prefer to use crappy ios maps all the time, regardless of if you made your own superdupermaps app.
NO SIG
Now, apparently the default maps app sucks - at least for the moment - in many countries overseas. China oddly enough not being one of them. The Chinese are apparently marveling at how much better Apple's map app is than Google's. Go figure.
Might have something to do with the current state of relations between Google and the Chinese government. Mainland China considers accurate maps to be state secrets, and their export is highly regulated.
And I have a feeling that Apple's policies of Walled Gardens and Don't Worry, Nothing to Upset You Here are more in tune with the Chinese government than Google's.
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
I have the 3GS. I don't *have* to update my software if I don't want to. I can still use my phone, it works fine (well for a 3GS anyway...).
Sony on the other hand was a bit different I believe. I think it was either installed automatically, or if you could refuse it, you could no longer use it online, so reduced features from orginal.
There's other ones like Bing Maps already allowed. Apple's rules are so arbitrary that you never really know what they'll do.
Yeah, its almost as if these "rules" were made up by Apple Haters.
Or that there *are no fixed rules*, and your investment in creating an app is completely at the mercy of the whim (and unknown future business plans) of a single corporate entity.
Or that that is also made up by an Apple Hater.
There are, of course, *multiple* examples of rejections available if you look around:
So? Did I claim there were no rejections? Just that those rejections follow Apple's existing rules, not the ones you keep making up.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
There are mixed reports on whether there will be a Google Maps app for iOS. News stories have Google both developing and not developing one.
A bigger problem is that there is no assurance that Apple will allow such an app to be sold even if Google develops it. iOS developers are always at the mercy of Apple. Apple has been known to capriciously refuse to authorize apps and to rescind authorization for apps that are already on the market, and developers on iOS have no recourse. Apple has the power to destroy the business of a company that sells iOS apps, which is one reason I will never get into the business of developing them.
If you don't believe that Apple will destroy a company after inviting it into their market, just ask Power Computing. Oh wait, you can't; Apple destroyed them years ago.
He is on the record as saying the Apple "over promised, and under delivered" on Maps
Some things stink so bad that it would be a mistake for any shill to try to pretend otherwise.
True, from an Apple investor's point of view.
The Rest Of Us (tm) can have our own opinions, however.
If you're a fuck on Wall Street who makes money by speculating, Apple has been a good horse to bet on. But all of us out here aren't Apple investors, and many of us could give a flying fuck how 'successful' Apple has been. We're more concerned about the ways that Apple is damaging the markets they're trying to dominate.
Maybe they're trying to make it not shit. If so, they'd be doing more than Apple is.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
No, not at all. There's a list of rules, but it's headed up by a note saying "you'll know when you've crossed the line". I mean, what the fuck? There's actually a rule in their list saying pretty much "and any other shit we come up with".
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Nobody? I very seriously regret upgrading the iOS on my iPod Touch. A magazine I used to subscribe to that had a stand-alone app is now sucked into the "Magazine Rack" abomination and it's become significantly more difficult to read the mag.
The on-device App Store really, really, REALLY sucks compared to the old one.
they did not set expectations properly for the new Maps app.
They should have recommended all iPhone users invest in a stand-alone GPS unit 'for during the transition' I guess.
Um, you do realise that the devices at each end of the cable could do the negotiation without the cable needing to do anything beyond blindly spit power right?
Of course not, because that would be admitting that Apple really doesn't have your best interests at heart.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Nobody? I very seriously regret upgrading the iOS on my iPod Touch.
So why did you? Did you not read any reviews?
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
So you continue making up rules for Apple.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
So why do many licensed emulators exist in the store? Even MAME was in the App Store for a hot minute.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
In Australia we are lucky enough to have a free app in the apple store called Whereis which offers turn by turn navigation and uses Google maps (which in Australia uses Sensis' map data anyway). The whereis app is great and it's free.
They can't run arbitrary code --- they can only run code bundled with the application. If they can run code not bundled with the application, they are in violation of the rules.
nope. never. this week's posts.
"Apple Maps in Ontario: Not Good"
"Another Slice of Humble Pie"
John Gruber is famous for making up his "sources."
Let me quote the exact line Apple uses in the rules - you know, that document you refuse to believe exists.
"We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, "I'll know it when I see it". And we think that you will also know it when you cross it."
What the fuck does that even mean? It's basically "we'll also reject whatever we feel like". For completeness, it should be understood that Microsoft has a similar document for Windows Phone - though they have explicitly opted not to an include an "or whatever" clause like Apple has.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Let me quote the exact line Apple uses in the rules - you know, that document you refuse to believe exists.
"We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, "I'll know it when I see it". And we think that you will also know it when you cross it."
What the fuck does that even mean? It's basically "we'll also reject whatever we feel like". For completeness, it should be understood that Microsoft has a similar document for Windows Phone - though they have explicitly opted not to an include an "or whatever" clause like Apple has.
Of course that quote is not part of the rules, its part of the introduction to the rules. And if you can't fucking understand what it means, you're too dumb to write a decent app anyway. The fact that you can't find the actual rules just further proves that.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
You know what, you're a fucking moron. The document that contains that line is the rules. The ones you've claimed don't exist and are "only made up by Apple haters". So fuck you.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
You know what, you're a fucking moron. The document that contains that line is the rules. The ones you've claimed don't exist and are "only made up by Apple haters". So fuck you.
I never claimed that the rules don' exist, you lying piece of shit. I said you kept making up rules. How can one tell? They aren't in the fucking document you either still haven't read, or are too fucking stupid to tell what the rules are and what is the introduction.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.