Filip Novotny Last fall, when excited Apple fans unwrapped their newly purchased iPhones and iPads in stores, they found a new app directly from Apple instead of Google maps. But what they may not have found was the way home. The quality of the maps at that time was by no means dizzying, and it seemed that Google would still have the upper hand. A year later, however, everything is different, and 85% of users in the US prefer Apple's maps.
The very first iPhone already used the map application with data from Google. When introducing it at WWDC 2007, even Steve Jobs himself boasted about it (after which he found the nearest Starbucks on the map and kind of fired). With the arrival of iOS 6, however, the old maps had to go uncompromisingly. According to Apple, this was due to the fact that Google did not want to allow the use of voice navigation, which was a fairly common feature on Android at the time. In addition, the media speculated that Apple would have to pay for the use of map data.
The cooperation agreement between the two companies was coming to an end, and the fall of 2012 was the perfect time to hit the table and present your own solution. Although this was managed under the leadership of the head of the iOS division, Scott Forstall, it was - especially from the PR point of view - completely disastrous.
The most serious problems were a number of errors in the documents, missing points of interest or poor searches. The damage to Apple's reputation was so great that CEO Tim Cook himself had to apologize for the new maps. Scott Forstall refused to take co-responsibility for the situation, so "little Steve Jobs" had to deal with his beloved company say goodbye. In the meantime, a number of customers reached for a new version of maps from Google, which the advertising giant hastily developed and released, this time regularly in the App Store.
Perhaps that is why no one expected at the time that a year after this debacle, Apple maps would be so popular. However, a survey by the American analytical company comScore today shows the exact opposite. In the United States, it is used by almost six times as many people as the competing app from Google.
In September of this year, a total of 35 million users used the built-in maps on their iPhone, while the alternative from Google calculation The Guardian just 6,3 million. Of this, a full third is made up of people using an old version of iOS (because they can't or don't want to update their device).
If we look at the comparison with the previous year, Google lost a full 23 million users in the case of maps. This means, in other words, that Apple managed to wipe out the six-month meteoric rise in customers that its competitor experienced last year. From the original peak of 80 million users of Google Maps on iOS and Android, 58,7 million people remained after a year.
Such a huge drop will surely be felt in the advertising company's business. As analyst Ben Wood of the London branch of CCS Insight says: "Google has lost access to a very, very important data channel in North America." Along with a large portion of customers on the iOS platform came the ability to target advertising to them using their location and resell those information to third parties. At the same time, advertising activity accounts for 96% of Google's revenue.
The comScore report only takes into account the US market, so it is not clear how the situation looks in Europe. There, Apple's maps are of lower quality than overseas, mainly due to the smaller spread of services such as Yelp!, which Apple uses as a resource for determining points of interest. In the Czech Republic, it is practically impossible to find anything other than basic geographical information in the default maps, so the local statistics would certainly differ from the American ones.
Nevertheless, we cannot say that maps are not important for Apple. Although they may be neglecting smaller European markets, they are still trying to gradually improve their application. They confirm this, among other things acquisition various companies that deal with map materials or perhaps processing traffic data.
By ending the use of Google Maps, the iPhone manufacturer is no longer dependent on its competitor (as in the case of hardware components from Samsung), it was able to slow down its growth and also avoid paying high fees. The decision to create its own map solution was ultimately a happy one for Apple, although it may not seem so to us here in Central Europe.
Mama i5, iOS7 and I can't see the back maps from Apple on my phone :( Where did they go? :))))
Maybe you threw them in the trash…
I thought that points of interest and backgrounds for Apple Maps were the same for both Mavericks and iOS-7. My favorite pub U Růže in Prague is under OS-X at the right place on Na kolejním estatek street. On iOS7, however, it is marked with an icon (albeit with the correct address) about 400 m further along Michelská street. The problem has been reported several times from iOS, which Apple Maps is. No response or change. It's secondary nonsense, but it just hasn't been figured out yet.
I tried typing in your street and it shows exactly the same location on both a Mac and an iPad with iOS 7.
We are not talking about the street, but about the point of interest of Restaurant U Růže in Michli, which is always somewhere else.
You can't really rely on this, it's quite common for it to put a building on the other side of the road/intersection. Unfortunately, this bothers me quite a bit, because I followed the map and I couldn't find the given building until I had to cross..
