Watching the Apple Maps fiasco play through has certainly been enjoyable for us Android users. Apple decided to ditch Google Maps in favor of their own solution with the release of iOS 6. The results have been anything but praised. A few days after the iPhone 5 release, Google‘s Eric Schmidt decided to address the public on his thoughts.
First off, the former Google CEO addressed questions about when a native Google Maps app would be coming to iOS. Schmidt didn’t say when, but he confirmed that Google has not submitted a Maps app to Apple yet. We know a full-fledged Google Maps app will be coming to iOS, but most people are just curious as to when that’s going to happen.
Schmidt also commented on Apple’s move to get rid of Google Maps and go with their own solution instead. He said that “it would have been better” if Apple had kept Google Maps, but he concluded by respecting Apple’s decision by saying, “But what do I know?…It’s their call.”
Schmidt was pretty straightforward with his response and we’re not too surprised that he thinks Google Maps is better — he does work for Google after all. His hands are ultimately tied, though, which is probably why he’s not worrying about it too much; he has no control over what services Apple chooses to use.
[via SlashGear]
The problem is, Google maps on iOS has never had turn-by-turn and Google won’t license the API or vector maps, so I don’t know how Schmidt can say “it would have been better”. The lack of turn-by-turn is a pretty glaring feature hole that would have been left un-filled.
If they stuck with Google Maps, they would have had to license a separate turn-by-turn service at additional cost. They were pretty much stuck in a no-win situation.
When you get into thermonuclear war, it can get you into no win situations
Apple still had about a year left on their contract with google for the maps app. They should have taken that time to perfect their new Apple Maps app. Shoulda, woulda, coulda aside – Apple’s impulsive move away from Google has left them WIDE open for valid criticism – Yes, Apple is no stranger to this, but it seems pragmatic to keep complaints to a minimum if you can help it. Living in NYC, I can easily say that I’m glad to still have my Droid.