Because Apple has reportedly been working on its own mapping software, there were expectations that the company might drop Google Maps in the upcoming iOS 5 to be unveiled next week at the WWDC in favor of its own solution.
Google’s ex CEO Eric Schmidt put an end to the speculation and confirmed yesterday at the D9 conference keynote that Google had just renewed its search and maps partnership with Apple, has we had already hinted at 4 days ago…
What does that mean? This means that Google will still be the default search engine in Mobile Safari, and Google Maps will still be the only stock map application on iOS devices. In other words, Apple is still going to send millions of users to Google for search and mapping queries.
You might wonder why would Apple do that when they have openly entered the war with Google. For one, Apple probably receives a comfortable amount of money for giving such a dominant advantage to Google on iOS. But maybe more importantly, Apple is giving iOS users the best options out there in terms of mapping application and search. Until Apple has something better to offer iOS users, we probably won’t see much change on that side.
Google Maps is the only map/GPS application I use on my iPhone so I’d lie if I said I was disappointed about the news, but to be honest with you, I can’t wait to see what Apple is going to come up with in the location and mapping area.
How do you feel about this news?