Major Backlash Looms For Apple's New Maps App 466
Hugh Pickens writes "Michael DeGusta writes that Apple's new Maps app is the very first item on their list of major new features in iOS 6, but for many iPhone and iPad users around the world Apple's new maps are going to be a major disappointment as the Transit function will be lost in 51 countries, the Traffic function will be lost in 24 countries, and the Street View function will be lost in 41 countries. 'In total, 63 countries with a combined population of 4.5 billion people will be without one or more of these features they previously had in iOS,' writes DeGusta. 'Apple is risking upsetting 65% of the world's population, seemingly without much greater purpose than speeding the removal of their rival Google from iOS. Few consumers care about such battles though, nor should they have to.' The biggest losers will be Brazil, India, Taiwan, and Thailand (population: 1.5 billion) which overnight will go from being countries with every maps feature (transit, traffic, and street view) to countries with none of those features, nor any of the new features, flyover and turn-by-turn directions. Apple's maps are clearly behind in some key areas, but they will presumably continue to improve over time. Google has committed to making their maps available everywhere, so it seems likely Google will release their own iOS maps app soon, as they did with YouTube, which has similarly been removed from iOS 6."
But what percentage of people who actually buy iPhones lost these features?
And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
Most of their customers will grumble about it, and guess what? They'll still buy the next iPhone. Apple's marketing really helps them here.
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
OTOH, Google Maps on the Blackberry was the one killer app that made me go Android as opposed to, say, a Nokia N800. It's probably the one thing that has had the most profound impact on my life and travels... now I rarely / barely plan anymore... I just pop out the map and let it tell me where to go to explore.
Though I'm a bit pissed that Google replaced Yelp ratings with Zagat. Zagat puts way too much emphasis on decor over food quality. Maybe they're a bit more consistent, but I was more interested in what the locals thought. If a small town on the outskirts of a national forest I was exploring on the backroads really thought their Burger King was the best place to eat, then I'd know to push on.
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
Except the new Zagat rating's aren't just the official Zagat ratings, they're a weighted blend of Zagat, Google Local, and web ratings including Yelp and Urban Spoon. From what I've seen in my local market they tend to be quite accurate.
And Apple gains a point back... (Score:4, Funny)
Though I'm a bit pissed that Google replaced Yelp ratings with Zagat.
Well then you might want to consider getting an iOS6 device, which uses Yelp for ratings... :-)
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Apple's marketing really helps them here.
That must be it, because their actual hardware and software are garish, steaming piles compared to the competition.
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Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, right. Because I have so many lag issues on my iPhone 4 I must need a faster processor. Right right right.
A better processor only matters when you have problems with the existing one. I've never heard anyone complain about this. It amazes me that Slashdotters still don't understand the concept of Good Enough engineering. But keep draining your big batteries on processors that are over powered for what you do with them. A great feature, to be sure.
Did you hear me? 18% thinner. EIGHTEEN. PERCENT. THINNER. That's like, take your old phone, and slice it so that you only kept 82% of it, and bam there is your new phone! Do you have any idea how hard we had to work to make that possible? Like its some sort of crash diet, poof you lose 27 pounds, and you are now 18% thinner? No! It was hard! We had to make new little metal ringy things, and we had to come up with thinner glass, and we had to smash the battery until it was more like a liItOhNum battery. And you are ungrateful! You are probably not one of our customers anyway.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Ives
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Funny)
Do you have any idea how hard we had to work to make that possible?
About two seconds in an industrial press?
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they will be able to still get google maps on the iphone as well...?
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Informative)
they will be able to still get google maps on the iphone as well...?
Want to use Google Maps on iOS 6? Here's how hard it is:
1. Launch Safari (or the iOS browser of your choice)
2. In the Address Bar, type maps.google.com
3. There is no Step 3.
BTW, what launches is actually more useful than the Google Maps "App", IMHO. Oh, and speaking of which, their "App" is also available.
So, in the long run, nothing is changing, and, if anything, iOS customers will have more choices, not less.
