“According to a new report from CcomScore, 35 million iPhone owners used Apple Maps during September 2013 while only 6.3 million iOS users still used Google Maps,” Josh Wolonick reports for Minyanville. “In September 2013, Google Maps was the preferred map app of 58.7 million Android and Apple users, down from 81 million just one year ago [a loss of 22.3 million total users]. This represents a shift from 78% of all Android and iOS users on Google Maps to 43% in only one year.”
“ComScore’s report found that Apple users generally have more interaction with maps than Android users, with 9.7 million iPhones accessing Apple Maps every day, compared to the 7.2 million that access Google Maps for Android,” Wolonick reports. “iOS users spend 75.5 minutes per month in mapping apps compared to 56.2 for Android users.”
Wolonick reports, “Because of fixes to Apple’s once bug-ridden Apple Maps, aggressive acquisitions, and innovations such as 3D Flyover, which gives users a compelling visualization to pair with their navigation needs, Apple’s map app has taken about 80% of Google Maps’ iOS traffic in just one year.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we explained back in November 2012:
Google made a crucial mistake: They gave away Android to “partners” who pushed and continue to push the product into the hands of the exact opposite type of user that Google needs for Android to truly thrive. Hence, Android is a backwater of second-rate, or worse, app versions that are only downloaded when free or ad-supported – but the Android user is notoriously cheap, so the ads don’t sell for much because they don’t work very well. You’d have guessed that Google would have understood this, but you’d have guessed wrong. Google built a platform that depends heavily on advertising support, but sold it to the very type of customer who’s the least likely to patronize ads.
iOS users are the ones who buy apps, so developers focus on iOS users. iOS users buy products, so accessory makers focus on iOS users. iOS users have money and the proven will to spend it, so vehicle makers focus on iOS users. Etcetera. Android can have the “Hee Haw” demographic. Apple doesn’t want it or need it; it’s far more trouble than it’s worth.
And, as we wrote back in September 2012:
Have fun tracking and trying to sell ads bound for your cheapskate “Buy One Get X Free” Fragmandroid pigeons. This is all Google’s loss: iOS users are the ones with money to spend and the will to spend it; you’ll have no access to hundreds of millions of the world’s cream-of-the-crop consumers…
That’s right, the world’s best, most well-heeled mobile consumers do not use Google Maps.
Meanwhile, Apple’s Maps will relentlessly continue to improve…
Let Google’s rueing continue unabated.
Related articles:
Apple Maps puts the hurt on Google Maps – November 11, 2013
WIth iOS 7, Apple’s Maps has arrived; it’s now better than Google Maps – September 25, 2013
Apple getting iOS users to use Maps is just icing on the cake.
Google losing iOS users on Maps in any significant number, eats directly into their bottom line.
Next up, Apple Search (iAS)? Google should be shaking in their boots. If Apple were to do the same thing in the internet search arena, and Google lost half its search customers in a year where would their high flying stock end up?
If there was an Apple search on par with Google, Yahoo or Bing, It would be my first choice for searching the net. I’m surprised Apple hasn’t developed search. Can’t help but wonder what it would do to the bottom line of all those non-Apple providers. You would having millions of iDevice users simultaneously switching to Apple search, turning the others on their head. We have SIRI, but even SERI has to use the competitors search engines. I wouldn’t be surprised that Apple is indeed working on search. I’m sure they wouldn’t want to release it until it’s perfect. Apple is not about to set themselves up for another fiasco like they did with Maps.
its the 3d. it blows away google. The triangulation vector graphics makes it update fast and is the state of the art. Google is in too deep to switchover.
Big duh. Now can Apple do the same thing with Final Cut Pro be the best buy the best perhaps avid can they buy Adobe and then have the best photo program like Photoshop acquire it can they get the best accounting software like QuickBooks acquiring can they be the best in every industry why not who wouldn’t want to be the best buy the best software everywhere you have the money
Punctuation is your friend.
Take a breath, John. That paragraph appears to have been written by someone who was vaccinated with a phonograph needle.
After forestalling out of the gate, Apple Maps has come on like gangbusters. I love it – clean, precise, all I could ask for. Apple Maps: “How you like me now Google?”
I have used Apple Maps since it came out and have found it perfectly satisfactory without being bombarded with ads related to my travel .
