Apple Adds Maps Section to App Store

If your maps experience in iOS 6 hasn’t been on a par with your expectations — Apple admitted it hasn’t met the company’s stringent standards — there’s an entire new section in the App Store teeming with alternatives. Bing is there, and so is the long-forgotten MapQuest, among other popular navigation apps.

Many folks are perfectly ok with the experience Apple Maps provides, but if you’ve been left wanting more, it looks as though there are enough choices to meet your traveling needs. It’s a small and self-effacing move that shows Apple clearly realizes there’s much work to be done.

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Google Maps for iOS 6 set to be released by the end of 2012?

Google was blissfully unaware that its maps would be ditched in favour of Apple’s own offerings until the firm announced the news about iOS 6 Maps to the world. That’s according to the New York Times anyway.

But far from deterring Google, the search engine giant has remained confident in its maps prowess in the face of the Apple Maps app’s spectacular flop and is said to be readying an iOS 6 version of Google Maps, which could be released by the end of 2012.

Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has said that Apple’s decision to dispense with Google Maps was far from a shrewd one.

“In my opinion it would have been better to retain our maps,”


Google Maps for iOS 6: Is it a done deal?

When questioned about a potential iOS 6 version of Google Maps, Schmidt said the company had not taken any action to bring Google Maps back to iOS 6.

Schmidt also put a question mark over whether Google would remain Apple’s search partner on the iPhone. He said:  “I’m not doing any predictions. We want them to be our partner. We welcome that. I’m not going to speculate at all what they’re going to do. They can answer that question as they see fit.”

With so much potential change afoot, the only thing that remains clear is that many disgruntled iOS 6 Maps users will welcome Google Maps back with open arms.