If the stats released by Snappli are correct, only some 4 percent of iOS 6 users are still using Apple maps, the rest having switch to a different -- and better -- service such as Google maps. Why are people making such a rapid exodus from Apple Maps?
Because they are awful.
Note: If you want to put Google Maps back into iOS 6, here's how.
And when I say that Apple Maps are awful, this word doesn't begin to describe just how bad, how execrable, how utterly loathsome these maps are.
They're bad.
Here's just one example of how bad, how utterly useless, they can be. The other day I was out and about and decided to take a look at what Apple Maps overhead imagery had to offer. Now, I admit that I don't live in a big city, but at the same time I don't live in the middle of a barren desert. I knew I wasn't going to get the amazing 3D mapping experience I saw at the iPhone 5 keynote, but I expected the maps to be, well, vaguely useful.
Imagine my horror when the best 'satellite' image that Apple maps could give me was this:
Utterly useless.
After waiting to make sure that the image had fully loaded in, I squinted at it. Was it was one of those magic eye pictures? Maybe the detail would come into focus if I moved it close to my face? It didn't help. Maybe it's what the world looks like if you have compound eyes? I don't have compound eyes.
Here, just so you can compare, are photos that the Hubble Space Telescope took of the planet Pluto, the outermost planet. Bear in mind that Pluto was some 3.1 billion miles away when these images were taken.
Yes, I can use Google to find images of Pluto that are just as good as what Apple Maps can offer me of the place where I live. That's rather depressing. Great work, Apple.
Oh, and just in case you're thinking that Google can't give me better photos, here's the same spot as offered up by Google Maps:
Notice how it shows ... oh, what's that stuff ... detail. Sort of useful. Take note Tim Cook, this detail is sort of useful.
Great work Apple. Through your control-freakery you've ruined what was once a really useful iOS app. If I couldn't still use Google Maps on my iPhone, I think I'd have frisbeed it into the void and switched to an Android handset by now.
The Galaxy S III, with its 4.8-inch HD screen, sure would make Google Maps look pretty ...
