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Problems with Apple's Maps have helped third-party developers
I was wondering if the range of issues with iOS 6's Maps app caused a spike the sale of paid 3rd party navigation apps. The answer appears to be yes. I talked with Johan-Till Broer, who represents Garmin and its subsidiary Navigon, to see if the brouhaha over Maps -- which, with its new turn-by-turn and voice navigation features, was seen by some developers as a threat -- has actually boosted attention and uptake of these apps. "We definitely saw an increase in sales for our navigation apps over the last couple of weeks due to the recent interest in map and navigation apps for the iPhone. It should be noted, though, that App Store dynamics are very complex and it's always difficult to reduce a spike in sales to a single factor. The fact that we were one of the first navigation apps to integrate with Apple Maps and provide public transit directions, the brand awareness that Garmin has as the global leader in GPS navigation as well as the fact that Apple suggested our apps as map alternatives in the App Store also played a significant role." Garmin and Navigon get, I think, a significant boost because those solutions include Google Local Search and Google Street View, both of which left the bundled Maps app when Apple moved away from Google as a data provider for mapping. Both are still available as standalone free apps, by the way, and Google has now integrated Street View into its web-based maps for mobile. [Just a reminder that the pre-iOS 6 Maps app was also developed by Apple, not by Google; while it's been informally referred to as "Google Maps" since the map data was provided by Google, technically the app itself was always "Apple Maps." We'll try to use "iOS 6 Maps" and "pre-iOS 6 Maps" for clarity, and reserve "Google Maps" to refer to the current web-based solution. –Ed.] Broer also points out that there were other free third-party navigation apps on the iPhone before Apple made its move, but paid maps have always had significant sales. Even on Android, where most phones work with Google's free turn-by-turn navigation option, paid apps still sell, including CoPilot Live, Magellan and both Navigon and Garmin. One of the main reasons is that many of these apps have all the map data onboard, and are not dependent on a data connection. Both the iOS 6 Maps app and the Android navigation app require data connections to function, though there is some built-in caching; iOS 6's app in particular seems pretty good about allowing navigation based on pre-loaded data. For many users, Apple's Maps or some of the free solutions like Mapquest or Waze will be enough. For those wanting a premium experience, and are willing to pay, it looks like third-party navigation apps are here to stay. Apple's Maps "upgrades" haven't hurt the paid app suppliers at all, and in fact, seem to be driving sales of alternative solutions.
Street View comes to Google Maps web app on iOS, just like they said it would
While the hubbub surrounding Apple Maps on iOS 6 has been somewhat sedated, some people who made the move to Google Maps' web app had been further encouraged by word that it'd be getting Street View imagery soon. And what do you know, barely seven days into the estimated "in two weeks" and here it is. Search for a location (no long press yet), and you'll spy the familiar icon bottom right. This appears in both Chrome and Safari. While perhaps still not quite as slick as the good old app of yore, a definite panacea for all those iOS toutin' virtual tourists.
Where To? will make you feel better about Apple Maps
Apple's Maps app has been a bit of a mess, as we all know. One of the biggest complaints is the lack of solid local search. There are plenty of alternative apps (including Google+ Local, the updated version of Google Places); one of the classics, Where To?, has just been updated. Where To? now offers a link to Apple Maps once you have found your destination using the app's local search. The Google-powered search data is far more complete than what Apple Maps offers through Yelp, so this is a good solution. This latest version of Where To? also works well with iOS 6, and doesn't 'letterbox' on an iPhone 5. When you find a location you'll get reviews, links to websites and business hours. One other nice feature is that Where To? can be launched from Apple Maps, to get a more complete idea of what is around your chosen destination. In my testing around town the app worked well. It did have a lot more local options when I searched for things like restaurants, hospitals and hardware stores. The switch to Maps is easy enough. When you find your destination click on a button, and you can go to Maps or any other navigation program it can talk to. In my case I have Navigon, Waze and Telenav on my phone and they all would accept the destination from Where To? without trouble. It also supports TomTom, Motion X, Sygic and Navfree. Where To? is US$2.99 and works in most overseas locations. The app can't cure all the issues with Apple Maps, but it certainly dramatically expands local search. Since I find Apple Maps to be a solid navigator in my part of Arizona, Where To? and Apple Maps are a good marriage. Where To? requires iOS 5.1 or greater, and is not a universal app. Check the galleries for some screen shots. %Gallery-167095%
Tim Cook apologizes for Maps mess
Well, it's hardly a secret that customers are unhappy with Apple's new mapping solution in iOS 6. And, while the company has admitted that, perhaps, it's not quite up to snuff yet, it has played down Maps' flaws and urged customers to be patient. Today, in an open letter to the Apple faithful, Tim Cook struck a far more candid and conciliatory tone, apologizing for failing to deliver a "world-class" product. Cook went so far as to suggest that unhappy customers could check out offerings from competitors like Bing, MapQuest, Google and Nokia -- at least until Cupertino sorts this mess out. You'll find the complete text of the letter after the break. Update: As CNET reports, Apple has now also gone one step further and added a new list of featured mapping alternatives to the App Store, including apps from TeleNav, Garmin, Magellan and others. You can read our editorial on Apple apologies since the launch of the iPhone here.