Incidentally I just went 260 Km using a an iPhone 5S as a dashboard HUD using an app called Hudway and Apple maps as a designated server and the HUD was bang on the whole way .
Stating you drove 260km using an iPhone for routing, without context, is meaningless.
I-90 in the US is 4,990.78 km. Pick numerous sections and drive 260km without needing any guidance.
“Drive 3,101.13 miles to destination on the right”…
What the hell does all that mean is it NSA code.
GCHQ actually
Same here.
Well if you must know details it was the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler which is legendary for the highway being on the side of a mountain chain with significant curves very frequently .I was not driving but testing the HUD as an observer .This highway can be very dangerous in inclement conditions which are common in the winter .
HUD = Heads Up Display in this case projected on to the windscreen by the iPhone .
The STS highway is also legendary for having no alternate parallel routes and precious few exits, making navigation entirely pointless. All those fun curves were blasted out of the Coastal Range mountainside to widen the freeway for the Vancouver Olympics so now that awesome coastal road feels just like any other 4-lane highway.
The only spots where any navigation would do any good at all would be the first 10 km out of Vancouver (which, presumably, you already know by heart) and the last 1km in Whistler Village. The other 249 km the hippies in the VW bug behind you were navigating just as well by following taillights and reading signs.
… sorry, but fancy navigation and HUDs are overrated, and for most people, not worth the price to install in a car. Aside from business travelers who spend absolutely no time enjoying themselves, even avid travelers I know are happy to disconnect the electronic guide and just experience the real world for a while. Electronic navigation is a misused tool that prevents one from seeing most of the beautiful and interesting things around them, not to mention all the serendipitous discoveries one can uncover just by pulling over and talking to a local once in a while.
Who the hell wants to stare at a HUD when you’re driving on a coastal road with breathtaking ocean on one side and lush green mountains on the other?
I have driven the STS thousands of times and don’t need any navigational aids- the point was to test the predictive abilities of the app on a road with a lot of curves and the phone, mapping software,and HUD app all performed well.
No one is suggesting that you have to use geolocation services but the option is there if you wish
I agree that iOS users buy more apps. But I disagree with the “Hee Haw” demographic idea that is discussed in this and other articles. I work with many people from all walks of life, including the “Hee Haw” demographic, and they are almost all big iPhone fans. Those that aren’t are usually ‘Techie’ wannabes and they keep the Android farce going.
I have objected to MDN’s “Hee Haw” stereotype on several occasions, but with no success. This is despite the fact that a fair number of Android users have the means to purchase an iPhone, but choose not to do so for various reasons.
Mac fans have been on the bad side of several stereotypes in the past and present. Why play down to the haters on the other side? Take the high road, MDN, it costs nothing. Besides, consider the fact that your opinions are more likely to have a positive impact on people who might consider switching to OS X/iOS if you aren’t denigrating them at every opportunity.
Exactly. This nonsensical elitism speaks to the worst instincts in people. Why not try to speak to the best instincts?
I have had iPhones since they arrived, and have had good-natured discussions with friends who use Android, but its always coloured by this Apple elitist crap.
My best friend for over 40 years has a perfectly good Windows machine and an Android phone – the friendship and the regard between us is worth a lot more than which bloody phone we use.
Many good and smart people simply cannot afford Apple and have to use cheap machines and cheap phones – lets STOP criticizing people based on income.
MDN tends to put it in in your face, but the “Hee-Haw” demographic premise is based on data. While we all know many Android users who are educated, intelligent, well-heeled and perfectly willing to spend money on apps, the statistical data paints a very clear picture: average Android user pays significantly less for his apps, compared to an average iPhone user. The difference is quite stark (almost 4:1!!), so one could derive the conclusion that the average Android owner has either a lot less disposable income, or a particular mindset that expects things for free. Perhaps MDN is assuming the latter…
I have read much of the data that you speak about, but I tend to rely on what I see. I see teens getting iPhones. I see poor people getting iPhones, if a generation behind, like iPhone 4, which I still use. Most of the people I see using Android, aren’t necessarily poor. They’re cheap, but not poor! Others I see using it are relatives of Android using people, and they buy because they might get help from that relative using the Android device.
I think it would be wiser not to use the term “Hee Haw demographic” and instead, find some term the denotes cheap buyer.
