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Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

Summary: It's bound to happen -- Apple and Google aren't exactly on speaking terms. Google is pretty well rooted in the iPhone with their search and Google Maps -- and users like it.

Garett Rogers

By Garett Rogers for Googling Google |

It's bound to happen -- Apple and Google aren't exactly on speaking terms. Google is pretty well rooted in the iPhone with their search and Google Maps -- and users like it. I'm not sure I know anyone who is upset that their only choice for maps on iPhone is Google.

Apple and Google's relationship hasn't exactly been stellar -- and it's starting to show. Apple acquired a company called Poly 9 that makes their own Google Earth-like app. It doesn't look as good as Google's, but it's something they can polish up, and give to their users. Of course, once Apple has their own, apps like Google Earth on the iPhone will be removed from the Market citing duplicate functionality.

Apple had already acquired a company called Placebase (a competitor to Google Maps). So now that Apple owns technology that is equivalent to both Google Earth and Maps, I don't think it's going to be long before we start seeing them inside the iPhone.

Topics: Smartphones, Apple, Google, Hardware, Mobility

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29 comments
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  • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

    This is the 2nd map hosting company that Apple has acquired that was hosting the http://deadcellzones.com map. Ironic or conspiracy?
    estrategy
    Reply Vote

  • Put a fork in Google, they're done

    The next battle ground for growth is China. Google can only grow there with music and map but even that is a uphill battle. They already got China pissed at them.

    Apple, on the other hand, already has a proven track record with manufacturers in China. Apple has iTunes, which is second to none and now they have an innovative map company which will seem magically to interface with iPhone. I think Google should team up with Microsoft and go to some 3rd world country with their 3rd rate products and try to grow there.

    --
    edited to remove remark about Google's flaw algorithm because I wrote this before reading Robert Hahn's and Everq's logical rebuttal on the other thread.
    iPad-awan
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

      @iPad-awan I didn't see any reference to Microsoft in the original blog, but your bashing Microsoft is uncalled for and puts you below the ranks of a troll.
      Ram U
      Reply Vote

      • Of course the bigoted inference...

        that third world countries only deserve third rate products (whoever makes them) is perfectly OK.
        Fred Fredrickson
        Reply Vote

    • I've got news for you...

      @iPad-awan Those "third world countries" have far faster Internet that you do.
      trickytom2
      Reply Vote

    • Put a knife in Apple because they are done.

      @iPad-awan iTunes is a piece of trash. It is filled with bugs and has no real features. Apple has no market in China either. Nobody there can afford their overpriced machines, and everything there runs on Windows. Not only that their main Cell technology is a Chinese version of CDMA so iPhones and iPads wouldn't even work over there.

      Apple is the one who has been making 3rd rate products the whole time. First talking about no antiviruses needed, and then asking people to install antiviruses on MACOS. Then the iPad with the WiFi issues. Then the big debacle with AT&T and preorders and leaking customers information. Now the flawed iPhone 4's. With antenna issues, proximity sensor issues and yellowed screens and glass that breaks if you drop the phone 1 or 2 times.

      Android is taking over the smartphone market so fast that they will pass Apple in 1 years time if growth keeps up the way it is now.

      HP Just bought Palm and is going to come out with WebOS based tablets to compete with the iPad, and there are already Android tablets out. (Even though that tablets are useless anyway).

      Apple has serious PR issues and is dealing with their iPhone issues like a bunch of retards.

      So apparently you are just a fail troll AKA Apple Fanboy.
      Jimster480
      Reply Vote

      • Don't like Apple?

        @Jimster480

        "So apparently you are just a fail troll AKA Apple Fanboy."

        Real impressive. Let's see - the shares in Apple has gone through the roof, the iPod taught everyone else how to do it. The iPhone also taught the industry how to design smart phones for consumers, how to build an AppStore, etc.

        Now HP is going to try something with the left over bits & pieces from Palm, but how many smart phones did Palm actually sell? More than MS sold Kins. LOL!

