People pining for a Google Maps app on their Apple devices will get one eventually, but likely not for another couple months or so.
Google is developing a maps application for iPhone and iPad
that it is seeking to finish by the end of the year, according to
people involved with the effort who declined to be named because of the
nature of their work. There has been widespread speculation about
whether and when Google would release a maps application for Apple
devices since Apple released a new version of its iOS operating system
with an Apple-made maps service.
One reason that it will take
Google some time to build the iPhone app: it expected the app with
Google’s maps to remain on the iPhone for some time, based on the
contract between the two companies, and was caught off guard when Apple
decided to build a new application to replace the old one.
Apple’s service has been widely ridiculed
for inaccuracies in addresses, mislabeled landmarks and other mistakes.
It has been compared unfavorably to Google Maps, which previously
supplied mapping services to iOS users through an app Apple bundled with
the devices. Apple has said its new service will improve over time.
Publicly,
Google has been cagey about whether it will provide Google Maps for iOS
devices as an app, beyond saying that it wants to provide its maps to
users on any device they use. On Tuesday in Tokyo, Eric Schmidt, the
executive chairman of Google, said the company had made no move to submit a Google Maps app for the iPhone.
But
Google does intend to build a Google Maps app for iOS, according to
people who have been involved in an effort to create the app. There
are several complicating factors to Google’s development of the app.
Google’s contract with Apple to keep the maps app on the iPhone had more
time remaining, and Google did not know that Apple had changed its mind
until Apple said publicly in June that it would replace the app with
its new maps app, according to two people briefed on the decision.
Google is now navigating business relationships with Apple that grow
more tricky by the day.
Another complication, according to a
person with knowledge of Google Maps: Google would likely prefer to
release a maps app that includes 3-D imagery so it is comparable to
Apple’s. But Google has 3-D images in Google Earth, which is a separate
app with a separate code base from Google Maps, so it would take some
time to combine the two.