I've been using Apple Maps since the beginning and I'm very satisfied
At home in Brno, I don't use the map application much, but I recently needed to look up the address of hotels in Paris and Dubai. It turned out more or less the same for Paris and it's more of a habit, but Dubai is a complete disaster in Apple maps. Where an entire residential district has stood for 6 years, Apple shows an empty desert (Google is fine). In this, Apple is simply America-centric, where the inclusion of a new coffee shop in San Francisco as a POI has a higher priority than map data for countries in Eastern Europe or the Middle East.
So try to look at the satellite view of the Královo Pole Shopping Center, it will make you laugh. It was built about ten years ago and you still won't find it on Apple's images. :-D But there are more such places all over Brno, some of which you may not even know.
Apple Maps is used by so many US users for the reason that it is often the only map application for them on iPhones and iPads - a large part of them do not even install Google Maps there for various reasons and just live with what they have. Unfortunately, it doesn't say much about the quality of Apple's maps, and we all know the truth. Try searching for "zoo lešná" in both mentioned applications - and that's just the beginning. It's getting better though, the map is starting to get more up-to-date, although the search on it lags far behind Google. Satellite images are still incredibly poor - often for several years they do not correspond to reality or are completely unusable, see for example the town of Jeseník - it's like from the eighties of the last century and I don't want to offend anyone, but it's a real shame to have something like this on a device like is the current iPhone or iPad. Who is here from Jeseník? How do you like Apple's map app? :D
What bothers me the most is that there are bad satellite images in the Czech Republic. This cannot be compared to Google or Seznam at all. Pilsen is quite detailed, but in black and white. My parents live outside Pilsen, and it's probably taken there from the moon. You can hardly tell the forest from the field. And the wife's parents live a little further away and there it is detailed and colorful, but fart valid, because there is only cloud over the whole region there :)
And in the classic map, the residence can only be recognized by the denser tangle of roads (and the label, of course). I don't understand why, like everywhere else, there isn't some darker polygon defining the built-up area. But this is said to be a feature so that the driver can focus only on the road and turns when navigating.
Otherwise, the map application is excellent, beautifully fast and smooth on both Mac and iPhone.
Now you've taken the wind out of my sails. PlzeŇ is crazy on the map, and nearby villages are overshadowed by clouds. Is it not possible to tell "apples" somehow??
I see the same here in Moravia. That sat quality. images are very bad, as if blurred.
Beautifully misleading article title. Only "on iOS" is missing there :-). Considering the market share on a global scale, where the ratio of the number of devices with iOS vs. Android is - 16% iOS, 80% Android, the rest other OS - it probably won't be such a tragedy for Google.
Well, that's logical when Apple maps are nowhere else (if I don't count Mavericks).
Of course, we probably all understand that, except the author of the article :-) for whom x million iP users using Apple maps instead of Google maps is a disaster for his advertising business. Of those, let's say, 2 billion iOS and Android devices, it's really a disaster for all of Google :-)
It is not like that. It's about marketshare on MOBILE devices. Certainly not in the US the ratio is 80% to 16%. And most importantly, many people have an Android phone, but they don't use those functions (after all, you can't use anything there, those functions are scary, so I'm not surprised).
Edit: I looked at the title and you are right. They collected 80% of google users - iOS is missing there, so I read elsewhere that they collected 23 million - in the headline. Because that would be true. In that case I take it back.
Of course, the ratio is not in the USA but worldwide, but it is not mentioned in the title or in the article :-)
However, how many Android smartphones are there in the world - 800 million - 1 billion? So 23 million users who switched to iOS from Google maps (from how many, also from 1 billion iOS devices?) is really an insignificant amount to create an article because of it, if its purpose is not to cause unnecessary flame, right. Let's face it, each platform has something to offer and that everyone is comfortable with something different and there are many to choose from. Google maps are simply better and since we are in our backyard, there is nothing to discuss about who has better data. Most people will probably think that they have it better somewhere in the USA and that the average American IP owner can't install anything other than what he got with the phone :-)
I'm going to contradict a bit:
1. it is proven that Google has more money from one user on iOS than from one user on Android, therefore it pays to pay more and more (now it is over MLD USD per year) to be the default search engine, etc. Negligible therefore it is not
2. as I wrote, many Android users do not use these features. They simply have a mobile phone and don't have much choice if they just want something and don't want to press the little guys anymore. So they have android, google can brag, but how many use the feature? Now, how many are using iOS? Why are more Android tablets sold (it's different with a tablet - it's specifically for surfing!!!), but Apple has 70% of the traffic?
3. the ending is nonsense, every average American can install the application.
