advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Google losing to Apple in maps race

We might all think that Apple Maps is butt of the joke over at Google, but anybody looking at the numbers would know the truth. Since the launch of Apple’s in-house mapping solution, 23-million users have abandoned Google Maps to use the solution that’s right on their iPhones.

Apple’s gamble was always going to pay off in the long term – no company, in today’s ultra-competitive environment, would be able to build a winning solution the first time out. Maps on iOS might have its fair share of issues, but Apple’s been true to its word when it said that things would improve. With iOS 7 it’s even included an option for the maps to be enhanced with user data. Millions of iPhones and iPads across the world can now contribute to the data set, and that’s what is making all the difference at the moment.

The official numbers come from Comscore, an analytics company. According to its charts, 35-million iPhone users were using the built-in Apple Maps application, as of September this year. Even though the standalone Google Maps app has been available since last year, only 6-million die-hard users have stuck with Google’s solution.

Apple is winning, purely because most people are content with what’s on their devices. Those who do encounter issues with Apple Maps are either going to write it off as being “one of those things”, or they’re savvy enough to download Google’s app.

That said, Apple’s solution still needs some work. With its desktop computers running OS X Mavericks, users can load up maps on their computers and send directions to their iOS devices, but the data set isn’t as rich as that on Google. Apple’s map data comes from a variety of sources, including TomTom, but the way all of that is indexed at the moment can sometimes lead to a lack of options.

In South Africa, especially, it’s quite evident. Using the Maps app on iOS or Mavericks to search for nearby pizza joints or other popular points of interest shows how little data is available. Even the landmark features touted by Apple at its keynotes, such as 3D flyovers, are missing locally. The core functionality works, but it’ll be a while until the rest of the useful data becomes available. For those who just need to get from one location to a known address, though, it works just fine.

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement