The verdict is in: Apple is now established as a major player in digital mapping. Following a quick succession of tweaks and new features, Apple Maps, which debuted in 2012, is now used over three times more often than Google Maps on iPhones and iPads.
This impressive statistic has been revealed by Apple in a feature article about Apple Maps by Associated Press. Former Google Maps manager Alex Mackenzie-Torres is quoted as saying that Apple “really did a great job in a short amount of time”.
Mackenzie-Torres has also attributed the rapid improvements Apple has made to its mapping app to “something that few companies have — simplicity in design mixed with high doses of pragmatism and practicality.”
These improvements have included fixing errors flagged up by users, buying several mapping companies and, with the release of iOS 9 this fall, bringing transit directions for a number of major cities. The app has also clearly been strongly endorsed by users; it now receives over 5 billion map-related requests a week.
Apple’s position has, of course, been bolstered by the pre-installation of Apple Maps on all new iPhones and iPads – while other stock functions on iOS, like Mail and Siri, will direct users to the app rather than the Google alternative.
