14 DAY TRIAL // Google has not submitted a new Maps application to Apple, but that doesn’t mean they’re not working on one. Word on the web is that the search giant is hard at work on this app, with plans to roll it out by year’s end.
The NY Times has some inside information regarding the development of this new Maps application, citing people involved with the effort as saying that “Google is developing a maps application for iPhone and iPad that it is seeking to finish by the end of the year.”
This tidbit arrives high on the heels of Eric Schmidt’s comments on Tuesday in Tokyo when the executive chairman of Google said the company had not sent Apple any Maps binary for review.
The media interpreted the statement in the usual manner – Google is not making a new iOS Maps app.
But the media should have added “yet” to that headline, as “Google does intend to build a Google Maps app for iOS,” people who have been involved with the project told the Bits blog.
The reason why Google is not able to rush out a port just yet is mainly the fact that the company still had one year left of its contract with Apple to support Maps in iOS.
Google reportedly didn’t expect to have the rug swooped from under its feet when Apple revealed that iOS 6 would arrive with its own Maps application and, adding insult to injury, no YouTube support.
But just like it did with YouTube – which is now available in standalone form as an App Store download for all iDevices – Google wants to roll out a comprehensive Maps app to show Apple how it’s done.
Apple, for its part, has promised to improve its fledging Maps service over time. Steve Wozniak, one of the company’s co-founders, said in a press conference that he believed the iOS Maps fiasco was overblown.