Once Apple’s contract with Google Maps expired it was expected that Apple Maps would be the default app. Because Apple Maps is the default app it is also expected that Apple Maps would be used preferentially. This doesn’t answer the question which app is more accurate. More people with PCs use Windows but will you argue that this makes Windows a better OS than Mavericks? Give me a head-to-head comparison between Apple Maps and Google Maps.
So, MF, why are you always so negative in your comments? From your handle, one would expect otherwise. What’s up?
Negative? A search for the truth is always positive. True negativity is the shameless, unrelenting bias, and rejection of objectivity promoted by fanbois.
Negative, as in the opposite of positive. Which sums up your every post. Nothing you write has, in any way, a positive thing to say about Apple, it’s all negative, and your attitude to everyone on here is condescending and patronising, if not downright crude. You are just a nasty little troll, who derives pleasure from getting on the nerves of everyone else on this site.
Why don’t you find something to do in your miserable little life that will give some fulfillment to others, like going to help those poor unfortunate souls in the Phillippines, or would that involve having to move your sorry ass out of mommy’s basement into a more hostile environment, one that might cause you actual discomfort.
You prove me right, fanboi. Nothing like your Strawman Argument to prove what a biased and insecure person you are.
And you clearly prove me right.
People who use the word “fanboi” are stupid.
Aha there’s that fanboi tag again why do I always doubt the veracity of someone who uses that term I wonder. As for maps I prefer it to Google version it has a smoother cleaner interface and flyover is a dream compared to street view though the latter does have its specific uses sometimes just not beyond a minute’s maddening use.
Haven’ checked for accuracy of late but does all I ask of it smoothly and instinctively, a joy to you. And certainly here more than one publication has noted its superiority in some areas to Google maps and will only get better. I think it’s actually time to congratulate Apple on the amazing job they have done to get into and arguably pass the long standing leader.
The point of the article has nothing to do with which maps app is more accurate. It has to do with which maps app is drawing the most users and the most time being used, which translates to advertising revenue.
The numbers show Google is losing vast numbers of maps users on the iOS platform, all because Google refused to add features to its iOS map app (turn-by-turn being the most obvious). Google decided to play favorites, but what Google miscalculated was the high usage rates of iOS users.
The entire point of the article is that Apple Maps has improved significantly such that the majority of iOS users do not use Google Maps, and that directly affects Google’s revenue. It also shows Google made a horrendous mistake.
Alternative Headline: Mapping Powerhouse Chooses Wrong Direction
Isn’t it time to bring Scott Forstall back into the fold? After all he was the architect of Apple Maps. Then Ive can be quietly shunted back to the hardware design team and iOS 7 can be kicked to the bleachers. Kicked in the nuts first before being relegated to the bleachers. That’s what it deserves for being the ugliest OS on the planet.
Oops, I accidentally gave you 2 stars for your inane comment. Please fix that MDN. Incidentally, who’s paying for your services? (Methinks whoever it is is overpaying.)
They certainly succeed only in convincing more people that they would not want to be amongst the mongs that inhabit his particular technical world.
Well said, Mr. Forstall.
I love Apple Maps but it still needs a URL scheme and a web presence. It’s cumbersome to share vcards when you’re sending someone a geo location…
In other words, make it just like GoogleMaps? Maybe Apple has something else in mind for how Maps should integrate with other apps … maybe Apple is skating to where the puck will be, not watching as it gets passed.
I’m not saying you’re wrong but maybe we’re both right? I do know that it’s cumbersome to include a vcard MIME attachment when a simple URL would do.
Using Crapple Maps by default is hardly a rejection of Google Maps. I imagine most iOS customers do not frequently use any mapping app and some so infrequently so as not to care.
When Apple gets street view and loses the foo foo skinny fonts give me a call.
Devolved, even Neanderthals were brighter than you, they would actually be able to grasp the fact that you can change the font weight in Settings.
Or are you just sticking your fingers in your ears and going ‘lalalalalalalalalala’ just so you can carry on whining like the irritating little pest you are.
Just because you can barely count without using your fingers, and you have to take your socks off to count higher than ten, you imagine that everyone else is as ignorant and stupid as you quite clearly are.
I use maps all the time, not only Apple Maps, but British Ordnance Survey, and CoPilot satnav as well.
Ignorant little maggot.
Call names much?