Editorial: Apple's smart Maps maneuver
More Info Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top (update: more detail) Apple says it's 'just getting started' on Maps for iOS 6, are you willing to wait? (poll) MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turn-by-turn navigation apps It might seem as if Apple chose its iOS 6 release last week to practice the biblical directive to love one's enemy. For, by ejecting Google Maps from updated iPads and iPhones, Apple hath caused glorious comparisons to shine upon its foe. If most people were unaware of comparative feature sets and quality aspects that distinguish Google Maps from Apple Maps, every tech-loving person on God's earth is an expert now. The media love a bloodbath, and Joe Nocera led the rhetorical pack by calling Apple Maps an "unmitigated disaster" in a NY Times piece. He wondered whether such calamity would have ensued if Steve Jobs (who called the 1998 "hockey puck" mouse the world's best pointing device) were guiding the company's product evolution. Mr. Nocera argues the Maps replacement as an indicator that Apple has peaked. I argue that replacing Google Maps with Apple Maps was shrewd, inevitable and an indicator that Apple understands the true battle it wages.
The iOS 6 Maps app is why my next phone may be a Samsung, not an iPhone 5
My next phone won't be the iPhone 5 I've been dreaming of for a year; it'll be a Samsung Android handset. Why? Two words: Google Maps. This isn't a political statement. It's not an empty protest over how bad Apple's Maps app is. It's because for the first time I've lost confidence that an Apple product is the best choice for my needs. In iOS 6 and on the iPhone 5, a significant feature -- one that tens of millions of people rely on daily -- does not work as it should. In fact, calling it "a feature" doesn't do it justice; it's a necessity for any smartphone. For me, it's as important as email and phone calls and surfing the web. Maybe more important -- mapping tells us where we are in the world and where we are going. As of iOS 6, this capability we've come to rely on so heavily can no longer be trusted. The iOS 6 Maps launch has underlined what we already knew: No one does maps like Google does -- not even close. By leaving Google Maps off iOS 6 Apple has done a deep disservice to its user base. That user base, by the way, is orders of magnitude larger than it ever was when the Mac dominated Apple's product line and profit margins; this is something that potentially touches hundreds of millions of users around the world. Apple Maps is not a finished product. I wouldn't even call it a beta product. It misplaces airports and schools and roads. It leads me in the wrong direction. It doesn't show me stores or schools or parks that are clearly right in front of my eyes. This obliterates the user experience on iPhone. I've used every iPhone that has ever existed. My current phone is an iPhone 4S and I pre-ordered an iPhone 5 on launch day. As of yesterday, I've canceled that pre-order and am planning on picking up a Samsung phone this week. Now, before I get into the reasons for my leap to Android (and why Apple Maps are so bad), before someone accuses me of being an "Apple hater," I want to explain how hard a choice this was for me -- and how I am the last person who'd choose to dump on Apple. I write for TUAW. I've used Apple technology almost exclusively for the last 12 years of my life. I also spent half a decade of my life working for Apple. I still have dozens of friends at Apple in design, marketing and sales. Besides my personal and professional connections to the company and its products, I also have a financial interest in seeing the company succeed; I've been steadily investing in it for the last 11 years. But like most other people, if you eliminate all my personal, professional and financial connections, I really only ever went by one criterion when deciding to use an Apple product: I believed it was the best product for my needs; it performed the best out of all the other products out there for what I needed it to do. In short, as Steve Jobs used to say, "It just works." With Apple Maps, it no longer does. With Apple Maps, the iPhone is significantly hampered. Apple's new Maps is a black mark on the company's stellar product record in the Steve Jobs II era and beyond. Sure, Apple has released some iffy stuff (Ping, MobileMe) and hasn't been immune to its share of engineering faults ("Antennagate") or not fully baked features (Siri). But those things didn't hinder a product we were depending on in a significant way for a significant number of users. Apple Maps does. What's so broken about Maps? Sure, it looks different than Google Maps -- Apple would say "better than" -- but it's easy to get used to the way Maps looks instead of the yellow, reds, and greens of Google Maps. And yeah, the elimination of transit directions is also a significant setback, but there are plenty of third-party apps that work better than public transit directions ever did in Google Maps, covering most urban and suburban areas with transit services. The