Google mocks Apple Maps

Iirishassassin

Beard;

I love Apple man, gonna grab the 5 as soon as I’m eligible but for you to say people don’t want Google Maps is insane. They’re by far the leader in maps and the go-to for just about anyone with access to it.

http://nicolasmagand.com/ Nicolas Magand

I’m sure Jim was referring to Motorola
- Iirishassassin
  
  Motorola is Google though and the title says ‘Google’.
- Iirishassassin
  
  You’re right Nicolas. Droid ad.
http://twitter.com/xwordy Hobbesian

Remind me how long Maps for Android has had turn-by-turn? Now remind me when Google updated Maps for iOS with that feature? Yeah. So.
- http://borkware.com/ Mark Dalrymple
  
  Maps has always been Apple’s app, using Google’s tiles and routing services. The lack of turn-by-turn is more Apple’s fault than Google’s.
  - http://twitter.com/snookasnoo Idon’t Know
    
    Completely and utterly wrong. You don’t know what you are talking about. Google would not provide turn by turn unless Apple also forced Latitude on iPhone users and allowed Google to track iPhone users movements. Even with this Google planned to withhold full services as a competitive advantage. Apple had no choice but to dump Google Maps but should have done it sooner and invested more resources in it. That or bought one of the existing mapping companies.
    - http://borkware.com/ Mark Dalrymple
      
      [citation needed]
    - No
      
      may be if you provide citation for your assertion first then you would not have a shred of credibility.
    - Trippie
      
      He’s not “completely and utterly wrong”. Maps has in fact always been developed internally by Apple. As to his second sentence, do have any evidence to back up your claims? That seems like a possibility, but unless you were privy to the internal negotiations, it’s just a guess and we should take your user name at face value.
      
      I’d say that Mark’s guess is better than yours though. Maps has always had turn-by-turn directions, which is a basic routing feature of a Google Maps license. From there, more robust, spoken turn-by-turn navigation is simply an implementation detail. Apple 100% could have turned the basic text-based directions into full navigation, but they didn’t. I’d guess that they didn’t want to upset new app developers they were just beginning to draw, like TomTom, Navigon, and Garmin. Just as they’re leaving transit directions to 3rd parties for now.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      I doubt that. Apple has trounced app devs on many an occasion. They aren’t shy about it either.
    - Trippie
      
      I phrased that wrong. They probably had their hands full and wanted and assumed that 3rd parties would pick up the slack for full navigation, which they did. Apple doing a mild version of navigation might have hurt more than helped at the time.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      Agreed.
    - Steven Fisher
      
      No. The license forbid it. Apple said as much when discussing MapKit at one point.
    - Trippie
      
      MapKit was not equal to Maps, as UIWebView is not equal to Safari – the API versions have greater limitations. The MapKit API license did not allow routing, but the main Maps app always had directions/routing, including step by step text along with location tracking. How would it have been anything other than UI implementation to convert the already existing and allowed text turn-by-turn directions to full on voice driven navigation. They needed nothing else from Google than what they had.
Steven Fisher

I’ve tried Google Maps in the browser. It’s awful.
http://twitter.com/snookasnoo Idon’t Know

Leader in free mapping.

Harry

There are fanboys, and then there’s Jim Dalrymple.

gjgustav

and then there are trolls.
- Lukas
  
  I guess who the trolls are is, in this particular case, merely a matter of perspective.
  - gjgustav
    
    In this particular case, a baseless attack on the author shows that it is bleedin’ obvious who the troll is. Perspective, indeed.
- Harry
  
  Is your implication that I’m being a troll? The previous poster was absolutely right… calling Google Maps a product that people don’t want is ridiculous. I’m being completely candid in expressing an opinion about a really inane blog post. And Dalrymple is even less balanced and more biased than MG Siegler. That’s really saying something.
  
  If this is called trolling, so be it.
  - gjgustav
    
    Yes, I called you a troll, but I assumed you clicked the link and understood that he didn’t call Google Maps a product people didn’t want. He called the Droid RAZR M a product people didn’t want.
    
    I put too much faith in you. I apologize.

http://nicolasmagand.com/ Nicolas Magand

Mocking Apple is the new trends for companies desperate to win over iPhone. I understand why Nokia or Motorola would do this (nothing to lose) but I found it a little bit tacky when it comes to Samsung (which doesn’t need these cheap tricks). Fortunately, RIM isn’t part of this mockery and dies with dignity.

Dave

iPhone 5 user here. Google Maps is a product I want in my hand. I want transit data to be native to the map app instead of it kicking me out to load/find/pay another app that may or may not even cover the city I’m in. I don’t want or need 3D flyovers.

http://twitter.com/snookasnoo Idon’t Know

There are many options besides Apple maps. Including putting a web view of Google Maps on your screen. Personally I use Garmin maps which are better than Google Maps on Android.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/VFKXB4CK4H4VERK73KQBXI4L64 Jason Kogler
  
  If that’s true Google Maps on Android must be terrible. Garmin maps are very frequently incorrect when I use them and the new transit directions they have added in the last couple weeks is terrible. It consistently picks the longest, most indirect path that requires more interchanges. Google Maps on iOS 5 consistently picked the fastest, most direct route with the fewest interchanges.
http://www.aichon.com Brad

Yes, Google Maps is better at this time, and if you look through any of Jim’s comments over the last few days you’ll see that he readily admits that Apple’s Maps app has issues, since he’s been linking and agreeing with critical commentary on the subject.

