Apple hired Sally Cole as the Director of Employee Communications last month. Cole comes from cross-town rival Google, where she served as the Director of Internal Communications for almost six years. The Scarsdale native has a B.A. in history from Yale and a J.D./M.B.A. from nearby Stanford University, from which both companies hire liberally.
As someone intimately familiar with Internal Communications at Google, Cole’s experience could prove very valuable at Apple. Apple is rumored to be after Google Maps employees, for instance, where Cole’s Rolodex could prove “fruitful.” Google and Apple previously had a “no-poach” agreement instituted by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Clearly, that is no longer the case.
Google UK Marketing Director Dan Cobley briefly spoke with Bloomberg TV today on Apple’s decision to remove Google Maps from iOS 6, but the most intriguing part about his statement concerned how people could continue to use Google Maps after updating.
Cobley noted folks on iOS 6 can still “use Google Maps by downloading them or going to the Google Maps website.” This is an interesting comment, however, as there is no Google Maps-related app from Google available in the App Store aside from the Google Earth app. It features 3D layers, including roads, borders, places, photos and more, but it is not an adequate Google Maps replacement. There is also no existing option to download a map from Google Maps in mobile Safari.
Therefore, it is currently unclear what Cobley meant by “downloading them.” SearchEngineLand asked Google today when iOS would get a new Google Maps app, though, and if it would feature turn-by-turn navigation. Google replied:
We believe Google Maps are the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps in the world. Our goal is to make Google Maps available to everyone who wants to use it, regardless of device, browser, or operating system.
When Apple demoed its new in-house, iOS 6 Maps app at WWDC in June, replacing the Google Maps backend used in previous versions of iOS, first impressions from many users raised concerns over whether it could compete with the old Google Maps iOS app they were used to. Apple has been steadily improving the Maps app with each beta release, including recently expanding coverage of 3D maps to new cities, but its limitations could be a source of frustration for upgrading iPhone owners in the coming weeks.
Macworld’s Jason Snell raised some alarm bells this week at the post-iPhone 5 roundtable (11:00 in), saying Maps did not feel ready and he was concerned that long-time Maps users would be disappointed. We received lots of comments and forum posts from users who refuse to update until transit times were included.
The move was not surprisingly viewed as a strategic one for Apple, and fueled by powerful technologies from Placebase, C3 Technologies, and Poly9 acquisitions, but will Apple be able to smooth iOS 6 Maps app enough to keep users happy when they update to iOS 6 and make the transition from Google Maps later this month? Expand Expanding Close
For Australians wondering why turn-by-turn is not turned on in iOS Maps, or when it will turn on for that matter, a forwarded email from Apple Senior Vice President of iOS Scott Forstall may shed some light. The email is in response to the question of whether or not turn-by-turn “will be switched on for us Aussies in the near future?” Forstall responded:
Australia is definitely important to us. We first need to make sure our data is exceptional and qualified before turning on turn-by-turn.
Forstall’s reply seems to indicate it will pop up very soon.
Scott Forstall showed Yelp on Apple’s new Maps app during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference last week, but he neglected to mention Yelp check-ins
Those using iOS 6 probably noticed this feature in the Maps app when clicking a location.
According to Bloomberg, the Apple developer kit, which the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company distributed to software developers earlier this month,visually depicts how the upcoming Apple Maps essentially lets users alert friends of their location through Yelp without leaving maps or launching a new app.
Bloomberg added:
Mobile check-ins use the GPS capability in smartphones to let users share what local businesses or events they’re visiting. The feature can show how many other people have checked in at a location, whether those individuals are friends, and can publish users’ whereabouts through social-networking services such as those operated by Facebook and Twitter Inc.
Yelp is ramping efforts to attract local advertising, which made up 70 percent of revenue in 2011. Check-ins are used by 18 percent of adult smartphone owners, the Pew Research Center found earlier this year.
Last week, we revealed Apple’s decision to drop Google Maps in iOS 6 in exchange for its own in-house solution branded simply as “Maps.” At the time, we told you many versions of iOS 6 have been floating around Apple’s campus, which indicated Apple is likely on track for a mid-June unveiling at this year’s World Wide Developers Conference. Shortly after, references to an upcoming iOS 6 beta were found in the code strings of the iCloud.com beta website.
One app developer informed us today that it has recently noticed users running iOS 6 using its app. The developer observed the “iOS6” string when collecting the OS version from analytics software. It has not been able to trace exactly when the iOS 6 users started appearing, but it was sometime over the past week. Other developers that we spoke to began seeing hits in late April. There is a good chance that this means Apple is amidst iOS 6 compatibility testing with higher-profile applications from the App Store. The process of next-generation versions of iOS appearing in developer usage logs occurred last year too.
Although Apple’s new Maps app and its 3D mode will likely be pushed as a major feature of iOS 6, we noted previously that anyone anticipating major home screen changes or Android-style widgets will likely be disappointed. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple was preparing to unveil an upgrade to iCloud at WWDC that would include new sharing and commenting features for photos, as well as video syncing capabilities that will likely be the Video Stream feature we told you about last year. Expand Expanding Close
When Apple released iPhoto for iOSon March 7, many quickly realized that Apple was not using Google Maps as it usually does for mapping, but rather maps from the OpenStreetMap project. Apple offered no official credit to the non-profit project, which collects a series of maps from over 500,000 people worldwide. However, it appears that Apple has finally credited OpenStreetMap in its latest iPhoto update, as the non-profit project tweeted the news last night.
While OpenStreetMap is available for anyone to use, the project does ask for one-line of attribution (via TPM). Apple now mentions OSM under the iPhoto acknowledgements in settings.