real failure of Apple Maps comes from the fact that it is still clearly an alpha product (not even a beta like Siri -- an alpha) that should never have been released in its current state. Now, as my colleague Michael Rose pointed out, Apple may have had some legitimate reasons (like turn-by-turn navigation that Google didn't allow under its API) to create its own mapping solution. But another significant reason is Apple wants to wean itself off of any dependance it has on Google. Will it be a win for users? Maybe, but only when the entirety of Apple Maps finally works as well as Google Maps does. Unfortunately that's not going to happen any time soon. It feels like Apple put corporate strategy ahead of user experience -- granted, that's happened before (No floppy drives! No serial ports! No optical drives!) but generally in the service of something readily perceptible. I mean, this is a company that says it sometimes doesn't release great products they've created in the labs because they weren't quite right or didn't fill a need that users could better get from someone else. "Not quite right" is an understatement when referring to Apple Maps and "can't get it better anyplace else" is just flat out wrong as long as Google and its mapping data is around. Same location. Apple Maps, left. Google Maps, right. So how bad is Apple Maps? There are Tumblr blogs and Twitter accounts dedicated to how bad Apple Maps is. I thought they were funny and not a big deal -- at first. But then I stepped out over the weekend doing my usual stuff (going to work, meeting friends, traveling) and found out just how hampered my iPhone had become. I live in London. It's the biggest city in the UK. It's one of the capitals of the world that tens of millions of travelers and tourists pass through every year -- not to mention the 10 million people who live here -- and Apple Maps hardly functions here. This is in the biggest, most important city in the UK. Now think about the smaller cities around the country where Apple's data providers have misplaced entire airports, or located villages miles from where they should be. Let me give you an example: today I was in central London and I ran a series of searches on my iPhone 4S in Apple Maps. Every single search query I entered either turned up no results or misplaced results. I was meeting a friend at Circus Space, which I know is somewhere in the Shoreditch (east) area of London, but Apple Maps showed it was located across the city on the west side. Moving on, I decided to do a search for O'Neills Pub. O'Neills is a series of chain restaurants in the UK. In London it's hard to walk for 10 minutes without passing one. When I did the search, Apple Maps showed only three locations (two of them wrong) and all miles from where I was (and where a majority of O'Neills are). I then tested Maps again by searching for "Pret," a series of popular sandwich eateries in London. Pret is even more ubiquitous than O'Neills. Apple Maps returned half-baked results -- only showing me three in the area and totally missing the one I was standing two feet away from. There should be a Pret where the blue arrow is pointing. I know because I was standing right next to it (and even took a photo of it). I've got friends coming to London next month to visit me and over the summer I've been telling them that no matter what they do they need to bring an unlocked iPhone with them because it'll make navigating London so much easier. But now, that won't be the case anymore. Using Apple's Maps on their iPhone is just going to get them lost in London. But this isn't just about London (although, Apple, how hard is it to use Tube icons for tube stations like Google, Bing and Yahoo do?). Apple Maps data is horrible across Europe and Asia. My friend from Singapore was visiting London this weekend and we were exploring the new features of iOS 6 together on our iPhones. Within 30 seconds of using Apple Maps to check out his home city of Singapore it was obvious (and somewhat shocking to him) just how misplaced things were. This doesn't bode well for Apple and their hopes of continued expansion in Asia. [Mike's fellow Brit and former TUAW contributor Nik Fletcher is visiting the US at the moment, and noted on Sunday's Talkcast that he had to throw in the towel on iOS 6 Maps during his first day walking around New York City. He ended up searching for sights and destinations using his wife's un-upgraded iPhone instead. –Ed.] Now to be fair, some people don't have a problem with the new Maps. Indeed, the turn-by-turn directions are very nice, as are the 3D views. But the people saying the new Maps is just fine seem to live in the suburbs of American cities where they rarely use Maps on a daily basis (they only drive from home to work or home to the grocery store or places they already know), or they live in smaller cities where they know where most things are already. However, if you live in a major city or are a business traveler Maps is probably the most important app on your phone. And the fact that you can't trust it anymore and it doesn't work as it should