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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Tech News > Report: Apple Maps usage down to four percent

Report: Apple Maps usage down to four percent
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Sep 29, 2012, 10:12 AM
 
Utilization of Apple's iOS 6 Maps app appears to have plummeted in the days since its release. According to one study from data management company Snappli, only four percent of users running iOS 6 are still using Apple Maps, a dramatic drop from just a week ago, when the app debuted. Snappli's figures also show that Apple Maps usage is far below the levels the company saw when Google's Maps app was the standard on iOS.

Snappli helps users stay within their limits by compressing data and video. To derive its maps figures, the company looked at data usage among its 5,000 users in the days since iOS 6 was released. The company found that 64 percent of its users in the US and UK had migrated to iOS 6. Prior to the release of iOS 6 25 percent of Snappli users were viewing Google Maps at least once a day. Shortly after the release of iOS 6, 35 percent of Snappli users on that operating system were using Apple Maps. Now, though, that figure has dropped to four percent. The degree to which one can extrapolate Snappli's figures to the wider iOS 6 user base is uncertain. The app serves a particular subset of users, and those users may well be particularly disinclined to use iOS 6 Maps. The study does, though, add a numerical element to the ongoing fiasco surrounding the iPhone maker's decision to switch away from Google's maps in favor of its own solution.
     
blahblahbber
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Sep 29, 2012, 10:53 AM
 
Guess Google punished crApple... I like it.
     
besson3c
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Sep 29, 2012, 11:05 AM
 
It sucks that these sort of partnerships often don't work well, it amounts for a lot of wheel reinvention and competing standards.
     
blahblahbber
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Sep 29, 2012, 11:10 AM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
It sucks that these sort of partnerships often don't work well, it amounts for a lot of wheel reinvention and competing standards.
Prevents monopolies too... makes it even better.
     
sixmemos
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Sep 29, 2012, 11:18 AM
 
This might be an interesting counter-interpretation of the same data.

It explains that the 4% figure represents the # of people who are DOWNLOADING DATA from Apple Maps on day 5 after iOS6 was released, and that this may be very different from the # of people who are spending time USING Apple Maps. Since one of the huge advantages of Apple Maps is that it is much more efficient with representing and caching data, such that a one-time download of data the first time you use it may cover your needs for quite a while until you move to a different area. Where by different area, we're talking practically a different country (see below). In contrast, every time you open Google Maps in iOS5, it has to reload data.

The key difference is that Google Maps on iOS 5, because it uses raster graphics, needs repeated downloads. You'll see this if you load a page on maps.google.com in iOS 5, then turn the phone to Airplane mode - so the Wi-Fi and data connections are off - and then try to scroll off the page. You'll hit a blank spot because there isn't any data.

By contrast, the vector graphics used in Apple Maps don't require extra downloads. You can confirm this by loading a page (choose your own location, for simplicity), and then turning the data connections off. Now try scrolling across the page: it will load. You'll be able to see detail in your surrounding area. You'll be able to zoom in and out. If you're in a car or train, you should find that you can track your travel - even plan your route, to some extent - with zero extra data. The whole of the UK is encapsulated in less than 200MB, according to data from CoPilot.

That was certainly my experience earlier this week in Korea, where on a visit to Samsung I had an iPhone running iOS 6 which had no data contract. One evening I looked at the overview of North and South Korea (it turns out Apple's Maps offer more detail than Google does for North Korea; the latter's is just a white blank). The next day, with zero data coverage, we were taken on a coach trip to a Samsung production facility.

The phone tracked our entire journey, with street-level data including the names of shops, all the way. And all the way back. And then, later, out to the airport. All that, without getting a single extra drop of data.

So while there's absolutely no reason to doubt that Snappli is correct in what it shows about the amount of data being downloaded by iOS 6 users, it might be worth pondering whether that's actually representative of time spent on maps. That's likely to stay much the same.

     
besson3c
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Sep 29, 2012, 11:28 AM
 
Originally Posted by blahblahbber View Post

Prevents monopolies too... makes it even better.
If you feel this way it seems odd that you would be rooting for Apple to fail given that Google is the much bigger player in the map arena. Then again, I've yet to make sense of what you are trying to express here on MacNN.

It's also not this simple. Google Maps includes an open API. As Spheric Harlot pointed out, there are some license restrictions for turn-by-turn app usage, but by creating an open API that others can use freely, while Google will hold the balance of power as far as owning and controlling this data, this also allows competition in others creating their own competing front ends. This is much different than a completely closed system like Apple's.

I can't help thinking that sooner or later Apple is going to want to learn how to best open up their web services like Google has done so they can be in regular dialog with third party developers. They have invited end-users to report problems with the maps, but they are going to have to weed out all of the vague, incorrect, and incomprehensible reports from the good ones. Plus, by inviting no third party developer usage they'll always force others to compete with them, which will produce mixed results.

I think Apple has not opened up their web services in the past perhaps because they haven't figured out how to make consistently good with the open source community, but maybe it's time they really focused on this. We'd be able to do all sorts of cool things with an open iCloud, an open maps service, and open access to the iTunes store. By open I don't necessarily mean anything more than simply read-only access, if Apple wanted to they could start with cookie-cutter style plugins, but this seems like one time when their walled garden approach will not serve them well.
     
