Google May Already Have a Maps App Waiting for Apple Approval

Google may have already submitted a new Maps app to the App Store for Apple's approval, according to a Guardian report.

Apple yesterday released iOS 6 which features a new in-house Maps app, replacing the popular Google Maps. The new application has drawn sharp criticism from users as it falls short of the map quality customers became accustomed to with Google Maps. Apple's Maps app is also missing transit directions and street view but adds 3D flyover and navigation.

Google, I hear from roundabout sources, is enjoying the bad press Apple is suffering. It would be surprising if its mappers could resist some schadenfreude, since they are very proud of their work; having it rejected wholesale must be galling.

The same sources say that Google is preparing a Google Maps app for iOS6, which will appear in time. No official statement has been made and there will inevitably be questions over whether Apple will approve it in the App Store. (Apple might not, on the basis that it "competes with existing functionality", but would invite a further backlash if it did.)

MacRumors notes that this report was confirmed by renown developer Steve Troughton-Smith.

The Guardian suggests they've heard that Google already submitted a Maps app to coincide with iOS 6: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/bl ... s-headache … Yep.

9to5Mac is also coming out to corroborate the Guardian report.


Separately, we've heard Google has been building separate versions of a iOS GoogleMaps.app for quite a while that goes back years. Additionally, we've learned an updated iOS 6 version of the Google Maps.app has been submitted to Apple. It is awaiting approval, however, and that could take some time. It took a year for Apple to approve Google Voice, for instance, and Apple could technically likewise claim Google Maps "duplicates a native service" even though there are quite a few mapping apps already in the App Store (like Google Earth).

With the amount of negative feedback Apple Maps is getting it might be a good move for the company to approve Google Maps while it betters its map data.

Check out some Apple Maps mistakes here.

Read More