There is a step three... (Score:3)
Save web page as link on the home screen so going forward there is only step one, launch google maps.
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So how does the GPS navigation work with using maps in safari?
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:4, Informative)
There has been a geolocation API in Safari since iOS 3, so if Google is using it, I'd expect it to work just fine....
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:4, Insightful)
It's strange that after a decade, if the only thing that Apple had going for it was marketing, that no one else has figured out how to market a product......
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
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They don't just have marketing. They also have products that suck marginally less than their competitors.
Actually, no. That's the beauty of marketing. You can have products that suck MORE, and not just marginally, than your competitors, and still turn a profit. With good marketing, a customer will BELIEVE they have $The_Best$, even though objectively it ain't so.
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
What I find incredible is the arrogance of commenters like this who think they're the only ones immune and who have seen the light.
I don't give a shit about marketing. I trust marketing people as much as the next liar. I went around, tried devices, and bought an iPhone because I liked what it did. Just that. I recently bought a Google Galaxy Nexus as a new phone. Its was a waste of money. Not because its bad. Just because I don't get on with it and prefer my iPhone. BTW I bought both of them out of contract and they cost the same.
I'm not buying an iPhone 5 because the 4 does everything I need it to do. I wont be buying another Android phone because they don't work how I like and the 4 does everything I need it to use.
One day the hardware will fail and I'll have to make a decision. When that day comes I'll go and assessed the hardware again. There are people who will buy stuff just because its Apple just as there are people who wont buy stuff just because its Apple. But there are also a lot of intelligent individuals who have compared, contrasted and bought Apple because the like them. Oh and different people have different priorities and they may not be the same as yours so don't judge them based on your requirements.
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
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Also odd that people would repeatedly buy products for a decade that lack what they want, and that is all accomplished through the magic of marketing.
Don't be silly. Of course it's all due to marketing!
See, the general consensus is that the iPhone is "the best one" and if their phone can't do x, y, or z, they automatically assume that no competing offering can do x, y and z.
Consumers as a whole are stupid, stupid, sheep.
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It's strange that after a decade, if the only thing that Apple had going for it was cult behavior, that no one else has figured out how to create their own cult......
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Most of their customers will grumble about it, and guess what? They'll still buy the next iPhone. Apple's marketing really helps them here.
And unlike most Android phones even as old as three year old iPhones get the update.
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This is li
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How many AirPlay-compatible TVs are there?
Anything with HDMI.
My android devices can stream to my TV. Using wifi.
So you ask how many TV's I can stream to, but then bring up a small subset of TV's that support your WiFi streaming. How is that any different really? I'll bet you paid more for your TV than I did for mine, and with the extra money saved you can buy an AppleTV to work with whatever modern TV you have. Why would you prefer a system which limits the TV's you can buy?
Oh, and that cable will work
Re:And they'll still buy the next iPhone (Score:5, Insightful)
As an iOS user, I'm actually happy with the iOS 6 situation. The Google maps on iOS lags behind the version in Android because it's part of the core OS and only gets updated during OS upgrades. As a third-party app, Google will be free to update Maps more often.
The only way that the new development becomes a negative is if either Apple pulls App Store shenanigans with Google's Maps app or if Google doesn't put in the effort to keep the app current. Otherwise, this is a huge win for iOS users...we get an app that sits idle most of the time but has the cool flyover feature and we get a more current version of Google Maps.
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I used iOS transit directions often... (Score:3)
I didn't use them where I live, but I did use them in cities I travelled to.
It's a loss but I think in the end having third party apps handle this will result in a better experience. Perhaps not for the first few months, but you'll get more apps that are built to provide more accurate data - and it gives transit providers a reason to create transit applications because they are found in the maps app itself.