is devastating. Why this is such a big deal In the five years since Apple introduced the first iPhone, mobile maps in our pockets have become a major selling point and a necessary feature for any smartphone. Depending on what study you read, mobile mapping is the number one or number two most-used feature on smartphones (ahead of surfing the web, texting and calling). And Apple, a company known for ease of use and putting their users first was at the top of the pack. The company had the foresight to work with Google, the best mapper in the world, since the first iPhone OS. That's changed in the years since. Apple and Google don't like each other now. It didn't change because Google said, "We're out of here." It's because Apple said, "You're not giving us what we need. We're doing it without you. See ya." As noted above, Google wasn't willing to allow iOS to offer turn-by-turn navigation on Apple's terms, and perhaps the search company was insisting on more access to user data than Apple was willing to give. But negotiations go both ways, and maybe three years ago Apple thought this would be easier than it is -- or that users would be more forgiving than they are. Maps on a smartphone are a necessity. But maps are only as good as their accuracy, the depth of their data and the ability to search for that data. Apple Maps handles direct addresses (full address with ZIP or post-code) pretty well, but available data (businesses, restaurants, etc.) and search are horrible. How is Apple's mapping technique different than Google's mapping technique? The reason Google Maps is so much better than Apple Maps is because of the amount of time each company has invested into mapping, how they cull their data and the resources they've put behind the problem. Apple got into the mapping game in the late 2000s when it started buying up companies in the field. It then took technology and data from these separate companies, leased data from about 20 other companies and threw that all together into their new Maps app. When Google started mapping almost 10 years ago, it originally went the route Apple is going now: buy up small companies, merge all the different sets of data and just hope things work. However, Google soon found out that that was the wrong way to create reliable maps. So Google started mapping from scratch, scouring the earth with Google Street View cars, constantly refining data and integrating its core strength -- search -- into Maps. The result is arguably the best non-military map of the world that's ever existed. Another reason Google was able to quickly build the best mapping system ever is because it had, at its peak, nearly 7,000 people working on Google Maps. That's certainly a much bigger field force than Apple has working on maps, yet both companies are trying to cover the same planet. I'll tell you the analogy I used with a friend today when she asked me why Apple Maps is inferior to Google Maps: if Maps were a novel, Google would write its book from line one on page one, refining the prose along the way, and only stop when it reached the last period on the last page. Google would write the book through completely, telling the entire story as best as possible. Google's writers would be Proust and Tolstoy and Hemingway. Apple's book, on the other hand, would be cut and pasted together from 20 other already written books (fiction, non-fiction, Sears catalogs from 1993), hoping overlays matched and not caring if the editor turned on spellcheck or not. The editor of Apple's book would be E.L. James. How Apple can fix this mess (and Google's stand-alone iOS Maps app). It can't. Well, not anytime soon. It took Google seven years and thousands of people to build up a good mapping service. Apple is not going to fix its Maps in the next three or even 12 months. It's not likely anyway. And what actually scares me is Apple Maps wasn't just thrown together in the last year. It's the result of already at least three years of work and it's still horrible. It's still an alpha product. So no, Apple is not going to fix this any time soon. I mean, we're talking about correctly mapping the entire planet here. That's going to take a lot of time and a lot of manpower. So, if you rely on Maps, I hate to tell you this, but don't think iOS 6.1 in January is going to get Apple's Maps close to the level that Google Maps hit on the iPhone even back in 2007. If you ask me, it hardly competes with MapQuest in 1995. But just because Apple can't fix this mess soon doesn't mean it can't fix this mess faster. Apple can tackle this in one of two ways: 1) Money and manpower. 2) Google. Apple has almost $120 billion in the bank. Everyone on Wall Street says Apple can't possibly ever begin to spend that money. Well, now it can. And it needs to, because the "It just works" mantra of the iPhone is very much on the line. What Apple needs to do is take a chunk of its cash hoard (5 percent? 