A new report from The Verge says that Apple had over a year left on its contract with Google for Maps when it decided to ship its own Maps application.
The decision, made sometime before Apple's WWDC event in June, sent Google scrambling to develop an iOS Google Maps app -- an app which both sources say is still incomplete and currently not scheduled to ship for several months.
Apple apparently felt that Maps in iOS was falling behind Android particularly due to the missing turn-by-turn navigation feature. Google is said to have wanted more prominent branding and additional features such as Latitude but there was still a lot of time before renewal agreement needed to be reached.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt recently commented on the switch saying, "We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know? What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call."
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The decision, made sometime before Apple's WWDC event in June, sent Google scrambling to develop an iOS Google Maps app -- an app which both sources say is still incomplete and currently not scheduled to ship for several months.
Apple apparently felt that Maps in iOS was falling behind Android particularly due to the missing turn-by-turn navigation feature. Google is said to have wanted more prominent branding and additional features such as Latitude but there was still a lot of time before renewal agreement needed to be reached.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt recently commented on the switch saying, "We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know? What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call."
Read More