Isolation and greed (Score:3, Insightful)
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Now that the LHC has located the Higgs boson, which gives particles their mass, scientists have moved on to looking for the field that gives entities karma. The search is made more difficult by the fact that karma can only be observed in the hindsight of idealists, in the absence of a strong regulation force. In an effort to reduce the regulation force's effects on the experiment, the scientists have asked all bureaucrats to vacate the laboratory premises. Unfortunately, funding for the project ran out shor
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On the score of "hubris," to be fair we don't know exactly why Google Maps isn't preloaded on iOS 6. Apple's license to include Google Maps expires this year, and maybe Google wanted gobs more money, or they wanted user information, or if Google just decided to not renew it, full stop. As the Alibaba/Aliyun saga attests, Google's happy to shut down competing products that rely on their infrastructure if they aren't strategic, or as Google puts it, "compatible."
The Google Maps API ain't free, as in beer or
Re:Isolation and greed (Score:4, Informative)
Google didn't write the maps app that is on iOS5 or earlier, Apple did.
Re:Isolation and greed (Score:5, Funny)
Voluntary upsetment (Score:5, Insightful)
Umm, doesn't this only affect those who voluntarily upgrade to iOS6 or the iPhone5? It surely is annoying, but at least they're not pulling a sony (e.g. upgrade-to-iOS6-or-you-can't-use-apps kind of update).
Re:Voluntary upsetment (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, the upgrade isn't mandatory. Also, the Google Maps website seems to work fine on iOS 6, so you're not really losing it. However, the website will never perform as well as a native app so hopefully Google will have one for us soon.
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Indeed. I won't be upgrading my iPhone 4 until I'm sure that Google has an app in place. I do not feel that I should be caught in Apple's shifting allegiances.
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For those who know ... (Score:2)
I highly doubt that Apple's going to give people lots of warning about why you might *not* want to upgrade.
And they still can't make it as obnoxious as what HP did when they pulled Google Maps in WebOS (which was one of the big selling features of the original Palm Pre) -- it tells you that Google Maps is off, and you have to download the new Maps program. Luckily, it has over the air updates ... so you press a few buttons wait 5-10 minutes, then go and use the inferior product. (no, when I search for 'ga
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Too early for these features. (Score:5, Funny)
I applaud Apple for once again holding the line on features that are simply not ready for prime time. Better to have nothing at all than something that is not invented by Apple.
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Thailand? (Score:2)
When did Thailand become the world's largest country by population?
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Great news for Nokia (Score:2)
With their great maps, up-and-coming location services as well as their brand presence in those aforementioned emerging markets.
What is the big problem? (Score:4, Funny)
Just download and add Google Maps back. Surely people (even Apple users) can figure out how to do that.
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Re:So much for "It Just Works" (Score:5, Informative)
Unless you, you know, hit settings, then tick the 'allow apps from unknown sources' option.
Or install things from amazons store.
Or the 3 dozen other app stores that you can run on android.
But aside from that, yeah. Walled garden. Totally the same.
Dammit, Apple (Score:5, Funny)
This time you'd better live down to the expectations of technology pundits.
They're getting really tired of you succeeding despite their most dire prognostications.
Sincerely,
An obviously brainwashed Apple zealot
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Obvious troll is obvious (Score:3, Insightful)
What kind of tech journalism has emerged lately? It seems like every other story on Slashdot I'm yelling at the journalism and I'm not even a journalist.
a) iPhone's never had turn-by-turn direction built-in, this is a new feature which the Google Maps app never had.
b) iPhone's used to have Google Maps app built-in, this will simply be released by Google for free. A 1 minute workaround which most if not all iPhone users are already familiar with. Apple used to have a contract to build-in Google apps, they don't anymore for whatever reason so they rolled a better solution themselves.
c) Apple is not preventing Google or anyone else to continue using the Google Maps features. It still works in the Safari browser including current location through HTML5.
This is yet another guy trolling for page views about things that everyone already knew months ago and nobody complained because it's not a big deal. I don't know why /. is enabling such people.