10 percent? Multiple billions.) and throw it into mapping. Hire the talent and build the fleet to start replicating Google's street-level intelligence, at least in the major cities. Then hire lots and lots of mapping engineers. Give the Google team members a call and offer to double their salary if they jump ship and come work for you -- in fact, it looks like this may already be happening. But even if Apple throws $12 billion at the mapping problem, it's still going to take time to fix (though not as long). In the meantime what Apple really needs to do is crawl back to Google. No, Apple isn't going to get rid of the new Maps. The company's got too much pride for that (and maybe one day, some years from now, Apple's maps will have grown in to something much better than Google Maps). But until then, for the users' sake, Apple needs to get Google Maps back on the iPhone for those who want it. For some users, the Google Maps web app usable in Safari may be a reasonable workaround for the faults in the dedicated iOS Maps app. Unfortunately, for me it's just not a substitute. If you combine it with Google's Search app, it's not horrendous -- it's just very inconvenient. There are now many, many more taps to do the same thing that the native Maps app can do quickly. Then there's the hypothetical standalone Google Maps app for iOS. Except that it's not hypothetical. Two high-level sources inside Google have confirmed to me that the app exists. Where the employees disagree is on the status of the app. One tells me that Google has sent the app to Apple for approval, but Apple is just sitting on it. The other tells me that he believes Google has yet to put the finishing touches on the app and has not submitted it to Apple. But either way, it's a real thing. If Apple still respects its users and really cares about the user experience, like I suspect it does, the company will approve the Google Maps iOS app right away and without further delay. And if Google has yet to submit it, then Tim Cook needs to get on the phone and call Larry Page today and tell him to do so. This is no time to let pride get in the way. Oh, and the statement Apple released a few days ago saying "Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get" is a cop out. A necessary feature like Maps shouldn't be rolled out until it works relatively well; if I reported every Apple Maps mistake in London (like the app allows you to do) I would need to give up my job and personal life because there's just not enough time in the day to correct all of the Maps mistakes in my area and still live my life. When Apple released that statement, I wrote "Some people have called Apple's Maps the company's 'Vista' moment. Though I am quite annoyed by the downgrade, I liken Apple's Maps more to iMovie '08. That's when Apple totally revamped iMovie and turned it into the start of something better, but it didn't start surpassing the old iMovie until the next iteration of the new app." Boy, was I wrong. After a weekend of really using them, the current state of Apple's Maps is way worse than Vista. Why I'm going to Samsung You never miss anything -- and realize how heavily you rely on it -- until it's gone. That's the case with Apple Maps. Until my first full weekend of usage of Apple's new Maps in iOS 6, I didn't realize just how heavily I relied on Google Maps on my iPhone in my daily life. Whenever I needed to find anything in London, it was just there, at my fingertips. Now it's not. I can live with sometimes spotty iCloud email or a not fully baked Siri, but as it turns out I can't live without reliable maps, not when I live in a major metropolitan area and frequently travel to other European cities. And as I said, even if Apple throws billions of dollars at Maps, it's still going to take a lot of time to fix. What's the most difficult about Maps in iOS 6 is the loss of faith. Now I never know if something I'm looking for really might be close to me, but I'm just not seeing it -- or if something that Maps says is there will actually be there, which can theoretically go beyond inconvenient to dangerous. True, the browser version of Google Maps is there, but it's an inferior experience; it's slow, clunky and doesn't integrate across the OS like the native Maps does. For me, knowing that Maps is my "killer app," it's just not good enough. Don't get me wrong, I think Samsung has blatantly ripped Apple off, but that also means its got the best copy of the iPhone out there. And it uses Google Maps -- something I trust implicitly. I don't like having to print out maps before I leave the house -- like I had to today -- so I know without a doubt that I can get to the place I need to go. My phone should be able to do that. The iPhone no longer dependably does. Samsung's phones and Google Maps can. This, of course, is another problem for Apple. The company just gave Android its biggest selling point ever: "We have maps that work. We have maps that you can trust." I didn't cancel my iPhone 5 order lightly. It hurt to do so. But I did it for the same reason I originally went with Apple products years ago -- they "just work." The iPhone 5's maps no longer "just work." So that phone is not the best choice for me any longer. It's a shame too, because I was loaned an iPhone 5 for 24 hours on