Reports about the apparent dispute between Apple and Google over Maps on iOS have been flying around like crazy over the past few days, with varying rumors over when and if Google might release a native Maps app into the App Store.
With all these reports going around, one might be inclined to wonder exactly what happened between Google and Apple, and why Apple ultimately chose to abandone Google Maps for their own Maps app in iOS 6. According to AllThingsD, the disagreement apparently revolves around the lack of turn-by-turn directions in the Google Maps app.
From AllThingsD:
[M]ultiple sources familiar with Apple’s thinking say the company felt it had no choice but to replace Google maps with its own because of a disagreement over a key feature: Voice-guided turn-by-turn driving directions.
Spoken turn-by-turn navigation has been a free service offered through Google’s Android mobile OS for a few years now. But it was never part of the deal that brought Google’s maps to iOS. And Apple very much wanted it to be. Requiring iPhone users to look directly at handsets for directions and manually move through each step while Android users enjoyed native voice-guided instructions put Apple at a clear disadvantage in the mobile space. And having chosen Google as its original mapping partner, the iPhone-maker was now in a position where an arch rival was calling the shots on functionality important to the iOS maps feature set.
The report goes onto state that Apple tried to encourage Google to include voice navigation, and tried every tactic in the Big Book of Apple to persuade Google. In the end, apparently, it was Google’s insistence on keeping control over the iOS mapping experience, and Apple’s unwillingness to compromise their design standards that drove Apple down the path of creating the iOS 6 Maps app.
It’s unfortunate that the entire dispute apparently boils down to the two companies being unable to come to a compromise. Imagine what might be possible if Google and Apple could just get along…