Re:Obvious troll is obvious (Score:5, Informative)
The article also acts as though every single iOS user took advantage of those features. For myself, I didn't even know that street view was on the thing until I heard some people complaining about its removal. Why? Because it was a feature I never found myself needing, and thus never checked to see if it had. Same with transit and bike routes. For me, iOS6 maps is a straight upgrade, because we *finally* get turn-by-turn navigation, and it works really well (running the GM).
Even if they were features you used, maps.google.com has you covered. It looks like it has all the features mentioned in the article. And I do not doubt Google will release a maps app, just like they released a Youtube app.
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Remember when Google first put their turn-by-turn on Android 3 years ago, and said they'd be bringing it to iOS too at an unspecified future time?
Isn't it funny that no one holds Google to that kind of thing, but wants to beat the crap out of Apple when they try to compete rather than eat a competitor's shit?
Re:Obvious troll is obvious (Score:5, Informative)
Apple used to have a contract to build-in Google apps, they don't anymore for whatever reason so they rolled a better solution themselves.
If by "better" you mean "worse"... Here's some screenshots someone did comparing the Apple map with the Google map for his neighbourhood in London [imgur.com].
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Providing supporting links in an Apple related story is considered flamebait.
Worse... (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, Apple omitting a London Tube station from a map of London is kind of a killer fail. The images show the user about 100m from a Central Line tube station, but Apple is going to make him walk about a mile to another station.
Is turn-by-turn navigation that important in a handheld device? That's more of a feature for a car-mounted device. You shouldn't be looking at a smartphone while driving, anyway.
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WTF? The iPhone was missing a major feature which Android has had for over two years, and which my regular phone has had since 2004? Navigation was one of my reasons for upgrading to a smartphone - so I wouldn't have to pay for a dedicated in-car GPS and map updates, and I was tired of squinting at a map on a 1.5" screen.
Wait a sec. Double-WTF? You mean all those in-car stands and dash mo
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From the GP post you quoted:
iPhone's never had turn-by-turn direction built-in
(emphasis added)
And the reason for this was licensing terms with Google which stipulated Apple could not include turn-by-turn using Google's map service [businessinsider.com]:
Google couldn't include turn-by-turn directions on Android phones until it had control of its own mapping database. The companies that provide databases wouldn't let Google do it, because it was a threat to their business.
Likewise, when Apple wanted to get access to the data to do its own thing with maps, Google was equally difficult.
3rd party GPS and turn-by-turn on iOS has been available for years, even before the iPhone gained built-in GPS capabilities (an external GPS antenna was supplied by the bigger GPS app providers).
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That's an old, old policy. Now there are many alternative browsers, mail clients, calendars, etc.
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Long term? Short-term backlash better for Apple... (Score:5, Interesting)
If they had waited until they had *all* the features in *all* countries to roll it out it could mean several more years of Google Maps, which had a severely limited API on the iPhone. The new maps app may be limited, but it's also far more extensible. IIRC they added the ability for an app to register as a data-source for transit or bike paths or walking directions. That's something you couldn't do with the old API. This allows cities and/or transit companies to make their own apps that can account for train/bus schedule a lot more reliably. Maps have turned out to be a critical feature of Mobile OS's. Why wouldn't Apple want to have more direct control over what the Maps in their OS can and can't do?
Maps app? (Score:5, Funny)
Only a sap would grapple with apple's map app. It's a trap.
Re:Maps app? (Score:4, Funny)
What is the big deal here? (Score:3)
The best thing about the article (Score:2)
The best thing about TFA is that someone actually took the time to sit down and calculate all of that, purely for the sake of hyperbole.
Epic.
turn-by-turn (Score:3, Insightful)
Why is Apple always the villain around here? Remember that one time when Google implemented turn-by-turn directions for iOS maps app? Yeah, me neither. Besides, I trust Apple more. With them, I'm the customer. With Goolge I'm the product...with my personal information being sold to advertisers. Google already reads my email, knows my web searches, sees my RSS feeds and more. I want them also knowing where I go?