Mr. Strat
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Sep 29, 2012, 11:28 AM
 
OK - usage is down. So what?
     
ctt61
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Sep 29, 2012, 05:51 PM
 
love the maps and turn by turn instructions
slight different to use
     
wrenchy
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Sep 29, 2012, 06:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by sixmemos View Post
The key difference is that Google Maps on iOS 5, because it uses raster graphics, needs repeated downloads.
Google has been using vector graphics since Google Maps 5.0 for Android, almost two years ago. Nice try.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ps-50-for.html
     
sixmemos
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Sep 29, 2012, 07:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by wrenchy View Post

Originally Posted by sixmemos View Post
The key difference is that Google Maps on iOS 5, because it uses raster graphics, needs repeated downloads.
Google has been using raster graphics since Google Maps 5.0 for Android, almost two years ago. Nice try.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ps-50-for.html
I'm sorry that reading comprehension is so difficult. Read my post again (hint: focus on the sentence that you quoted). I was referring to the Google Maps implementation IN iOS 5, not for Android. Try again.

p.s. I know, I know, you're all excited, you came for the Android vs. iOS show. Save it for someplace else (yawn). I'm referring to how many people are using Apple's new Maps app.
     
wrenchy
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Sep 29, 2012, 07:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by sixmemos View Post
I was referring to the Google Maps implementation IN iOS 5, not for Android.
Vector will come eventually, if Google ever decides to release a native iOS app for Maps. But really, why should they??
It's a good thing Google leads the way for mobile mapping technology. Apple will be playing catch-up for many many years to come.
     
besson3c
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Sep 29, 2012, 09:12 PM
 
Originally Posted by wrenchy View Post

Vector will come eventually, if Google ever decides to release a native iOS app for Maps. But really, why should they??
It's a good thing Google leads the way for mobile mapping technology. Apple will be playing catch-up for many many years to come.
Why is it a "good thing"? Why does this have to be some sort of emotional and ideological thing? You're right about Google, but it's neither a good nor bad thing, it's just a thing.
     
sixmemos
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Sep 29, 2012, 09:43 PM
 
Originally Posted by wrenchy View Post
Vector will come eventually, if Google ever decides to release a native iOS app for Maps. But really, why should they??
The sentiment expressed in the latter part of your post is exactly why Apple needed to cut the cord with Google Maps.

Under the existing agreement with Apple, Google had the best of both worlds: 1. They harvested usage data from Apple iPhone mobile users for five years, allowing them to greatly improve their maps, and 2. They were able to dictate what features Apple could access, and by withholding key features (like turn-by-turn navigation), they gained leverage for their own mobile OS

The longer Apple waited, the more leverage they gave to Google. By making a break now, they suffer some short-term pain but have the chance to gain in the long term.
     
ctt61
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Sep 30, 2012, 04:14 AM
 
If you hate apple so much, why are you hang around apple relate sites
you have nothing else to do with your life.
     
cgc
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Sep 30, 2012, 04:40 AM
 
Originally Posted by wrenchy View Post
Google has been using vector graphics since Google Maps 5.0 for Android, almost two years ago. Nice try.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ps-50-for.html
Funny how the webpage linked, which is a Google blog, doesn't show correctly in Google's own Chrome browser.
     
mojkarma
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Sep 30, 2012, 07:47 AM
 
Originally Posted by ctt61 View Post
If you hate apple so much, why are you hang around apple relate sites
you have nothing else to do with your life.
Excuse me, do we really need those stupid "if you hate apple, why are you lurking here, bla, bla" posts?
For christ sake, there are adults here who know that loving products from a company doesn't mean that everything they make is the best thing since sliced bread.
     
SierraDragon
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Sep 30, 2012, 08:57 AM
 
Personally (as an actual user, as opposed to the trolls who do not even use iOS but seem to feel the need to make fully ignorant comments) I have been using iOS6 maps on a 4s since iOS6 came out and I love it. And knowing how the process works I know it will just get better. Cool.

The fandrois trolls have no clue how badly Google intentionally messed up Google Maps for iOS. Text hard to read and obscured by street lines, no turn-by-turn, etc. Apple's iOS6 maps rock in comparison. I am more than willing to deal with version 1.0 issues as they come up.

In my constant usage around the SF Bay area the Apple Maps anomalies when they (rarely) do occur have been obvious enough to be comical rather than problematic. OTOH when the Google iOS5 Maps anomalies (rarely) did occur, they usually were problematic.

The trolls and media clickbaiters of course seek out the comical anomalies in iOS6 maps so they can say "AhHa!" Ergo lots of wag verbiage and lots of clicks, but for actual users iOS6 Apple's maps version is already an improvement over the crummy version of Google Maps that Google intentionally limits Apple users to.

And of course even the fandroids should recognize that new competition in the map space that Google monopolizes is good for everyone.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Sep 30, 2012, 12:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by wrenchy View Post
Originally Posted by sixmemos View Post
The key difference is that Google Maps on iOS 5, because it uses raster graphics, needs repeated downloads.
Google has been using vector graphics since Google Maps 5.0 for Android, almost two years ago. Nice try.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/...ps-50-for.html
Aren't we talking about iOS?

That's a feature Google makes available on Android but withholds from iOS.
     
pairof9s
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Oct 1, 2012, 11:07 AM
 
Originally Posted by mojkarma View Post
Excuse me, do we really need those stupid "if you hate apple, why are you lurking here, bla, bla" posts?
For christ sake, there are adults here who know that loving products from a company doesn't mean that everything they make is the best thing since sliced bread.
There's irony for you!
     
   
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