Hello its Yoda now. My eyes are terrible these days and yet I have no trouble with the fonts, bolder fonts don’t by default mean better legibility often the opposite in fact. As for street view it has done limited use in a driving a submarine down a high street sort of fashion but fly through on the other hand is fantastically useful in its private jet sort of way. Just wish it covered more areas .
Navigation while driving is but one use of maps.
I prefer to look at my destination in street view BEFORE I go to have a visual set if cues. If one is in an unfamiliar place with heavy traffic heads up with visual references is not a bad way to go. Overhead 3D is eye candy of limited use unless you are a VFR pilot- most of us walk/bike/drive just a few feet off of terra firma.
Apple has the money to do Street View. Instead of handing it over to Carl Icahn and cronies they should invest in the platform.
Who cares what you prefer?
Who cares that you do not care?
I take it your one of those android users.
How is your fragmented iOS ripoff going these days?
As I type this on my Mac Pro 4,1 with my iPad sitting on my desk.
Amazing how ANY critique of Apple is immediately dismissed as trolling by the Fanboi chorus.
“I take it your one of those android users.”
should read
I take it you are one of those android users.
I own a Samsung Tab 2 7″ simply to see what it is about and to give me an informed point of view.
It is a cheap piece of shit.
What I use is a 3rd Generation iPad 32GB, an iPod Touch running iOS 6, and a Nexus 4 Phone purchased because of iOS 7. The iPhone 5 like the iPhone 4, 3GS & 3 before it were sold.
I bought the Nexus 4 because I wanted a phone that was 1- unlocked; 2- did not have iOS 7; 3- didn’t cost a king’s ransom or another contract; 4- didn’t have iOS7; 5-didn’t have iOS 7.
Notice a pattern?
When Apple fixes iOS 7, I’ll come back.
Another one of those turds that uses the word “fanboi”.
Someone take him out back and beat him till he begs for death.
Enjoy the ads Darwin not like you will pay much attention! Also enjoy the Trojans and viruses and incompatible software upgrades. Not many people choose android for the software. Only one reason the screen size.
No ads on my Nexus. Maybe you see some on your Galaxy, I don’t know.
Darwin likes stolen intellectual property. What a loser.
Street View on Apple Maps please.
I use apple maps everyday and haven’t even got google maps installed.
No need, apple maps is the best mapping app out there and I love the clean look.
The only reason I don’t use apple maps is becauSe of the lack of dedicated mass transit options without having to switch to another app. I live in New York so that’s crucial to me. Fix this apple and you will have a true winner
All apple needs to do now is a web version for browsers and create an easy to use web search engine that doesn’t spam ads or the data is sold to advertisers.
The web is crying out for a powerful and simple non ads based search engine that delivers unbiased and relevant results.
If apple gets this right google’s primary income stream will be at risk.
Considering Bings existence is anything but certain I can’t see that happening. In fact Seri is the search engine in all but name but will take years to reach its zenith. However it can plug into others work which is why it is a far better approach than trying to compete with Google head on.
its a nice, no huge improvement over the initial launch, how great would it be to get efficiency and speed up.. oh ok i know I’m asking too much again.
There are an awful lot of bigotry and blind hate going on here. We love our Apple products. They do wonderful things for us. But, the reason we love them is the subtle things that they do that make our lives more convenient.
This isn’t a holy war, nor does society have a space for negative put downs and worse, degrading comments to users over what technology they use.
I develop cross platform because I have to. Would I prefer an all iOS universe? Maybe. But that’s not what I have. Despite its historic birth at the feet of iOS, Android will not disappear. It will not be legislated nor litigated out of existence. I could care less whether the Google gang ever makes a penny off of Android. My guess is that they will realize that they painted themselves into a corner with a purported “open” system. The market is cruel and irrational in all things, stock price or device preference. Be happy you chose wisely.
Lol I think u hit it when u said holy war. That is exactly what people have damn near made this rivalry into. Over tech. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a headline”iPhone user kills man for having android phone” or vice versa. But I will say as bad as apple fans myself included bash android users on here it PALES in comparison to the vicious attacks I’m subject to being a member of google plus and saying anything positive about apple
Google realizes that but the crappy devices are from the likes of Samsung, huawei, or local manufacturers. Hopefully things will change with Motorola launching the moto G quick targets all demographics.