Re:turn-by-turn (Score:4, Interesting)
But back to the main point, when did I become the product just because a service is provided to me free of charge via an advertising model? Does this mean that I'm also a Slashdot product? Am I also a Wolfram Alpha product? Am I a product of the landowner who puts up a billboard next to the freeway I drive down?
Jeez louise, get a grip man. You already sold your soul to Google... does it really matter if they know where you go? They'll probably do something really evil, like put up an ad for a BBQ place that you didn't know was there, but that you'd really like to check out.
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"when did I become the product just because a service is provided to me free of charge via an advertising model"
Follow the money. "Products" are things that are sold, "customers" are the people/entities that buy them. So for instance...
You buy an iPhone by giving money to Apple. That means you are the customer and the iPhone is the product.
You use Google, who sells your information to 3rd parties. That means the ad companies are the customers and you are the product.
Got it?
"Does this mean that I'm also a Sl
sensationalism (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you fucking kidding me?
Occupy Apple (Score:3)
Thank Dog! (Score:4, Funny)
I am taking Friday off and plan to disconnect myself from the world for the weekend. Maybe this whole iPhone silliness will have blown over by Monday.
Was Google banned from Appstore? (Score:5, Insightful)
Was Google banned from Appstore? If not, their mapping app will be (if not already) available as a free download for all.
Google stands to lose more in the long run than Apple from this. While I appreciated being able to use public transportation schedules in Bangkok and Hong Kong on my iPhone, that's a small convenience. At the same time having my location, movements and destinations sent to Google in exchange for this convenience is not particularly desirable. I went along with this for the lack of reasonable choice.
Now that a different mapping solution is available, my location will "only" be sent to Apple and their partners. As long as they don't sell this information to Google (that's what competition is good for) this is one less element of comprehensive profile on me that Google can build.
As far as features go, I am sure in time Apple's own maps will get public transportation info for other countries.
BTW, Google public transportation info was off quite a bit (both in US and elsewhere) making it sometimes less than useful. Hope Apple does better. As far as traffic goes, in my experience Google is wrong more often than not (other than generally painting everything yellow-red during rush hour, which is self-evident). They apparently use returned data from mapping apps on mobile devices to gauge traffic conditions (here, another reason they need app on iPhone) I stopped using their traffic information a while ago.
Disclaimer: I don't *like* any large enterprise or product. I use iPhone because it best fits my requirements for mobile device. I am also a Windows and Mac user, and develop software for Windows, Mac, Linux, FreeBSD and a few other platforms. :) In case any of the "anti apple" crowd pull out their usual fanboy slogans.
iOS6 maps has fantastic feature - third party (Score:5, Informative)
One thing overlooked in the discussion of iOS6 maps, is that they have a fantastic feature not found on other platforms - the ability to locate applications that help you find routes by region, within the map itself.
What that means is that an application devoted to helping you find your way around a specific city, can register a geofence around that city that applies to that app. When the user is in that city looking up things on the map and wants to find their way to something, they can all up alternate routes and what appears is basically an app store just for that region produced by finding all the apps that have that location inside the geofence they proclaimed.
This will make it really helpful to find guides and other applications specifically tailored to a place without having to hunt across the whole apps store - and it helps the apps get discovered that might not have been otherwise.
That's fine. (Score:4, Insightful)
Keeping my fingers crossed (Score:3)
Apple sues the earth for stealing their intellectual property of inventing 'geography'.
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Apple sues the earth for stealing their intellectual property of inventing 'geography'.
That's absurd! they'd sue the earth for patent infringement - it's entirely made of rounded corners*, after all.
*Testimonies in the defense of Earth will be almost exclusively given by members of the Flat Earth Society.
65% of the world's population? (Score:3)
What? Sixty-five percent of the world's population will be upset by the map application? Does 65% of the world's population have an iOS device or rely on one?
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Shut the fuck up. Im in Mexico and I sure as hell know it will be piss poor fucked up here. Google works very, very well but it took them a year to do it right. Apple wont do it right. I just know it wont: where are their vans taking pics and surveying my city? I would know if they were doing it. They are nowhere in sight. This really fucking sucks.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Informative)
You presumably don't have to upgrade to iOS 6 immediately. Or are they removing Google apps across all versions of iOS?