4. Google Maps may be better, but certainly not in terms of design and functionality. The backgrounds are better, but I still prefer Apple maps, they are better to use and look better. I don't like Google maps and Google services in general.
"...the iPhone manufacturer is not dependent on its competitor (as in the case of hardware components from Samsung)..."
And how did you come up with such nonsense? Who do you think makes the components for the iP, such as an A7 processor or displays? Considering that even the production of iPad mini displays by LG and Sharp is not keeping up, their need will be provided by Samsung anyway. Yes, they don't have to like each other, but then again, you can't believe everything that is written somewhere. When it comes to money (and this is the case for both Apple and Samsung), it's always love at first sight (for money).
Next year, TSMC will have finished factories, so Apple will be able to move to the competition with processors quite easily. And I feel like that's one of the main reasons why TSMC builds them in the US.
It is then a question of how this will be reflected in the price of the device, if it will not be produced by cheap labor in China but will be produced in the USA. Apple will not reduce the margin much, so we as customers will pay for it. In addition, he will have to take the displays from Samsung anyway, willy-nilly, there is simply no other manufacturer that has such large production capacities and is able to meet the requirements for the number of manufactured pieces (in the required quality that Apple wants).
I just mean that I don't like these frog wars. Let's be happy that both companies exist and create such nice products (and it doesn't matter what they run on in the final)...
It is interesting that even if there is no road on the map - he can navigate along the newly built roads. For example, section D3 Tábor-Veselí.
Sometimes I look for an address in Apple Maps and it's completely useless, while Google Maps does this without any problems. E.g. I want to find iOpravna, so I enter Lisbonská 799, Prague, but it tells me - no results. Why? Can someone explain this to me? It's the same on iPhone and iPad. At the same time, if I select the address from the whisperer, it will find it. What is the problem with Apple again?
I don't know if it's a win for Apple, but it's definitely not for users. I don't understand why there is such hatred towards Google in fashion lately. Simply, Google Maps is still unsurpassed, and Seznam clearly leads the way in map searches here in Bohemia!
Because there is finally an alternative to those low-quality services.
They are talking about maps on the territory of the USA. I'm just using Apple Maps in Canada... great. In the Czech Republic, of course, he has a lot to catch up on.
Own maps are a win for Apple, they took 80% of users from Google
Are you talking about iOS users? :D
they took 80% of the users, such a tidal wave, what? the maps were sent, we downloadeeeeee and after testing, delete and return to functional Google maps ;)
Well, it seems that you just understand it. :-) Apple maps cannot be deleted. :D
unfortunately :(
How I kiss Jan
Nice discussion - my facts are I have both maps and I only use Apple a) by mistake B) when I want to make sure it's still unusable...
For many years I drove according to Tom-Tom and thought it was perfect, with the purchase of iP4s iOs 5 I tried Apple maps on Google documents and was quite positively surprised. I have already evaluated native APPLE maps... Since the release of Google maps for iOs, I always use them when I want to navigate to the so-called "bell" - my experience is that the reliability of navigation is close to 100%. … I don't really understand what is being discussed here - try using it for a while and it's clear. However, the sad thing is that Google has been making ergonomics worse lately = but everyone has been doing that for the last year - I don't know why????
…. I'll answer myself, in my opinion, they'll screw up the free app and then they'll come up with a paid one... Well, it's always about money first, and why charge €3, right? 1€ for APPLE AND 2€ for Google and we can discuss until tomorrow…. :-) Because in the first place is not, as they say, prohibition, but money!!!!! After all, the fact that Google gave it for free surprised almost everyone. So yes to me.
An Apple user will pay for it if they have a phone for 20k (handbook of stupidity) if you didn't understand
The discussion is a bit funny. It's fun to read the evaluation of a global player from a small Czech point of view. As if no one is aware of the uniqueness of our position - "Google Competition - List". For Apple, the creation of maps was the only way to create a competitive environment and thereby ensure quality service to users. Either by Apple or the competition. We already have high-quality competition (thank God), so we are last in the world in Apple's priorities.
And by the way, in a relatively short period of time, Apple has made a lot of progress in maps. As an example, I am attaching a comparison of the 3D view from Berlin.
And here is progress in the form of the district town of Jeseník. :-) Unfortunately, Apple maps do not provide better detail, while in Google maps you can count cars in the streets.
For example, on my iPhone, apple maps are located deep in some folder (I don't even know which one). Google maps suit me in every way and are even prettier. And no problem with navigation yet.
Ah, so they won back 80% of their own users. So that's a success :-D