Apple to Take iPhone's Maps App to 'the Next Level'
We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We've only just started.
The specificity of the job description is somewhat unusual for Apple, and particularly interesting given recent events.Apple and Google have increasingly become competitors in the mobile space while Google's mapping data remains an integral part of the iPhone's Maps application. Google has recently stepped up even further with the introduction of many new features for their Android mapping application. This included advanced features such as plain english search, voice search and more. Although Apple and Google are said to be working on bringing the same technology to the iPhone, there's been evidence that Apple is working on their own mapping technology.
Apple recently acquired a mapping company called Placebase which had been known for differentiating itself from Google's offerings. The former CEO of Placebase is now part of the "Geo Team" at Apple, which has led to speculation that Apple is looking to separate itself from their dependence on Google maps.
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Very cool. They'll have to do a lot to make me give up my TomTom app.
I just picked up Tom Tom because of the discount. Oh well...sounds like this a year off anyway.
No one has thought of this before, and no one but Apple can bring it out to you in such a way, and even better they can then eliminate other 3rd party apps that replicate this form of technology out of the App Store because it reproduces something the base software already provides.
Perfect!
/sarcasm
...if it weren't for the fact that Apple all but abandoned in house iPhone software development the day they introduced the SDK. No reason to develop when you make money off of other's work.
(honestly, does anyone ever believe these stories the way the author seems to? It's much more likely that Apple makes fancy moves such as putting out snarky job ads to buzz the community)
I wonder how the original developer of the Maps app feels about this job listing? Is he not capable of copying off all the great Location-based app ideas and rolling them into one App? Surely he can.
I wonder how the original developer of the Maps app feels about this job listing? Is he not capable of copying off all the great Location-based app ideas and rolling them into one App? Surely he can.
you mean Google!?
I'm sure they'll live. ;)
Imagine this! It's a regular "map" where when you switch to street view and by using the iPhones built in compass and GPS will enable you to see both businesses and friends around you in 'real-time' depending on where you look and it's all thanks to the integration of a location-based social network and directory system. They can even coin the phrase 'augmented reality'.
No one has thought of this before, and no one but Apple can bring it out to you in such a way, and even better they can then eliminate other 3rd party apps that replicate this form of technology out of the App Store because it reproduces something the base software already provides.
Perfect!
/sarcasm
I hear you. When they introduced the App store, I laughed heartily, and when I saw the icon, my jaw simply dropped. It's hard to say it was copied directly from Installer.app, but its even harder to say that it wasn't.
But this is what Apple does. Success in the consumer world is two fold: you need a solid idea, and you need to get it into people's lives. Many companies and proprietors succeed at the first task, but fail utterly at the latter.
Look at 3G data. The iPhone was a year late with 3G connectivity compared to most smartphones, but yet its release was many people's first 3G experience, and it now accounts for 50% of the cellular data usage in the world.
Good idea, medicore idea, stolen idea... makes no difference. Make people want it, and you WIN.
Good idea, medicore idea, stolen idea... makes no difference. Make people want it, and you WIN.
what Apple is best at!
(making us wAnt it, not stealing ideas)
good-bye google maps. hello new and improved MKMapKit framework.
Wrong. Read the article again, carefully.
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