If they are going to remove it altogether then do the obvious thing and either crack your iDevice, or buy an Android tablet instead of putting up with that shit.
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"It gets worse. Even in countries where turn-by-turn and/or Flyover are available, the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and the 4th generation iPod touch won’t support them. These devices are owned by tens of millions of users who may update over-the-air when prompted, only to find they’ve lost features and haven’t even gained any of the marquee Maps features in return."
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Insightful)
BULLSHIT!
There is NOTHING forcing you to upgrade to iOS6 other than getting access to the new features in iOS6.
You can still connect to iTunes, iCloud, etc.
For fuck's sake, I know we fucking hate all things Apple, but can we stop spreading bullshit?
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Upgrade == new phone? (Score:3)
Try using iOS 5 in your shiny new iPhone 5 for sale since next Friday.
What? I think I need to brush up on my Douglas Adams [wikia.com], that sentence is written in a tense I'm not familiar with.
Your comment appears to suggest that iPhone 4 users will be forced to upgrade to the iPhone 5, and that no other option exists. I know we're knee deep in fanbois [theoatmeal.com] here, but owners of previous iPhone versions have multiple options available to them:
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Insightful)
On the plus side, between the new iPhone connector and the loss of features like Google Maps, Android's just looking like a nicer alternative. :-)
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Insightful)
I am currently an iPhone user, but never bought into the whole "Apple can do no wrong" aspect of things. It was a functional device that allowed me to do what I wanted with it.
But I'm not going to buy an iPhone 5 when my upgrade comes around in November. I was honestly considering a Lumia, but not if all I'm going to be given the option of (being on Verizon) some lower end model. If they do pick up the 920, then I may seriously consider giving it a purchase.
Otherwise, I'll end up with an S3. I'm not married to any particular type of phone (had the original Moto Droid, with no real complaints) but I do tend to dislike when companies do things that just don't seem to make sense from a consumer standpoint. I am aware they don't want Google anything on their phones anymore, for obvious reasons, but I don't like anything done at the cost of experience. Being petty and spiteful really does not serve others well.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:4, Insightful)
Your argument makes no sense.
You equate "rolling your own" proprietary application with F/OSS "movement". This is incongruous..
You equate Android support with support for F/OSS. This is not necessarily the case.
The OP stated that Apple's new connector and the loss of Google's applications as a reason to consider using Android, and you made it into a nonsensicle rant against F/OSS.
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On the plus side, between the new iPhone connector and the loss of features like Google Maps, Android's just looking like a nicer alternative. :-)
Ok, so let me get this straight:
Slashdot readers, and especially the multitudinous Fandroid faction, who, by and large, value supporting a computing platform based on its "philosophy", are now going to argue that Apple sticking with an on-again, off-again "Partner/Competitor", (Google), who can take their ball and go home at any time is actually preferable to them "rolling their own" Mapping solution?
If so, the F/OSS "movement" has just jumped the shark on their entire philosophy.
1: The preferred situation is for Apple to develop their own maps/etc. program and let it live alongside Google's (and Microsoft's - Bing's maps are great, but there's no live navigation / etc.) and let the users choose.
2: The open source "movement" has nothing to do with Android. Android is no longer open source. It hasn't been since 2.2.Something. The latest version is always closed and you have to pay Google to get in on it. The older versions are released as open source (AOSP). Good luck getting
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod parent up, not down.
If I didn't know better, sometimes I'd believe that 3/4ths of slashdotters were astroturfers fighting the battles of their overlords.
Will Apple make their clientele suffer the death from a thousand cuts by cutting the quality and openness of their devices? That's for Apple to decide. Apple is by no means a democracy.