Saturday and it literally is a thing of true beauty. Hands down, it is the best designed phone ever. It's light and thin and fast and beautiful. But it doesn't have a critical feature that I rely on anymore. So, what should you do? If you like iOS and the iPhone and don't depend on Maps as your "killer app," by all means, stay with the iPhone. If the browser version of Google Maps, or one of the third-party nav or search apps, works for you then don't sweat it. I know I'll still be using all of Apple's other products -- because they still "just work." And if Apple allows Google Maps in the App Store, I'll jump ship back to the iPhone 5. But if you rely heavily on Maps -- especially if you live outside of America or travel a lot -- you might want to seriously think about whether you can live with iOS 6's Maps. If not, Android is now the main game in town that has Google Maps. Either way, let me know how you feel about Apple's Maps in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter (@michaelgrothaus) if you want to recommend a good Samsung phone for me.
Apple says it's 'just getting started' on Maps for iOS 6, are you willing to wait? (poll)
Now that iOS 6 has arrived on Apple tablets and phones, users at large are getting their hands on the company's new Maps app for the first time only to find at least a few things out of place. The lack of navigation for public transportation was a known limitation going in, but misplaced landmarks, geographical oddities and suddenly blank areas where Google Maps had an abundance of tags (all being cataloged by The Amazing iOS 6 Maps Tumblr, as seen above) have some users bristling. A spokesperson for Apple tells All Things D that it expects things to improve as more people use Maps (check out the entire statement after the break), but is that enough? Hit the poll selections below to let us know if the new experience is truly a move in the right direction.%Poll-77848%
Navigon and StreetPilot Onboard update adds public transport, Apple Maps and iPhone 5 support
Navigon's gearing up for tomorrow's big day by updating its, erm, Navigon and StreetPilot Onboard apps. The refreshed software adds support for the iPhone 5's new 4-inch display as well as baking in public transport listings to Cupertino's presently underwhelming mapping offering. It's also gaining the promised "last mile" function to record the location of your car when finishing your journey on foot, sparing you the embarrassment of getting lost in the multi-storey lot when you return. The company's offering a $10 discount on its apps if you pick 'em up before October 3rd, while the in-app purchase of Urban Guidance has been reduced from $5 to $3 for the same period. Update: We've had a note from Garmin to say that while Navigon update is now available, StreetPilot Onboard has been slightly delayed.
Maps missing info dismays some iOS 6 users
Detail differences between Apple's new maps (top) and Google maps (bottom) have some iOS 6 users scratching their heads and wondering how long Apple will take to bring their Maps database up to speed. Developer Mathieu Roy shared the above maps, which highlight how the newly Apple-sourced versions still have plenty of growing room. Developer Jeremy Tregunna adds "That map isn't so bad; the entire city of Escazú in San José, Costa Rica, is missing, and it's misspelled 'Escaza.'" Satisified with Maps? Or disappointed by Maps gaps? How has your iOS 6 transition been going? Update: Rich Gaywood points to this iOS 6 Maps Tumblr. Update: The Guardian reports, "Within minutes of the launch of the iOS6 operating system, which comes preloaded with Apple Maps, users were reporting that Paddington station had vanished, London had been relocated to Ontario, the Sears Tower in Chicago had shrunk, and Helsinki railway station had been turned into a park." Update: Reggie sends us this composite image. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Apple gives region-by-region breakdown of iOS 6 capabilities: specifies Siri and Maps functionality
In an effort to let its customers know exactly what they'll get when the iPhone 5 (and downloadable updates) arrive in their country, Apple has broken down what iOS 6 will offer in different territories. US customers will get the full bounty that the mobile OS has to offer, being the only country whose maps will be peppered with 3D buildings. A pretty comprehensive list of 23 iPhone-enraptured countries will join the US in claiming turn-by-turn navigation and traffic information, including most of western Europe, Australia, China and Canada. 49 countries will get their maps augmented by local search results, while directions and satellite imaging will arrive on an even larger list of places you'll now need to visit. Siri content, meanwhile, is a little leaner, with the likes of the UK, Japan, Canada and Australia all joining the US on some pretty short lists, gaining Twitter, Sport, Facebook and local search integration. Movie content, including reviews and showtimes, will only be fully enabled in the USA, UK and Canada. Check Apple's full breakdown at the source below.
