Comment by naterator
12 years ago
>Apple got into maps because Google maps product for iOS was shitty and that was being held against the iPhone.
Wait, really? Was this an actual thing, for anyone? Because I _never_ was disappointed by any Google Maps related product on the iPhone. Serious question here.
The whole saga is fairly well documented. Go to any comparison of iOS and Android in 2010-11 and you'll see Google Maps for Android held up as one of the biggest Android advantages. Maps for Android had turn by turn. Maps for iOS didn't.
Apple was excited to partner with Google for Maps on the iPhone launch and it was excited to partner with companies like Garmin on expensive third party turn by turn solutions. Once it became obvious that free turn by turn nav was a fundamental OS level checkbox Apple was forced to rush out their Maps product.
The iOS 5 Google Maps app was very dated and lacking in features compared to the Android version at the time - probably the biggest thing it was missing was turn-by-turn navigation.
It wasn't terrible, it just hadn't been updated in a long time and had fallen behind the other options.