As for Google, you sacrifice most of your personal info to get the juicy maps. Is there a solution where locational privacy and great maps intersect? Not in the "free" model, but perhaps there is in the "open" model.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Informative)
http://source.android.com/ [android.com]
I'm sorry, you were saying something stupid?
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Why would you want the Honeycomb source? Newer versions have had their source code released. Is there some reason you would want the older version that wasn't as good?
Cry some more. It's funny. (Score:3)
Ah, the tolerant and completely non-homophobic Slashdot Brain Trust chimes in once again. Yeah, getting *that* enraged over another person's choice of gadget is the shining picture of mental health.
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They are doing exactly the same thing they did when Steve Jobs left the first time.
They have become scared, call minor change 'innovation' and loosing focus on the product.
I hope I ma wrong, but 5 is exactly what I said it would be, and I suspect after the 1 years anniversary of Jobs death, there will have been a noticeable lessening of momentum at Apple.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's do the math:
World Population: 7 Billion
Number of iOS Devices Sold: 400,000,000
iPhone 2G Units Sold: 6.1 Million
iPhone 3G Units Sold: 20.25 Million
iPod Touch 1st - 3rd Generations Units Sold: 32 Million
iPad 1St Generation Units Sold: 19.48 Million
Total iOS Units that will not get the "New Maps": 77.83 Million
Total Effected iOS Devices: 32,617,000
Does it suck that their offering is less mature than Google's, of course, however Google has also announced that they will be providing an updated version of their Maps app via Apple's App Store, so if you aren't happy with what the mighty Apple provides, than give it a couple weeks and let someone else fill the void.
It is just amazing to think that people really think that companies like Apple really have the power to impact the lives of 65% of the world population through changing a back-end web service on a small subset of their devices.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:4, Insightful)
"Google will have Maps as a standalone app..."
Do you have a qualified reference for this, or are you making assumptions?
And what evidence do you have that Apple will not simply reject any possible future Google Maps app on the basis that it "duplicates internal functionality"?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
63 countries with a combined population of 4.5 billion people
Yeah, I'm sure some Bolivian dirt farmer is going to miss the traffic report on his new iPad.
Apple knows damned well who their customer base is. And I bet it isn't in those 63 countries. Those are countries where people are buying $45 android tablets [venturebeat.com]. You think Apple gives a shit about spending extra to keep up with subways and traffic there? Give me a break.
Not that there is any point in feeding this troll, but sure I will bite. International markets are eating up Apple devices, to the tune of 3 out of 4 of them going overseas instead of being sold in the US (in the first quarter of 2012). Sure, the market overall is a smaller slice of each of those countries, given their relatively lower per capita income, but it is a very strong demand that has no sign of slowing down.
Re:Like any of them poor countries can afford Appl (Score:4, Insightful)
Did you even read the article?
(Of course not... this is slashdot).
Countries where the iPhone wasn't available aren't counted among the nations affected (because they aren't. It wasn't available there before, so not having it now makes no difference).
Re:The biggest losers will be Brazil, India, (Score:5, Insightful)
5% of India is still what, 50 million people? That's a fair bit of money.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You're far from the first person to not realize that the Google native iOS map app had Street View. It did... and has had it for a very long time.
To access Street View in the Google maps app, place a pin, then touch the pin. Wait a moment for the info to download, then touch the orange portrait icon on the side of the popup, which will bring up a Street View of that location.
Although I will concede the point that the
Re: (Score:3)
You realise that the page is out of date right? The entry for Google Maps says "pre-installed on iPhone" which is quite clearly no longer the case. In fact, Google Maps is not available as an app on iPhone, only as a limited web application.
And for what it's worth, Turn-by-Turn is actually explicitly forbidden by the Google Maps API Terms [google.com]. See section 10.2 paragraph C:
(c) No Navigation, Autonomous Vehicle Control, or Enterprise Applications. You must not use the Service or Content with any products, systems, or applications for or in connection with any of the following:
(i) real time navigation or route guidance, including but not limited to turn-by-turn route guidance that is synchronized to the position of a user's sensor-enabled device.