iOS 6 gets official debut on the iPhone 5: Maps, Passbook, iCloud Tabs and more
Now that the iPhone 5 is officially out of the bag, it's time to talk software. Apple hasn't exactly kept its cards close to its chest in regards to iOS 6: Cupertino teased the software at WWDC, letting us in on the direct Facebook integration, the new Maps application, Passbook and "Do Not Disturb" in the process. Today the OS gets official, and Scott Forstall demoed the software on the iPhone 5. Not too much new here, but the software is out of its beta phase and ready to ship. One of the most hyped additions to iOS 6 has been the Maps application, which includes Siri navigation, 3D building view and satellite imagery. In Safari, there's now a full-screen mode and you'll be able to share tabs from your desktop with your phone (dubbed iCloud Tabs). We're also seeing Passbook in action once again, bringing up a plane ticket at the lockscreen when you get to the airport, for example. One new thing here: Delta is confirmed as a partner for this digital ticket service. As we've already known, on the Siri front you can bring up sports ranking and Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings via the voice assistant. And, of course, one of the most welcome new features is FaceTime over cellular -- no mention of whether that will be supported on all carriers, but it certainly looks that way. iOS 6 will be available on September 19th (also when the iPhone 5 will go on sale), and it's coming to the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, new iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch. Check out all the coverage at our iPhone 2012 event hub!
Driving around with Maps for iOS 6
Much of the excitement in iOS6 centers on the new Maps app. It replaces the Google Maps-powered version that's been part of iOS since the beginning The revamped Maps adds Flyover (3D aerial perspectives) for some cities; it also offers spoken turn-by-turn navigation, a feature that the old Maps never offered for iOS but that Google baked into Android phones. Maps in iOS 6 also integrates Siri for search on supported devices. Unfortunately, only newer devices get the snazzy features; turn-by-turn requires an iPhone 4S or an iPad (2 or new), for example, and obviously Siri is only available on the 4S & soon the new iPad. I made quite a few trips using the beta iOS 6 Maps app, and have lots of impressions. Keep in mind, the app really is beta. Some of the data is flaky; for example I was looking for a location in southern Utah by zip code and was directed to the east coast of the US. Never fear, these little glitches will get fixed by the time iOS 6 is released to the public in the fall. OK, let's get driving. The first really big advantage of this app is the direct integration with Siri. Say "take me to the nearest Home Depot" and you'll see a map with a pin on it. Touch the pin, press the start button and off you go. The map works in landscape or portrait mode, and that familiar Siri voice will guide you through each turn. When you arrive it will tell you if your destination is on the right or to the left. You can also say "Take me home" and if your home address is notated in your contacts, you'll be ready to navigate. The maps themselves look pretty similar to the Google variety, and you get a choice of a flat map, 3D or satellite. If you are in a big city, you'll see Flyover's beautiful 3D renderings of buildings. I did a brief check and saw that feature work in Chicago and Seattle. Flyover is very pretty, but not much use when driving. Viewing all that detail or playing with the map is not something you should do when your attention should be on the road. If your destination includes reviews from Yelp, you'll see the reviews when you ask for the destination, as well as photos if there are any. If you are in 3D mode, you can rotate around a location by rotating 2 fingers on the screen, and zoom in or out in the usual way by pinching or dragging. Of course you can bookmark any location, add it to contacts, or share the location with someone else. If you are properly equipped, you can print the information to a local printer. Overall, the app is similar to the older Maps app, but the iOS 5 app doesn't provide Siri voice integration or turn-by-turn directions. Like the older Maps app, map data is downloaded over the air, so a data connection is required. Without one, you'll see a dot representing your location, but the map will be blank. You can contrast that with apps like the Navigon family, where the map data is permanently resident on your device, and a cellular connection is not required. Still, for most people, the Apple app will be more than enough. The integration with Siri, Yelp, and the ease of use is a real