Apple Alarm: New Google Maps is Here!

Critics said its data was faulty and search unreliable, and the lack of public transit directions and the absence of anything remotely similar to Google Street View was universally criticized. Apple chief executive Tim Cook even had to issue a public apology and tell users that a much-improved update was on its way.

Who Wins?

To its in-house app, Apple had added features such as turn-by-turn navigation and fly-over views of landscapes into its program. Google’s new app, newly built with vector-based graphics, brings back Street View, and adds Google Earth to offer Apple Flyover-like 3D views of buildings.

“It’s embarrassing for Apple to reuse Google’s map application as it suggests Apple failed to meet market expectations,” Samsung Securities analyst Hwang Min-Seong told Bloomberg. “This shows how much harder Apple had to push itself to come up with great innovations, only for it to end up as a big mistake.”

Up next: Apple’s move.

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