It’s pretty obvious from the context in this case that Jim was talking about the Motorola Droid RAZR in the ad that he linked, not Google Maps.
- http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
  
  Then he should say that. With the title and comment, he didn’t.
  - http://www.thediceguys.com Dean Lewis
    
    Well, surely it’s okay to put Google in the headline when other news outlets and blogs put Apple in the headlines (even when the story isn’t nearly tangentially related to Apple) to get more clicks.
    - http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
      
      Not good enough. Jim is better than that.

http://nicolasmagand.com/ Nicolas Magand

I’m sure Jim was referring to Motorola

http://twitter.com/75th Lanny Heidbreder

Iirishassassin, Harry, and Dave:

If any of you had actually clicked the link, you might have thought for a moment and realized that Jim was talking about the Droid Razr M whose ad is doing the mocking, and not Google Maps itself.

http://twitter.com/RoadRacer DT

Yikes. F bombs and whatnot on a corporate G+ page? I think they need to moderate that a little since it reflects on their corporate image. Just my $0.02 coming from someone with a terrible potty mouth

http://twitter.com/snookasnoo Idon’t Know

I used to work for Motorola in IT before I quit. What a horribly run company. It is no surprise to me that they continue to lose huge amounts of money. Google dramatically overpaid for Motorola on the basis they would get patents that are turning out to be not so useful. They really should shut up and try to make phones that people want, are not shoddily made, and have terrible service and support.

http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

Jim, seriously, it is Motorola. By saying Google you’re stating from Google’s hands this ad was run. It is terribly misleading.

I know Google owns Moto but you do not have to continuously replace Moto with Google. It borders on link bait, with all due respect.

http://twitter.com/shycophante Shyco Phante

The headline also messes up the point of his written sentence. Google has a product many Apple customers want, Motorola doesn’t.

Who isn’t mocking Apple Maps btw? Even MG Siegler has been linking to a site humorously critical of it. Apple has presented its rivals with an open goal to shoot at. You can’t blame a few of them if they take the opportunity to score a goal.
- http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II
  
  Exactly. Google has the product people want: Google Maps, in this case.

Ron Miller

I think the attack ad’s by Google are smart even if I don’t agree with them. The unfortunate state of the media is that the majority of the tech press just parrot along the same bits of information (Map-gate, antennae-gate, etc.). Maps is a perceived weakness of iOS6, and Google is right to pounce on it.

I believe that it is true that Apple’s maps are definitely inferior than Google’s, and that the iPhone’s mapping solution is inferior to Android’s (for now anyway).

That being said, in my mind, it is less true with iOS6 than it was with iOS5. For me, mapping in iOS6 is a big improvement. I now have turn by turn navigation which I have been using very successfully for two months. Android may be better (I wouldn’t know), but for me, the Apple turn by turn navigation is very good. It is beautiful to look at, easy to read, and I’ve found it to do an incredible job of routing around bad traffic at appropriate times.

For reading maps (and transit which I don’t use), Apple’s maps are currently not as good. Searching is also sometimes problematic. However, Google’s web app works reasonably well and gives me pretty much everything the old Maps app had, so I now have the best of both worlds.

And the best part is that the competition in maps is only going to make mapping better for everyone (Android, iOS, Windows, etc.).

http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

Is it an attack ad if it is true?

Ron Miller

One more comment … Nokia is directing people to use their maps via the web rather than Apple’s maps. I just tried finding my house in Nokia, and Nokia’s maps has it on the wrong side of the street.

Ron Miller

@”John C. Bland II” Yes … it is an attack ad even if it is true.

joe

I’d go further and say it’s only an attack ad if it’s true… otherwise it’s just a low-down dirty lie…

DocRoss

Interesting how the address that Moto uses in the ad, while “findable,” doesn’t actually correspond with any building, while the Brooklyn address that comes up as Marlborough Rd (AKA E. 15th Street), has an actual building associated with it.

I am sure there are mistakes in Apple’s mapping system, but this is not actually one of them. The address that Apple’s map returns, is legitimately 315 E. 15th Street, NY, where the Google Map comes up with the location of 315 E. 15th Street in Manhattan, if there were indeed something at that address, which there isn’t.

Boo

The emotional insults on the linked post are rather sad. Its one thing to be excessively attached to things you like but quite another when your energy is directed at a brand or product you don’t and you feel the need to attack people who DARE like something else.

How anyone, be they an Apple or Android user, could possibly think that such behaviour convinces anyone to change their mind is beyond me.

Lukas

Are you saying that Google doesn’t have a product that people want? I don’t get it.

Lukas

Ah, you mean Motorola?