So Steve Jobs isn't around anymore, and I'm noticing that Apple still feels like they have something to prove. Two weeks ago at WWDC, they announced iOS 6, and buried in all the excitement about Passbook and turn-by-turn navigation and whatever else, there's this one thing that keeps nagging at me: Apple's ditching Google Maps. They're shipping their own map engine instead.
On paper it makes sense. Apple owns the platform, why wouldn't they want control over the core experience? Google isn't exactly a friend anymore. But this is the kind of thing that sounds good in a slide deck and then becomes incredibly messy in real life. And I can't shake the feeling that someone at Apple looked at their success with Siri and thought, "We can do this with maps too."
Here's what worries me: Google Maps is good. Genuinely good. I've used Google Maps for years. It's fast, it's accurate, the traffic information is solid because Google has data from literally every phone that uses their services. They've been perfecting this for almost a decade. Apple's starting from scratch.
The thing is, I get why they're doing it. The control freaks in Cupertino can't stand relying on someone else for something this fundamental. And Apple's never been shy about reinventing things they think they can do better. Siri was rough around the edges at launch, but they iterated. Maps is different though. Maps is infrastructure. You can't iterate your way out of bad data.
I watched the demo at WWDC. The interface looks pretty, obviously. Apple's design language is always going to win on aesthetics. All those blue highways and the little compass widget and the smooth transitions. Beautiful. But then they started talking about the features and I just kept thinking about all the cities where Google Maps already works flawlessly. What happens to someone in rural Ohio trying to find a restaurant using Apple's maps in September? Or someone in San Francisco trying to figure out which BART station is closest? Google's got that data down cold.
The thing that really gets me is that Apple's been so focused on hardware lately. The iPhone 4S has Siri, which is genuinely impressive even if it's not perfect. The iPad is still the best tablet on the market by a mile. But then they turn around and decide they're going to solve the mapping problem too? It feels greedy. It feels like they're so dominant in mobile that they've forgotten what it means to be humble about a platform you're new to.
Maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe this is a sign that Apple's finally willing to invest in things that take time to get right, instead of the usual launch-and-pray strategy. And sure, Google's not going anywhere, so iPhone users could always use the web version if they really need it. But that's not the point. The point is that Apple's deciding what we get to use by default, and they're betting that their pride is worth the risk of broken navigation. They're betting that having a smooth, native experience within iOS is worth more than having access to the best mapping data available. I honestly don't know if that bet pays off.
The funny part is that while everyone was focused on the maps announcement, Google probably had a field day. They've been pushing Android hard, and now Apple's deliberately removing one of the best reasons to actually want iOS in the first place. The Nexus 7 just came out, and Android tablets are finally getting competitive. And here's Apple, creating friction.
I'm not saying it's a disaster. I'm saying it's ambitious in a way that feels less like vision and more like ego. Which, honestly, is pretty on-brand for Apple right now. Steve used to make these kinds of calls too, but it felt different. It felt like he knew something we didn't. This feels more like Tim Cook trying to prove something.
Well, we'll see in a few months how bad it actually is. My prediction: it's not catastrophic, but it's definitely worse than Google Maps for at least the first year. And somewhere in Cupertino, someone's going to suggest they just white-label the Google solution and call it a day. That'll never happen, of course. Apple doesn't work that way.