Judging from the comment sections on our Google Maps posts, and other feedback from around the web, it seems like quite a few people were holding out for a Google Maps app release before upgrading to iOS 6. And it makes sense, given some of the horror stories we’ve heard.
But according to Chitika, a large mobile ad network who regularly tracks iOS adoption rates and other mobile trends, iOS 6 adoption only rose 0.2% after Wednesday night’s debut of the Google Maps app, suggesting it had no immediate impact on the number of iOS 6 users…
Chitika’s data shows (via TechCrunch) that of users accessing its network, which consists of ads on some 200,000 websites, the average number of people using iOS 6 went from 72.77% when Google Maps was released Wednesday night, to 72.94%, as of yesterday afternoon.
So, no spike. It would seem that although a vocal minority of users were waiting for Google Maps to be released before updating to the latest version of iOS, a majority of users have already made the commitment. I’d like to see the numbers after the iOS 6 jailbreak hits.
The Google Maps app has been extremely well received thus far. It’s still the #1 free app in the App Store, and Apple has given it the top spot in its ‘Featured Maps’ section. It looks good, it’s fast, and it has features like Street View. And, since it’s Google, it’s extremely accurate.
The timing of the app was also perfect, as it came amidst the latest round of criticism for Apple’s mapping software. Last week, police in Victoria, Australia issued a warning to the public after several travelers got stranded in a national park due to Apple’s poor location data.
What about you, did you wait for the Google Maps release to update to iOS 6?