plus. Just telling Siri where you want to go is really great, and a very compelling reason to use this app over other navigation solutions that involve some fiddling to set up. There is traffic data built in, and the app will offer alternate directions if conditions warrant it. Traffic was working in my city, and was color coded and superimposed over my route. Note that at this point, there are no public transit directions or pedestrian directions. For some urban users, this is a big missing item. Apple has said it will rely on 3rd party apps for this, but they are unlikely to be integrated into the Apple Maps app. [Cocoanetics has an interesting perspective on why this is the right move for Apple to make. –Ed.] Clearly, Apple was motivated to meet Google and Android head on, and they are well on the way. Google has had years of collecting data and getting the map experience to be very friendly. Apple has started from scratch, with a few key purchases of mapping companies, and come very close. There are no street level views with the Apple app. Google has that feature pretty wrapped up for itself, but for getting easily from point A to point B, Apple is offering an excellent solution that I think will become the first choice for many users. It's unfortunate that turn-by-turn navigation isn't supported on the iPhone 4, but Apple wants to sell you the latest phone and this is a not-so-gentle nudge to get you back to an Apple store. Even with some obvious bugs, and a few crashes, I was impressed with the new Maps. It will be a challenge for Google. Will it offer turn-by-turn voice navigation for the iPhone, or just concede? For older devices, will this be an opportunity for vendors like Navigon, Motion X and TomTom to sell up -- or for free turn-by-turn apps like AOL's Mapquest or Waze to get more traction? Competition is good, and Apple has thrown down the gauntlet. I think the other nav app companies with iOS products are going to feel uncomfortable with Apple in this business, but it's likely they will aggressively compete and we will all benefit. Check the gallery for screenshots of Maps in action. %Gallery-158418% Editor's Note: Mel is not personally subject to the iOS 6 NDA.
Apple selects TomTom as primary iOS 6 maps provider (update: confirmed)
Been wondering exactly which data service is replacing Google as Apple's map provider? According to these leaked screenshots (shown above) from the iOS 6 developer beta running on an iPhone 4S, it appears to be TomTom. The company is no stranger to iOS, as its navigation app and car kit have been available on the iPhone since 2009. On an interesting note, the maps application specifically mentions "data from TomTom, others," which means there may be other suppliers that aren't getting called out by name. We'll keep you posted as we hear more what's going on behind-the-scenes. Update: TomTom has independently confirmed to us that it indeed "has signed a global agreement with Apple for maps and related information." [Thanks, Anonymous]
Google to hold Maps event ahead of WWDC, hopes to make Apple sorry for dropping it
According to rumors, Apple will soon ditch Google Maps for a service of its own (reportedly to launch in iOS 6), but far be it from the search giant to take that snub silently. The company will reportedly hold an event to give the press a "behind-the-scenes look at Google Maps and share our vision" on June 6th. According to the invitation, Google will demo new features that "will get people where they want to go -- both physically and virtually." That shindig will go down just five days before Apple's WWDC, where Cupertino will likely announce its own Google Maps replacement.
Report: Apple dumping Google for own Maps app in iOS 6 (update)
Granted, Apple and Google aren't quite the bosom buddies they once were, but how far is Cupertino going to free itself from the Android-maker? Well, Apple's picked up a number of mapmakers and is now reportedly getting ready to unveil a Google map competitor for iOS. 9to5Mac is reporting that the mapping solution will be in-place for the next major version of the mobile operating system, combining technologies gathered with the acquisition of Placebase, C3 Technologies and Poly9. The star of the show is said to be the 3D mode with graphics nabbed from C3. All Things D has "independently confirmed" the forthcoming app reinvention, with sources adding, (hopefully a bit hyperbolically) that it will "blow your head off." According to rumors, we'll be finding out a lot more come WWDC next month. Update: To add more fuel to this rumor, a TechCrunch source notes that the iOS 6's "Sundance" codename is aptly named after a resort, just as previous versions have. Hit up the more coverage link below for further insight.
