Maps

It’s the big story of iOS 6, apparently, drowning out everything else: the maps suck. Apple’s new built-in mapping application, using a mishmash of data and its own 3D rendering, appears to be sorely wanting in comparison to the Google-based Maps app it replaced. And the usual suspects are crowing about Apple’s hubris in kicking Google off the platform.

Which to me sounds like horseshit. Look, Tim Cook (despite his Auburn pedigree) is no idiot. Neither are Phil or Scott or Jonny. They know they’ve got to sell a 1.0 product and they’re putting the best face on it, but like so much of iOS 6, this is a change that had to happen and they’ve made the decision to take the bullet now, while the stock is still at $700 and the market share is dominant and the court’s decision is still against Samsung.

Why did it have to happen? Because Google wanted it this way too. Look: Gmail is still in the automatic config options for Mail/Contact/Calendars on the iPhone. Every iOS device at the Apple Store tonight was still set for Google as the default Safari search engine. The YouTube standalone app was approved in the Apple Store before iOS 6 was even released. Apple – who OEMs a lot of chips from Samsung – is more than willing to do the frenemy thing with the Beast of Mountain View. They’d be idiots not to.

And yet – Maps hasn’t materially changed since iOS 2, when it got GPS support and traffic view. The much-vaunted turn-by-turn navigation in Android’s Maps app never made it to the iOS version, and you’d be a moron to expect it ever would. Similarly, the YouTube app – originally meant to obviate the need for Flash on the world’s hottest video site – hasn’t been updated, well, ever. And critically for Google, it doesn’t serve up ads.

If I had to guess, there was a contract with Google for licensing Maps and YouTube, and once it expired everybody was content to go their separate ways. By doing their own thing, Apple can finally offer native turn-by-turn (and for all the howling, a superior 3D rendering experience overall to the iOS version of Google Earth), and by breaking off separate, Google can go its usual route n monetization with YouTube and make Maps a party piece for Android – and, for now, a clearly superior offering on their platform exclusively. I’m sure we’ll be getting Google Maps for iOS beyond the web app, but I suspect they’ll be content out on Shoreline Boulevard to watch the Colossus of Cupertino twist in the wind for a little while.

This is a bet by Apple – that by lumping all the transitions together, they can get over the hump and back to normal service quickly. If they guessed wrong, though, this could be the point where they make the stumble that lets Android catch up – and lets Microsoft back into the game. Much depends on the iPhone 5’s battery and LTE performance, and how quickly iOS 6.01 and later can improve Maps. Will Apple get it sorted? Sure. Quickly enough? Maybe not.

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