Apple's maps app 'sent Google scrambling,' report claims
Google was not expecting Apple to produce its own version of a maps application so quickly, a new report claims.
For those hoping Google had a version of its maps application on standby in the event that Apple's own maps app shipped, a new report suggests otherwise.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, The Verge says Google was caught flat-footed by the news that Apple would be rolling out its own mapping software, in part because there was still more than a year of mapping service as part of the agreement between the two companies.
As a result, the report claims, Google has been "scrambling" to finish a replacement Google Maps application but the app is "several months" out.
The report sharply counters claims that Google already submitted a finished version of its own, standalone maps application for iOS and was waiting on approval from Apple. It also matches up with a report from The Guardian last night saying that a replacement app from Google was still very much a work in progress.
CNET has reached out to Google for more information and will update this post when we know more. So far the company has not said much of anything about its plans to bring its software back to iOS, short of some comments made earlier today by Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, saying Apple should have kept using Google's technology instead of switching to its own.
Apple debuted its own maps technology at its annual developers conference in June, and shipped it to users as part of iOS 6 last week. While the on-stage demos were quite impressive, many users have found the newer version of the software, which uses various Apple and third-party mapping data, to be underwhelming or inaccurate when compared with Google's offering. Apple, meanwhile,has said its data will improve with time and more real-world use.