        Looks like there is more money to be made in dissing Apple than competing with them.
        Ken_z
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

        @Jimster480 iTunes buggy? Tell me how... and lacking features? Is that why palm was so dead set to hack it to allow the Pre to sync with it? You are just as blind as the Apple fanbois.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

      @iPad-awan Yeah, mentioning Microsoft was quite off topic and the inference towards the 3rd world countries is uncalled for.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

    Yeah, it's funny how standing on a stage and bashing a company relentlessly when you have your product on over 50 million of theirs, tends to ruin the relationship...
    GENESIS667@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

    Mapping apps are cheap and easy. There's even a nifty open source mapping app from NASA called WorldWind -- looks and acts a lot like Google Earth.

    Data is what makes mapping apps different/useful. Google and Microsoft have huge capabilities for gathering and publishing data -- Examples: StreetView (GOOG), Birdseye view (MSFT). Both companies have 3D modeling, image draping, terrain modeling and a lot more. MSFT even owns the Vexcel aerial scanner platform and spends millions collecting hi-res images. Google has core technology from Keyhole that lets them stitch together spatial data into seamless landscapes.

    Both companies spend millions on satellite imagery from different sources. Both companies have developed sophisticated tools for searching and using spatial data (Photosynth, MSFT; Google Goggles)

    Google has figured out how to crowdsource new data that keeps their maps current. That capability has the potential to turn the whole mapping business on its ear.

    Buying a couple of third-tier mapping apps isn't going to help Apple a lot, even with Saint Jobs telling everyone that Apple's stuff is "wonderful".

    So far, Apple doesn't show any smarts about acquiring and managing geospatial data. They have a very, very long way to go before they can even show up in the same room as GOOG or MSFT in this area.
    dsonnen@...
    Reply Vote

    • Totally agree

      @dsonnen@... This is one instance where Jobs should just shut up and keep Google.
      trickytom2
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

        @trickytom2 For once I agree with you.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

    • Crowdsourcing ?

      @dsonnen@... "Crowdsourcing" = people willingly working for free. That isn't being lazy, that is self-exploitation.
      HypnoToad72
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

        @HypnoToad72 I would say that crowdsourcing depends more on the perceived non-monetary compensation of a useful resource than "self-exploitation" (naievete). The emotional appeal of being 'part of something bigger' and contributing to the kewl doods at Google also surely play a part, but the 'part of something bigger' incentive is, IMO, less certainly exploitation.
        Jesdisciple
        Reply Vote

  • Not so fast...

    Apple just don't want to be beholden to Google only, who can turn around and stick it to Apple simply by pulling their support (they're becoming stronger competitors afterall). Apple has done the same over the years with Microsoft. They've continued to sign multi-year contracts for MS Office on the Mac while at the same time developing and strengthening their iWorks alternatives. In case MS ever decided to stop support. But despite being arch rivals, they still worked together, and I expect the same with Google. <br><br>Keep in mind Android were <strike>developed</strike>...I mean purchased because Google didn't want to be beholden to Apple and the iPhone.
    dave95.
    Reply Vote

  • Hardly...

    Typical Steve Jobs. His massive ego won't let him share the stage with the company that easily has the best mapping software in the world, so he goes out on his own to build a product that he can control.

    I can just hear him now. "Nobody goes to Italy, anymore, so we're not including it on our maps".
    trickytom2
    Reply Vote

    • You have it backwords...

      @trickytom2

      Not only did Jobs share the stage with Google's CEO Eric Schmidt, but he also had him as an Apple board member. But that was before Google decided to build their own competing Android clone, severing close relationship with Apple.
      dave95.
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

        @dave95. Because Google doesnt like the Apple way's of doing things. As they are backwards. So they bought & developed a platform that shares their ideals.
        Jimster480
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple getting ready to ditch Google?

        @dave95. <br><br><i> Because Google doesnt like the Apple way's of doing things</i><br><br>Google CEO seem to have been perfectly happy with Apple's ways to have held a seat on their board for so long. Hmmm.<br><br>btw, have you seen the first Google prototype phone? Heavy BlackBerry influenced, not iPhone influenced like it is today.<br><a href="http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wild" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wild</a>
        dave95.
        Reply Vote
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